Obama asserts executive privilege on Fast and Furious documents
updated 10:45 AM EDT, Wed June 20, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: The move comes as a House committee was set to vote on a contempt measure
- NEW: The start of the committee hearing is delayed
- Attorney Gen. Holder says the panel chairman, Rep. Issa, is playing political games
- At issue are documents Issa seeks on the botched Fast and Furious gun-running sting
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege over documents sought by a House committee investigating the botched Fast and Furious gun-running sting, according to a letter to the panel Wednesday from Deputy Attorney Gen. James Cole.
The move means the Department of Justice can withhold the documents from the House Oversight Committee, which was scheduled to consider a contempt measure Wednesday against Holder.
"I write now to inform you that the president has asserted executive privilege over the relevant post-February 4, 2011, documents," Cole wrote in a letter to committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California.
"We regret that we have arrived at this point, after the many steps we have taken to address the committee's concerns and to accommodate the committee's legitimate oversight interests regarding Operation Fast and Furious," Cole continued. "Although we are deeply disappointed that the committee appears intent on proceeding with a contempt vote, the department remains willing to work with the Committee to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues."
Wednesday's development further heightened the drama of a high-profile showdown between Issa and Holder over the committee's demand for the Department of Justice to turn over more documents about the Fast and Furious program.
The hearing by Issa's panel to consider the contempt measure had yet to begin 15 minutes after its scheduled start, following the release of Cole's letter to the committee.
Issa and Holder met Tuesday evening in what was billed as a final effort to resolve their differences. However, the meeting amounted to little more than a reiteration of the positions the two staked out in an exchange of letters the previous week, and Issa said afterward the committee would proceed with its contempt vote if Holder failed to turn over the documents in question.
Holder told reporters that he offered to provide the documents on the condition that Issa gave his assurance that doing so would satisfy two committee subpoenas and resolve the dispute.
"They rejected what I thought was an extraordinary offer on our part.," Holder said. Asked about whether Issa was open to resolving the issue before the committee meets Wednesday, Holder said: "I think we actually are involved more in political gamesmanship" instead of a sincere effort to get the requested documents.
In particular, Issa's committee wants documents that show why the Department of Justice decided to withdraw as inaccurate a February 2011 letter sent to Congress that said top officials had only recently learned about Fast and Furious.
In a letter to Issa after the Tuesday meeting, Cole reiterated Holder's position that the documents would show Holder had nothing to hide about his role in Fast and Furious.
Cole noted that the lone point of dispute was whether the February 4,2011 letter was part of a broader effort to obstruct a congressional investigation.
"The answer to that question is an emphatic 'no' and we have offered the Committee the opportunity to satisfy itself that that is so," Cole wrote.
A committee statement issued before Tuesday's meeting said it was a chance for Holder to meet the panel's demands for additional documents, which would allow for a postponement.
"Currently, (the Department of Justice) has not delivered or shown the committee any of the documents it has said it is prepared to produce," the statement continued. "It is not clear if they will actually produce these documents to the committee before the Wednesday vote to facilitate a postponement."
Holder, however, said he made an unprecedented offer of documents and a briefing to the committee, which so far has turned him down.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee who also attended the meeting, said Holder was trying to end a protracted standoff with the Republican-led panel.
"He sees this as a never-ending process," Cummings said in describing Holder's concerns about the continuing requests for more documentation.
Another person in the room, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, said afterward that he supported Holder and appreciated "that he is going the extra mile to resolve this."
However, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who also participated in the meeting, said Holder was seeking to get cleared before he actually turned over any of the requested information.
"The attorney general wants to trade a briefing and the promise of delivering some small, unspecified set of documents tomorrow for a free pass today," Grassley said afterward. "He wants to turn over only what he wants to turn over and not give us any information about what he's not turning over. That's unacceptable. I'm not going to buy a pig in a poke."
While such disputes have long been part of the interaction between Congress and the government, the public showdown between Holder and Issa -- coming in the politically charged atmosphere of an election year -- raised the stakes on an already volatile issue.
Issa has accused the attorney general of stonewalling an investigation into Fast and Furious and how the Justice Department provided Congress with erroneous information about it. The department says it already has handed over more than 7,000 pages of records to House investigators, and that the remaining material Issa wants could jeopardize criminal prosecutions.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives launched Operation Fast and Furious out of Arizona to track weapon purchases by Mexican drug cartels. However, it lost track of more than 1,000 firearms that the agency had allowed straw buyers to carry across the border, and two of the lost weapons turned up at the scene of the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
Asked by a reporter about why he was pushing so hard, Issa said it was because the nation and Terry's family deserved to know as much information as possible about the program linked to Terry's death.
The back-and-forth letters exchanged between Holder and Issa before Tuesday's meeting revealed an incremental negotiation over what the committee wanted and what the Department of Justice was willing to provide.
In a late Monday letter, Issa made clear he wanted the documents ahead of time and also wanted Grassley, a leading Holder critic, to take part.
Holder agreed to a meeting but told Issa he wanted to include Cummings and Leahy. His letter Monday said the purpose of the meeting would be to reach an agreement that would avoid a "constitutional confrontation," a reference to the committee's planned vote on the contempt measure.
CNN's Terry Frieden, Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
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