Holder to be Slapped With Fast and Furious Lawsuit During August Recess

Holder to be Slapped With Fast and Furious Lawsuit During August Recess
By Katie Pavlich
8/3/2012

Congress may be heading out for recess today but that isn't stopping the House Republicans from moving forward with a civil contempt of Congress lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder.

"We'll be filing a civil case during the break," Issa told NBC, "We will expect a day in court before a federal judge, which we have a 100 percent chance that the judge will hold that these documents should be delivered."

The lawsuit will be reviewed by a judge who will assess whether Holder has an obligation to comply with a 22-part Congressional subpoena that was issue in October 2011. The judge will also review whether President Obama's assertion of executive privilige surrounding Fast and Furious documents was warranted.

"The idea that you would withhold based on some executive privilege the documents related to a cover up of a crime is absurd, but that's the claim that the attorney general is hiding behind," Issa said.

"We're seeking a remedy and the remedy is an order to compel," Issa said. "Nixon didn't respond to Congress, he responded to federal judges, ultimately the Supreme Court, ordering that he had no such privilege to cover up the tapes. And these are no different than the Nixon tapes, we're asking for documents related to a cover up of lying to Congress."

Holder was voted in civil and criminal contempt of Congress by Republicans and Democrats in June. The House Oversight Committee has requested access to 80,000 Fast and Furious documents (240,000 documents exist) and the Department of Justice has turned over 7,000. The announcement of the lawsuit filing time frame comes just days after a joint Congressional report was issued this week detailing the role ATF supervisors played in the program and showed Holder's office was actually considering bringing Holder to Arizona to announce Fast and Furious indictments.

Sidenote: NBC is now covering Fast and Furious, finally.
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To read more about Fast and Furious, click here.
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To read another article by Katie Pavlich, click here.