Update: Chairman of Oversight Committee: “The Drop-Dead Date is Now”

IF HOLDER CONTINUES TO REFUSE TO RELEASE DOCUMENTS

by Sharon Rondeau

(May 3, 2012) — This morning Rep. Darrell Issa appeared on “America’s Newsroom” with Martha MacCallum and stated that a resolution to hold putative Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress has been drafted and distributed to “all members” of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee of which Issa is the chairman.

Issa told MacCallum that Holder’s Justice Department has “denied the committee access” to the documentation it requested by subpoena last October.  “The American people have been supportive” of the committee’s investigation of the Fast & Furious gunwalking scandal, Issa said.

Following months of hearings on the operation which killed two U.S. Border Patrol agents, Issa responded to MacCallum’s question that if Holder refuses to release more information, “the drop-dead date is now.”

During the interview, The Department of Justice issued a response which said, “The Department continues to comply” with the committee’s requests and that anything withheld is material that is “normally not released.”  Issa disagreed and told MacCallum that a new Inspector General had been appointed for the DOJ who has promised “swift action.”

Issa admitted, however, that Speaker of the House John Boehner and Rep. Eric Cantor “don’t want to see the contempt order go forward,” but that it will be advanced through a federal court if Holder does not comply with the committee’s requests.  “It has the support of leadership,” Issa said.

Update, 4:26 p.m. EDT:  It is being reported that Rep. Issa has drafted a 64-page document naming Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, citing “a dangerous expansion of Executive Branch authority and unilateral action allowing agencies to set their own terms for cooperating with congressional oversight.”  Issa appears incensed, or “furious,” over Holder’s lack of response to his request for documentation.