Video Related To: Eric Holder

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress despite a last-minute intervention by President Obama. By a vote of 23 to 17 after nearly six hours of tense discussion, the bipartisan committee voted for contempt over the Justice Department's decision to withhold documents related to Operation Fast and Furious that were subpoenaed by the committee in their investigation of the failed gunwalking operation. The votes were sharply divided along partisan lines with all Republicans voting for and all Democrats voting against contempt. The measure now moves to the full House for a vote. Moments before the hearing, Holder, who was not present at the hearing, delivered a letter to committee chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) informing the committee that Obama exerted executive privilege to withhold the documents in question. "Although we are deeply disappointed that the Committee appears intent on proceeding with a contempt vote, the Department remains willing to work with the Committee to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues," Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in a letter to Issa. But the president's intervention did not stop Issa from proceeding with Wednesday's vote. "This untimely assertion by the Justice Department falls short of any reason to delay today's proceedings," Issa said prior to the vote. Many committee members Wednesday invoked the name of Brian <b>...</b>