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Once the House committee votes in favor of citing Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, it goes to the full House for consideration.
If the full House votes in favor of the contempt citation, the issue is sent to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. A federal law adopted by Congress in 1857 directs federal prosecutors to refer these matters to a grand jury for possible prosecution. The language is mandatory as to the U.S. attorney: "whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action."
But from there on, it gets complicated.
The Justice Department has long taken the position, as a separation of powers matter, that Congress cannot force the Justice Department to undertake a prosecution of an executive branch official. The courts have never resolved the question.
The Justice Department, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has further claimed that a U.S. attorney must not initiate a prosecution when the president has asserted executive privilege over what Congress seeks.
The administration of George W. Bush most recently made this claim during the congressional investigation of the firings of several U.S. attorneys nationwide. Congress subpoenaed former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff Josh Bolton, and the president directed that neither should testify or produce the requested documents. Though the broad issue of executive privlege went to court, it is still unresolved.
Another gray area here is how much a president can cover under the umbrella of an assertion of executive privilege. The further a matter gets from the White House and presidential decision making, the more the courts have been unwilling to recognize it.
On a broader point, the federal courts have been reluctant to referee what they see as fights between the White House and Congress. During the legal battle over Miers, the federal district court in Washington practically begged the two sides to work it out without suing each other.
"The court strongly encourages the political branches to resume their discourse and negotiations in an effort to resolve their differences constructively," it said.
And finally, there's this point to remember: if this does end up in court, it could take up to two years to resolve, given the time for a trial and subsequent appeals. However, a contempt citation is valid only during the Congress which approved it. Each term of Congress lasts only two years, so if the issue was still in the courts when this Congress ends in a year and a half, the contempt citation would evaporate, and so would any lawsuit.
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This is a very disturbing trend in politics, in our country, and over all in our society. This whole fiasco has nothing to do with seeking relevant information that would be useful to the general public and most certainly it has nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment with the right to bear arms. There is a sadistic and intrinsic vitriolic and venomous element here and unfortunately for society as a whole, it is working. It is effective and it is spreading like a virus. As I read the news and observe the politics of today and read what people write and how they think I fear we are moving towards fascism. There is a growing element of hate and anger within our society. And one cannot ignore the politics of race and fear. This is a very dangerous time here....a bad economy, a black President, and angry whites.It's just the lies that is spread about this President...the veiled threats, etc...amazing how a dangerous portion of the population believe the nonsense that comes out of the far right...it would be comical if it weren't so dangerous...but beware of what you wish for, you may get it and history can always repeat itself...beware..
If this was an attempt by the Obama administration to frame gun shops that they claimed were selling hundreds of guns to the cartels so that Obama could begin an assault on the 2d Amendment, then it makes Watergate look like a childish prank. And it is looking more and more that this is what it was. And they would have gotten away with it except for a whistle-blower! I do note that Obama and gang aren't making that claim about the gun shops now that they have been caught withh their pants down.
WHY do you Progressives ALWAYS feel the need to inject racism into every disagreement with this administrations policies ? Do you realize the potential damage you might be doing to all minoritys ?
If a minority Leader cannot be questioned on policy without the fear of racism being introduced into the discusion, then we dare not allow another minority to serve!
Tim-1912664 - Get over yourself, what the h ell does race have to do with this subject. Your right the race card is played a lot and always played when it doesn't suit the left's opinion on any subject. Obama is the biggest liar and worse president that has ever been placed in the White House. Ooops I must be a racist for that remark.
A racist would say that his man can get away with anything because he is Black! See any of that here?
Bunch of leftist hypocrisy being posted here. Where were these same posters during the Valerie Plame controversy? Another point. Most of you leftist would scream bigotry if you called someone the names I read the leftist on here posting. Teabaggers? How old are you?
Does anyone remember how the administration was claiming that gun shops on the border were selling hundreds of guns to the cartels? It is beginning to seem that this flooding of guns by the feds could well have been done to frame those shops and then begin an assault on the 2d Amendment. And it would have worked had it not been for a whistle blower. It certianly would explain why Obama and Holder don't want to give the House access to those documents. This scandal would make Watergate look like a childish prank!
Sounds like paranoia to me...the last thing this pres would do is even talk about guns..."God forbid"....but it doesn't really matter what he does or says does it? Fear and paranoia can over come reason...
The assertion that Obama did this so he could eventually restrict 2nd amendment rights is pure delusion.
Of course it's delusional. That's why they were in full and open assult on the second ammendment,... untill this came to light. Since then ...NOTHING, in the open, Just Hillary Clinton conspiring with the UN to disarm us! I would be very careful with the word DELUSIONAL if I were you!
"The assertion that Obama did this so he could eventually restrict 2nd amendment rights is pure delusion."
What I want to know from theses gun crazies is exactly how he's gong to take their guns away? He hasn't proposed a single gun --- even when he has a filibusterer proof majority in the Senate. If he wins a second term, how is he going to get any gun legislation through congress? What -- is he going to go door to door?? As for "Hillary Clinton conspiring with the UN to disarm us" -- tell me -- just how in the hell is that going to work???
Charie
Goggle UN Small Arms Treaty ! And he didn't work on a lot of important things when he had that filibuster proof Congress, such as debt reduction, deficit reduction, private sector jobs, or tax reform ! We did get PPACA and Dodd-Frank though didn't we ?
Goggle UN Small Arms Treaty
So what?? Tell me -- even if the UN demands US owners in the US give up their guns( which isn't going to happen) how will that be enforced??
One more time -- this president hasn't ever proposed any gun legislation. The last gun bill of any kind that managed to pass congress happened in 1993 --- 19 years ago that that one has expired. In this nation -- it is easier to purchase a gun today than at any time in the last 50 years. The chance of an airplane crashing on top of your head is probably more likely that any gun legislation passing.
Issa has blown his wad....the election year "show trial investigation" has had it's wheels removed by the President....
The GOP succeeded in doing NOTHING about the core issue of STRAWMAN MILITARY GRADE WEAPONS SALES that eventually end up going over the border to the Drug Cartels....
It's ironic that the Republican Party, as a core belief, will do nothing to reign in gun sales such as this....their FEIGNED CONCERN is a joke on the American People.
Just what color is the sky where ever the heck you are ? ! ? !
What planet are you from???
I see from your other posts that you are worried about the USUAL..."socialists...communists...saul alinsky...birth certificates...kenyans...blah, blah, blah....
Just another rightwingnut fruitcake....dream on mr.martian.....
Obama is corrupt and is a fraud. Holder is corrupt and needs to resign. Both lie. This is a cover-up and Brian Terry died because of it.
THE LONGEST DAY: EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE...
The privilege covers only communications made directly to the president and among his White House advisers, Obama cannot claim executive privilege "to cover Eric Holder". That's illegal.
“The White House decision to invoke executive privilege implies that White House officials were either involved in the Fast and Furious operation or the cover-up that followed.
Just as Nixon was not allowed to claim executive privilege to cover up a crime; neither can Obama.
Perhaps you might explain how BUSH "got away" with declaring it regarding Meirs and his White House Chief of Staff???
Oh, and can you cite the Federal Case Law that DISALLOWS THE PRESIDENT FROM DOING WHAT HE DID?? It will be interesting to see where you can PULL THAT RABBIT OUT OF YOUR HAT...
'A Very Nixonian Mistake'...
"When the President does it, that means that it's not illegal." ~ Richard M. Obama Nixon
'The operative question now is, what did the president know and when did he know it?'
Here's the scenario, folks. Border agents were asked to refrain from confiscating weapons sold in the US, during a specific timeframe, headed toward the Arizona Border, so Homeland Security could track the weapons back to the drug/gang cartels in Mexico. While crossing the border, one of these weapons was used to kill a border agent. We have no news if the operation was a success by Homeland Security, but certainly a typical day with the border patrol did occur. And a life was lost. These "sting" operatins were begun during the Bush years and Homeland Security has continued to use them as a tool.
Republican Issa was a pita in California, and he is proving to be a racist, bigot in Washington, too. Maybe he is on course for a newspot at FOX and wants to give them his audition by showing how far he is willing to go for the Republican cause. What escapes most of us is the fact that he has already made millions off his Cobra products (Alarm systems, etc) and may not feel he is making enough to fit in with his fellow Republicans in Washington. Issa needs to successfully prosecute a Democrat!
Sadly, Mr. Issa is so partisan in his approach to this particular case that he spreads the Republican shadow upon himself and his own party. In his zeal to go after Eric Holder, a black man, who also served in the Bush administration as the Attorney General, he also casts the shadow on the Bush administration. It was the Bush administration, after all, that began this method of gun-running illegality to hopefully trap the cartels who were recieving the weapons. And it was before Eric Holder was Attorney General when the program was created and activated.
But not one person from the Republicans, that created the original "Fast And Furious" style programs in Arizona, (Where else could it have happened, after all?) have been requested to testify about the roots of the program and how the side-stepping of the law began.
Issa, ignoring the facts that the program is just the result of the Bush administration starting the program and its continuation in the Obama years leads me to wonder why Issa is determined to hide these facts. Perhaps he is trying to gain favor with the Tea Party. Issa's actions may be quite understandable. He has the greed for more power just like the rest of the narcissists in the Republican Party. Of that we can be sure. Issa loves himself and will do anything to promote the image of the throwback prosecutor, like some warped form of Judge Roy Bean, that will bring him new auditions in the future.
The innuendo Issa has spread toward the Obama administration is certainly his tool to tarnish Democrats. While he has utterly failed to actually do anything to resolve the actual case. Issa has stretched this case out for more than a year. While digging for dirt on the Obama administration, Issa has failed time after time to find the dirt he, so doggedly, is digging for.
Issa has already requested over seven thousand six hundred pages of information from Eric Holder, and forced Holder to appear nine times, who complied each time, while finally asserting that Eric Holder is now obstructing justice and has been presented with the threat of contempt charges for refusing to hand over Classified Files.
While this is certainly Issa's perspective, he unfailingly shows his partisanship by not requirng one Republican from the original program to add to Issa's knowledge base about how the program works and the reasons behind it. Every time Eric Holder has complied with Darryl Issa's requests, Eric has been presented with new hoops to jump through. This investigation is turning into a witch hunt, and I personally believe this has finally crossed the line to full witch hunt status.
The additional information Issa has requested from Holder has little to do with any case he is persuing. He is requesting names of undercover agents and classified information that is probably not needed to establish the goals of his case. It would seem Issa has been overstepping his bounds and justs wants to cast a big shadow over the Obama White House because this is all he ever intended to accomplish from the beginning.
If Issa had really wanted to be a prosecutor with fame, he should have gone after Bush for war crimes and torture. or Bush lying to the American people, leading us into a war with Iraq (where Al Quieda never existed) and the non-existent threat of the mushroom cloud that could ruin our day from Iraq, indeed an unfunded war against a country that never attacked us. Issa could have made great headlines gathering testimony regarding how Bush lost thousands of American lives in his zeal to invade a sovereign nation for his oil buddies. Or Issa could have gone after Bush for ignoring his White House Briefing that explained how Bin Laden intended to attack America from the air, while Bush did nothing to respond to the threat and the Trade Centers came down as a result of his failure to act. Or Issa could have gone after Carl Rove, whose plan to get a Republican elected in the South, enabled the false imprisonment of a Democrat, running for the same office, and Issa could go after the Republican Prosecutor that crafted the false charges at Carl Rove's direction. Instead, "wrong-way Issa" really picked the wrong case to prosecute when he decided to go after Eric Holder. It only shows his partisanship! And Romney is counting on Issa to give him fodder for his speeches!
Since Romney can find no facts with which to tarnish Obama, he has had to resort to total lies on every single campaign stop. Romney has also published these lies, easily fact-checked, on his website for all to laugh at. Romney's campaign of claiming he could restore the economy that Obama has already brought back from the precipice Republicans tossed us over is not really resonating. Romney hasn't provided any specifics how he would do anything differently from Obama to restore our economy. Romney has only endorsed the Ryan Plan, which lowers taxes on the rich and further reduces governments' ability to resolve national catastrophes, while raising taxes on the middle class and the poor by removing more safety nets and food stamps from the starving children and old people needing nutrition! Romney's selection of 20 of 24 advisors consist of the same people that advised President Bush! What is Romney to do with all of his billions in ad money except to create lies? Obama is the proverbial "Black Knight" and cannot be dismounted!
Romney, like Republicans everywhere, are searching for some real dirt. Eric Holder, being another black man in the Obama administration is red meat to Republican racists! If they can just find some real dirt, Carl Rove won't have to come up with new swiftboat style lies he has been famous for in the past years. Rush has little to talk about but his Oxycontin views of the Democratic Party that have no basis in fact at all. Rush has tasked Issa to do something, anything, to give him some dirt on Obama and his administration. Issa is just trying to comply with his boss.
Unfortunately, the news media is now on the hunt for a story and Issa is becoming the liability, not the White House or Eric Holder. Republican "House Leader John Boehner" is now being asked to call a vote on contempt charges for Eric Holder, something which has never been done for something as small as this case represents in the history of our nation.
President Obama has exerted his "Executive Privelege" for the first time in his presidency to stop the witch hunt. Uncovering names of field agents and their tactics is not really relevent to Darryl Issa's case.
Darryl Issa is asserting that Eric Holder is somehow responsible for the continuance of a program started during Bush's administration by Bush's Attorney General, but now that a black man is Attorney General, he is expected to know every single operation that our forces in Homeland Security are performing. Why doesn't Issa, at the very least, interview the retired Attorney General from the Bush administration to find out what he knows about the creation of this particular taskforce and the tactics they employed?
But, nooo. Darryl Issa will not ask any Republican to answer the questions he is posing to the Obama administration's Eric Holder. The only conclusion we can assume is there is a political reason for this, during this great year of elections.
Romney needs some dirt. Romney needs it now. Issa is failing to give it to him. Will Issa be thrown under the Romney Bus if he fails to provide fodder for Rush, Rove, Romney and the Koch Brothers? One can only imagine the creaky wheels turning. And the wheels probably smell like burning mesquite. Soon flames will erupt and we shall see Rush, Rove, Romney and the Koch Brothers running down the promenade with their heads on fire. Well, one can dream after all! It would make for an exciting cartoon!
Your racist comment made the rest of this Alinsky rant unworthy of reading !
Obama's last-minute move to extend the umbrella of executive privilege raises the question of whether the president or his staff had extensive prior knowledge of the operation, because this privilege can ONLY be invoked when the chief executive's office is involved.
WHAT DID OBAMA KNOW; AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?!
What did Bush know, and when did he know about the Homeland Security's first illegal sting operation?
Jack, It is debatable on whether any of the Official part was illegal, these are the rule makers in a post 9/11 world. The illegal part is when the enforcement end decides to ignore the rules and turn their backs on laws and dept. rules for someone elses criminal benefit. Like a cop who takes bribes to look the other way, why we now have IA officers who don't answer to low level supervisors.
So dipsh*t holder is a low life deceitful worm, what makes him any different than anyone else in this administration of communists. Holder lie's, warren is an american indian, biden is an idiot, all of congress is spoiled-overpaid and corrupt.
The point is washington DC is broken....
Az..., your comments make Holder look like Albert Einstein/Mother Theresa/Gen. Patton all rolled into one when compared to you.
By: Scott Whitlock | June 20, 2012 | 16:50
According to ABC's Jon Karl, Barack Obama's retelling of his own life in Dreams Of My Father has been exposed as "unreliable." On June 16 in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, the correspondent reviewed David Maraniss' new book, a 641 page tome that "raises questions about the carefully crafted story that Mr. Obama has told about himself." However, Karl and ABC have yet to interview or highlight Mr. Maraniss on the network.
Jack Welch, the former head of General Electric (which owned NBC), proclaimed that the revelations are so damaging, "the Romney campaign should just print this [book review] up" and use it as advertising. Welch made the declaration on Wednesday's Squawk Box on CNBC. He called the story "the most important article possible for the Romney campaign to take to the public."
Read more: #ixzz1yS1PrhMM
Obama must be a pathological LIAR
This is a republican controlled house. If a simple majority can hold him in contempt it will be that way. If not, it won't. I cannot remember the last vote where one side or the other crossed party lines to vote. Both sides have decided that party is more important than country. Conservatism has failed many times and liberalism has failed many times. Even the right mix is unpleasant. All everyone does is bitch about the other side and call them names. Therefore, whatever each side does cannot be taken seriously by anyone but the most hardened of their party members. I don't know how they can even have a contempt vote. Who could hold any of them in anything but contempt.
You have to laugh at the network of altered 911 tapes and edited videos.. they are looking moree like clowns than journalist
Brian Williams looked like a high school dropout after delivering the (non news) and trying his best to downplay Fast & Furious
Brian Williams why don't you give Brian Terrys family a call and tell them why you are covering up for Obama
airhead.., as if any of your redneck gun runners give a $hit about Agent Terry.
I thought "Fast and Furious" was to trade Guns for Weed...
EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE!
The entire GOP Senate and House should be held in contempt by those that voted for them. They have done next to nothing except bring the country to a standstill for the past three years. They're fortunate that we've done away with burning at the stake. They sure deserve it.
Sure holiday, 386 bills and at least three budget proposals, passed by the house and sent by Constitutional mandate to the Senate sit, unread on Harry Reids desk, he refuses to even allow them to come to the floor for discusion. but the Republicans are the reason for the " Standstill " !
The only two budget proposals (OBAMAS) that Reid HAS allowed to come to the floor have recieved exactly '0' votes! (in the House or the Senate)
NEWS FLASH!!!!
Medical history is being made!
The American Medical Association has announced that they no longer will be using white rats in their experiments.
They will from this point forward use only Democrats.
Why??
1. There's so many of them.
2. They don't feel pain.
3. There will be no public outcry against their use.
4. The lab techs don't get attached to them.
5. After all, there are some things that white rats just won't do!!
Al..., of course they will use up all the rednecks first, they bread as fast as rats because of their short lifespans, so no rush.
As an independent, there is only one thing that matters JUSTICE .Pretty sad when the attorney general cannot do his job ,he took an oath of office and as a lawyer also took an oath ,The parents and family of Brian Terry as well as the citizens of theUnited States and Mexico deserve answers as to who is responsible for so many preventable deaths. Eric Holder represents the whole justice dept. (Is there truly no justice left in America) Eric needs to resign before he does anymore damage to the justice system.
What the Democrats are now saying, per the hearing, is that it is ok to lie to congress. It is ok to disreguard supeons. It is ok to have a hearing for one year, at tax payer expense and then say it is all Political. By Obama's actions yesterday, this proves that a cover-up goes all he way to the White House and himself.
It is ok to disreguard supeons.
You mean like George w. Bush did??
is that it is ok to lie to congress
Like Oliver North did?
Charlie
Bush is NO LONGER in office ! ! ! To excuse current bad behaviour by siteing previous bad behaviour, real or imagined, isn't a very successful approch!
Chuck H
It also seems to indicate that the reality must be far, far worse than even the preception! !
Bush is NO LONGER in office ! ! !
But -- were you all wound up when he ignored congress or did you cheer for him?
milo u dork
How can a yanky possibly be a redneck. There's as much hope for that as another medical miracle that should be mentioned.
A democrat born actually possessing a brain!
What a concept.
Yo Al, They migrated North and West during the Depression, Dust Bowl and stayed where the WWII shipyards and factories were, took their customs and beliefs with them, and raised kids true to mom and dads roots. You can take the bubba off the plantation but not the plantation out of the bubba. Here are some Red State jokes from the net:
if your school's cut the Special Ed program before your parents could graduate,
you live in a Red State.
if your local gun shop has a "Habla Espanol" sign and accepts Banco de Mexico
credit cards, you live in a Red State.
if your local politicians take one day vacations in the Caymans and go by private jet,
you live in a Red State.
if your voting machines only select Candidate Z no matter what button you press,
you live in a Red State.
ps. Southerners have to take classes now to loose the accent to get jobs up North. Does that make them Yankees?
See ya later Al.
To "loose" the accent? Is that opposed to tightening it? Wouldn't comment except that you were supposed to be commenting about Red States/ rednecks/ whatever, and now it appears you are one.
What a bunch of baloney on both sides of the aisle! Hand over the documents and if there is nothing wrong, the matter will be settled. I do agree with another poster that someone's son was killed as a result of this program so justice does need to be served. If that were my son, I would want some answers asap not all this political grandstanding.
Ok, let's put on our rational hats here for a second. Which of the following scenarios makes the most sense knowing everything that we know to this point:
A. Holder has been telling the truth, and is hiding nothing. Obama knew nothing about Fast and Furious and is hiding nothing. The documents that Issa has subpoenad would back this up, show there was no cover up and exonerate the Administration and Holder from any blame. HOWEVER, Obama has decided to institute executive privilege, knowing it would give off the perception of a cover up, and knowing it could hurt his reelection chances, because the documents may contain some details that in the wrong hands could be a national security issue. And he's just not willing to take any chances with that, despite how it might make him look.
OR
B. The documents would reveal Holder was lying and/or that Obama and his Administration coordinated a strategy with The Justice department to withold these documents, ultimately leading to the executive privilege move.
Take off your political hats for one second and you realise there is only one rational answer.