The upcoming vote to determine if Attorney General Eric Holder will be held in contempt of Congress has House Democrats scrambling to deflect and recast the vote as a partisan witch hunt.
The Democratic leadership led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) denounced the proceeding as appalling and as partisan and vowed to walk out as soon as the debate was over.
“We are outraged. We will not stand for this. Not vote on. Let’s get up and leave,” Hoyer said.
“My colleagues may well just follow that course of action.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) sought to turn the tables on Republicans by introducing a resolution asking the House to formally condemn Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s handling of the Fast and Furious investigation.
Lee launched into a litany of accusations, claiming Issa restricted Democrats’ ability to call witnesses and interfered with the possibility of obtaining criminal convictions in related trials. She also denounced Issa for calling Holder a liar among other things.
Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told his colleagues that he supported investigating Operation Fast and Furious as part of a commitment to the family of the Border Patrol agent who was killed as a result of the operation, but he hurled attacks similar to Lee’s on Issa.
Cummings slammed Issa for refusing to call ATF director and former George W. Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey in to testify on the gun walking operations that happened during the Bush years.
“Shameful election year political posturing instead of the real issue,” said Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) “The same people who have pursued the partisan course of action against Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama have ignored the desperate pleas of the Mexican government.”
Nonetheless, Republicans remained unflinching in their resolve to find Holder in contempt for his refusal to turn over documents that Issa’s committee had subpoenaed.
Issa called Rep. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), a former Philadelphia U.S. attorney, to the floor to provide expert commentary.
“This is not about politics. The attorney general personifies justice,” Meehan said. “Is about justice. Agent Terry is dead. The Terry family do not know why it occurred.
“Congress is not given power, but the responsibility to exercise oversight over the executive.”
Speaker John Boehner followed saying that House Republicans had showed more than enough good faith in the investigation process, but the White House and the Attorney General had not, especially with the recent invocation of executive privilege.
“No justice department is about the law,” Boehner said. “No justice department is above the constitution.”
