and losing track of the weapons. that is why the committee has started the investigation into this program? absolutely. when you have a federal agent, first again you ve got to go back february 4th of 2011. department of justice denied any knowledge of the program in a letter to us and we actually know that they tried to cover this up because they knewรง tha we knew. and actually could have come clean as early as march. they were involved and they should let us know. instead of doing that, they went nearly 11 months and stone walled the committee not providing information. but you are aware today that your chairman said today mr. holder didn t know about it. well, he may or may not. but he s the one you re talking about holding in contempt. again, we don t know all the
we have seen this in the past however as you see however the white house coming under some heat for asserting the expectative privilege in this instance. we are in the middle of an election year, of course, so both sides accusing each other of playing politics with this. the white house certainly watching the proceedings this morning, quite closely. and again, reiterating the fact that they believe that attorney general eric holder has been completely cooperative with the proceedings. thomas? as you point out, over 7,600 pages of documents have been submitted for this house committee to view in this oversight investigation. i think a lot of people believe if there s nothing to hide then why not release these documents? but then on the other side of things for the documents that they re requesting, it is not within the purview or the window as i understand it and why eric holder asked the president to issue this executive privilege to say they don t have a right to look over any of th
not the fact the program had questions to it. all right. talking about exactly what is being held out, it s documents past the february 4th of 2011, date. documents that the attorney general says are not related to the course of conduct of the investigation of fast and furious. so john, when you hear that, doesn t it look like this is some type of political witch hunt and as erin point out, makes it look as independents across the country there s an ax to grind from the right? i don t think so, thomas. let me say this. with the president cominging in at the last minute to say this is executive privilege, that s actually completely stunning given what the president said when he s running for president on the campaign trail saying that there s ooch executive privilege used by the bush white house. the fact of the fatter is the congress has a right and a duty to get to the bottom of the facts on this fast and furious case. and what is the president hiding now from eric holder and why
partisan show down between the obama white house and republican controlled house of representatives. the house oversite committee voted to hold the toerp general, eric holder, in contempt, accusing the nation s highest ranking law enforcement officer. the committee vote was hours after the democratic administration upped the ante. for months, a stare down between the congress and justice department. this morning, president obama invoked executive privilege, denying the committee the documents they demanded for months from the attorney general. it would be an unprecedented step for an attorney general to be found in contempt by the entire house. that vote is set for next week, and harsh statements from all sides tonight in washington don t suggest at the moment any opening for compromise. here is the chairman, darrell issa. there s still time for avoid tg, if in fact the documents we asked for are delivered by the time the house scheduled for contempt vote. democrats on th
documents they have demand they are set to vote next week in whether to hold him in contempt of the congress. today the attorney general sent a letter to darrell issa chairman of the house oversight committee and the attorney general wrote that he is willing to compromise on releasing more documents. doug mckelway with the news life in washington. hey, doug. hay, shep it, looks like what happened today after contempt of congress vote for attorney general eric holder are either going to be coming to a head or a resolution. attorney general holder told today the house oversight committee that is he willing to make an extraordinary accommodation by turning over department emails that he previously maintained were privileged, quote: we brief this briefing and the documents we are prepared to provide will fully address the remaining concerns identified in the recent letters from me to you in the house leadership. today committee republicans have doubts about this gesture. they have subpoe