The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 23-17 along party lines Wednesday afternoon to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
The charge says Holder withheld documents related to a botched plan to track gun trafficking.
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The plan, dubbed Operation Fast and Furious, involved allowing weapons to be sold to known drug traffickers in Mexico with the goal of eventually tracking them to cartel bosses. The operation is largely considered a failure; most of the guns have yet to be recovered, and high-level arrests have not been made.
Fast and Furious became publicly known after guns sold under the program were used in the killing of Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Patrol agent, as well as many Mexican citizens.
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The oversight committee, headed up by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), has been investigating Fast and Furious for more than a year. Wednesday's vote came after the committee accused Holder of withholding documents relevant to that investigation.
Earlier Wednesday, the Obama administration announced it was putting Holder under executive privilege -- meaning he wouldn't be required to hand over the documents even if subpoenaed.
The full House of Representatives must now vote to approve the committee's citation for Holder to be considered in contempt of Congress.
Immediately following the committee's vote, key members of Congress took to Twitter to comment on the news. Mashable collected some of their reactions:
Rep. Darrell Issa
Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman.
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Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, franckreporter
This story originally published on Mashable here.
