Attorney General says contempt citation unwarranted
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday dismissed as unwarranted a vote by a U.S. congressional committee to charge him with contempt of Congress after the Obama administration withheld documents related to a failed gun-running investigation.
"The action that the committee took yesterday was unwarranted, unnecessary and unprecedented," he said after meeting European Union justice officials in the Danish capital.
The contempt move comes after the Obama administration asserted executive privilege as its reason for withholding some of the documents requested by the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
It set up yet another confrontation between Democratic President Barack Obama and the House, intensifying the bitter partisanship that has prevailed in Washington since just after Obama took office.
The botched operation was meant to help U.S. law enforcement agents follow the flow of guns from Arizona into Mexico, but they lost track of many of the weapons, which later were involved in crimes.
Holder told a news conference he remained optimistic the conflict with the committee could still be resolved on the basis of the administration's proposal.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/21/us-usa-mexico-holder-idUSBRE85K0IM20120621?
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