House finds Holder in contempt

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder was made the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress for withholding documents requested as part of a congressional investigation into a botched gun-running operation.

The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Thursday 255 to 67 to sanction Holder for failing to cooperate with an ongoing probe into Operation Fast and Furious, which was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from 2009 to 2011.

On a separate vote, lawmakers voted 258 to 95 to approve a civil contempt charge against Holder.

In a statement, Holder said the vote "is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided - and politically motivated - investigation during an election year." Holder added that the Republicans leading the investigation "have focused on politics over public safety."

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a separate statement that "Republicans pushed for political theater rather than legitimate congressional oversight."

In the coming days, the House is expected to refer the criminal contempt charge to Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, to decide whether to press charges against Holder, who is his boss.

Based on approval of the civil contempt charge, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is expected to mount a court challenge to President Barack Obama's decision to invoke executive privilege over some of the documents sought by the panel.

Before the vote, several Democrats walked off the House floor to protest what they characterize as a politically motivated investigation, backed in recent days by the National Rifle Association , to embarrass Holder and the White House. Led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., roughly 100 members exited through the main center door of the House floor and then walked solemnly and silently down the front steps of the U.S. Capitol, with tourists looking on and television cameras rolling.

Under the hot summer sun, member after member denounced the vote as a distracting, politically motivated sham.

"This is a somber day for the House of Representatives," said Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. "We are declaring, by walking out, we are not participating."

Hoyer then led the group in chanting, "Shame on you. Shame on you," before Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., led his colleagues in a moment of silence.

Before she led her colleagues out, Pelosi said the contempt vote "is not a principled effort to resolve the issue."

But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, disputed those charges.

"I don't take this matter lightly, and frankly hoped it would never come to this," he said from the floor. "The House is focused on jobs and the economy. But no Justice Department is above the law, and no Justice Department is above the Constitution, which each of us has sworn an oath to uphold."

Though most Democrats left before the vote, 17 Democrats voted with Republicans to hold Holder in contempt. Most of the Democrats are moderates who have been endorsed in the past by the NRA, which said before the vote that it planned to track how members voted in determining future endorsements. Several moderate Democrats rely on the group's support in election years.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democrat, did not take part in the Democrats' walkout. She remained in the House chamber and voted against the contempt citation.

Berkley said in a statement the Republican-led effort to censure Holder amounted to "gotcha politics." She was not made available after the vote to discuss it further.

Rep. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei, both R-Nev., voted for the contempt citation.

"Today's vote to hold Mr. Holder in contempt of Congress represents a small step toward regaining some sorely needed accountability," Amodei said.

Two Republican lawmakers, Steven LaTourette, Ohio, and Scott Rigell, Va., voted against the criminal contempt charge. One Democrat, Daniel Lipinski, Ill., voted present.

Over the course of an almost 18-month investigation, Republicans have said they are chiefly concerned with an attorney general whose Justice Department, in refusing to release documents, has covered up what officials knew - and when they knew - about the operation that allowed thousands of firearms onto U.S. streets and into Mexico and resulted in the death of a U.S. border patrol agent, Brian Terry, in December 2010.

Among the dozens of Republican lawmakers who spoke before the vote, Rep. Paul Gosar, Ariz., said Thursday's contempt vote was "long overdue" and "welcome news" to the American people.

But Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., said Holder "has provided all the information. They keep asking. There's no further legislative purpose to be served - it's time for the attorney general to get back to work."

Holder has testified to congressional committees about Fast and Furious nine times over the past 14 months.

The conflict between the Justice Department and House Republicans centers on a particular set of documents that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed from the Justice Department in October as part of its investigation into Fast and Furious.

While conducting Fast and Furious, ATF lost track of most of the firearms, some of which have been found at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States.

Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.