Attorney General Eric Holder vigorously denied a "cover-up" by the Justice Department over "Operation Fast and Furious," telling a House panel investigating the botched gun-running program that he has nothing to hide and suggesting the probe is a "political" effort to embarrass the administration. 
 
 "There's no attempt at any kind of cover-up," Holder told lawmakers well into a hearing about whether he had been forthright in responding to requests of the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. 
 
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 "We're not going to be hiding behind any kind of privileges or anything," he said. 
 
 The hearing came after Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, his Senate partner in the probe, asserted that top Justice officials are covering up events surrounding the flawed gun-smuggling probe. 
 
 Issa made the accusation in a letter threatening to seek a contempt of Congress ruling against Holder for failing to turn over congressionally subpoenaed documents that were created after problems with Fast and Furious came to light. 
 
 Republicans also released a report in the hours ahead of the hearing claiming that Justice Department officials "had much greater knowledge of, and involvement in, Fast and Furious than it has previously acknowledged." 
 
 Asked whether his assistants, Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler or Assistant Attorney Lanny Breuer, head of the department's Criminal Division, ever authorized gunwalking or the tactics employed in Fast and Furious, Holder responded not to his knowledge. 
 
 "Not only did I not authorize those tactics, when I found out about them I told the field and everybody in the United States Department of Justice that those tactics had to stop. That they were not acceptable and that gunwalking was to stop. That was what my reaction [was] to my finding out about the use of that technique," he added. 
 
 He added that he doesn't think that the situation warranted the kind of response Republicans were giving after his department provided thousands of documents, and planned to deliver more. 
 
 Holder also rejected arguments that his handling of the case had lost him any support for the effort he was putting forth as attorney general. 
 
 "I don't think the American people have lost trust in me. ... This has become political, I get that," he said. 
 
 But Holder also said no one has been punished "yet" in the case, despite the fact that lost guns from the operation ended up at the crime scene where U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in December 2010. 
 
 Terry's family has informed the U.S. government that it has six months to respond to its inquiry into Terry's death or face a $25 million lawsuit. 
 
 In the botched operation, more than 1,400 weapons sold to low-level straw purchasers believed to be supplying Mexican drug gangs and other criminals were lost during tracking by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents. Another 700 firearms connected to suspects in the investigation have been recovered, some from crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S., including in Nogales, Ariz., where Terry was killed. 
 
 Holder said he didn't learn about Terry's murder until 24 hours after his death, and at the time did not hear that weapons tied to Fast and Furious were at the scene. 
 
 "I didn't know about Operation Fast and Furious until the beginning parts of 2011 after I received that letter from Senator Grassley, I guess at the end of January and then that was about Operation Gun Runner. I actually learned about the Fast and Furious operation in February of that year." 
 
 Holder told the committee, "I’m not sure exactly how I found out about the term, 'Fast and Furious.'" He testified repeatedly that he never authorized the controversial tactics employed in the operation. 
 
 "There is no attempt at any kind of cover-up," Holder said. "We have shared huge amounts of information" and will continue to do so, he said. 
 
 But Holder said under questioning that he has not disciplined anyone for his role in the controversial operation. 
 
 "No I have not as yet -- as yet," Holder said when questioned by Issa on the matter. "There have been personnel changes made at ATF. We obviously have a new U.S. attorney in Arizona. We have made personnel switches at ATF. People have been moved out of positions." 
 
 Holder's statements on the Justice Department's role in the operation did not sit well with Republican lawmakers on the committee, who accused the attorney general of intentionally withholding key documents in the case. 
 
 "The conclusion that I come to is there are some things in there that's being hidden that you don't want us to see," said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "We have every right under the Constitution to check on what you're doing... So for you to deny this committee anything like that is just dead wrong and I don't think you're going to find any way that you can do it." 
 
 Burton went on to say that 93,000 documents related to the operation are being withheld by the Justice Department even though they've been turned over internally to the department's inspector general, a political appointee, Burton said. 
 
 "And you're saying, well, the separation of powers prohibits you from (delivering them to Congress). That's baloney. That is just baloney," Burton said. 
 
 Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also questioned Holder's having not discussed the case with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. 
 
 "When people know that I'm going to be the subject of these kinds of hearings, you know six times and all that, nobody necessarily wants to get involved in these kinds of things or get dragged into it," Holder responded. 
 
 Issa told Holder the committee will do what is necessary to obtain the information, "If you do not find a legitimate basis to deny us the material we've asked for." 
 
 Holder said earlier during testimony that he would release additional materials "to the extent that I can." 
 
 In Holder's defense, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., claimed the committee has "not obtained one shred of evidence that would contradict your testimony." 
 
 "Not one witness, not one document, not one e-mail, and still some continue to suggest that you did personally authorize gunwalking and the tactics in Operation Fast and Furious." ||||| Washington (CNN) -- Firings and charges against the justice department officials who oversaw the agency's flawed gun-running operation are likely to come in the next six months, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday. 
 
 Holder was speaking before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to discuss the controversial sting operation called Operation Fast and Furious. 
 
 Asked what steps he had taken since the controversy came to light 13 months ago, Holder said he is awaiting the conclusions of an internal investigation. 
 
 Regarding people found culpable in that probe, he said, "I can assure you those people will be removed from federal service." 
 
 Any possible charges will not be filed until the department has the evidence to get a conviction, he said at the hearing. 
 
 The operation, designed to monitor the flow of weapons, allowed illegally purchased firearms to be taken from U.S. gun stores across the Mexican border to drug cartels. However, hundreds of weapons were lost or unaccounted for, and a storm of outrage erupted when two of the missing weapons were found at a site where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010. 
 
 Democrats and Republicans have since been at odds over who knew what about the operation and when. 
 
 At the outset of the hearing, new information on the operation was scarce, and the back-and-forth between members of the two parties dominated. 
 
 House Republican Darrell Issa threatened to begin a contempt proceeding against Holder to force him to release more documents, and pressed him for proof that such gun-running will not happen again. 
 
 Republicans are investigating how high up the operation was sanctioned, while Democrats defended Holder's testimony that he did not know about it. 
 
 The showdown comes after Issa and the Justice Department exchanged sharp letters in recent days. 
 
 The Justice Department late Wednesday sent a pointed letter to Issa rejecting his demand on Tuesday that certain documents be turned over by next week. 
 
 In his letter to Holder, Issa blasted the Justice Department for dumping -- after the close of business last Friday -- important, long-sought documents that disclosed Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer had discussed with Mexican officials a plan to allow illegal guns "to walk" into Mexico, where Mexican officials would arrest the gun-runners. 
 
 Issa said an e-mail showed "Breuer suggested allowing straw purchasers cross in Mexico so (Mexican authorities) can arrest, prosecute and convict." 
 
 "These new documents show that Breuer made this statement on February 4, 2011, the same day Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote to Congress denying that the department allowed guns to walk," Issa said. 
 
 The Justice Department fired back Wednesday, claiming Issa's letter showed "significant misunderstanding both of the documents we recently produced and of the Department's position on the issues you raise." 
 
 The five-page letter signed by Deputy Attorney General James Cole strongly rejected the claim that the documents show Breuer supported letting illegal guns make their way to Mexican cartels. 
 
 "Assistant Attorney General Breuer proposed to his Mexican counterparts a scenario in which those carrying illegal weapons across the border would be arrested at the border by Mexican officials and charged in Mexico. While these officials ultimately did not pursue that strategy, it is neither fair nor accurate to say that this was advocacy of 'gunwalking'. It was not." 
 
 Republicans have pressed to learn whether top Obama administration officials were aware of the controversial tactics, but to date, Breuer is the highest-ranking official shown to have any awareness of any possible gun-running operation. 
 
 Democrats have released documents suggesting the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Phoenix were at the heart of the decision-making in developing sting operations, including Operation Fast and Furious. 
 
 Issa said in his letter to Holder that, "if the department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress." 
 
 The Justice Department response Wednesday rejected Issa's February 9 deadline to produce all demanded documents. Cole called the deadline "impossible" to meet because of the broad scope of the request. 
 
 He did not directly refer to the threat of a contempt charge by Issa. ||||| A House panel voted Wednesday in favor of holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, a move that inflamed partisan rancor on Capitol Hill and sets up the possibility of legal action against the attorney general himself. 
 
 Holder has not yet been formally held in contempt of Congress. The full House would still need to approve the resolution in order for that to happen -- Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., afterward told Fox News that such a floor vote can still be avoided. 
 
 But the 23-17 party-line vote on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee marked a significant turn in lawmakers' 16-month investigation into the botched anti-gunrunning operation Fast and Furious. With the vote, Republicans on the committee signaled they had exhausted all other means to extract sought-after documents from the Justice Department -- though Democrats had insisted there was still an opportunity to sort out the mess without a contempt vote. 
 
 "We and the American people need answers sooner, not later," said Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the committee. 
 
 Issa pressed ahead with the vote Wednesday despite an eleventh-hour move by President Obama to assert executive privilege over the Fast and Furious documents at the heart of the dispute. 
 
 Preceding the vote late Wednesday afternoon was a caustic debate before the committee that spanned six hours, as Democrats accused Issa of prosecuting a "political witch hunt" and Republicans stepped up their criticism of Holder's "stonewalling" over the Fast and Furious probe. Even for Washington, the tone at the hearing was decidedly bitter and accusatory. 
 
 Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., shouted while rattling off his complaints against the Justice Department. 
 
 On the other side, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking Democrat of the committee, offered an impassioned defense of the attorney general even as he and other Democrats acknowledged Fast and Furious was severely flawed. 
 
 "I don't think he's hiding a damn thing," Cummings said of Holder shortly before the contempt vote. 
 
 Democrats roundly voiced disappointment with the proceedings, describing them as politically motivated and avoidable. They pleaded with Issa to seriously consider Obama's executive privilege claim -- the first Obama has asserted -- while some said Holder was being punished for withholding internal documents he shouldn't be turning over anyway. 
 
 Republicans praised Issa for pressing ahead, describing the vote as entirely unavoidable considering the department's alleged refusal to cooperate. They frequently invoked the name of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry -- Fast and Furious-linked guns were found at the scene of Terry's murder in 2010. And Issa indicated he was waiting for a more detailed explanation from the White House, and a letter from Obama himself, before even considering changing course based on the executive privilege claim. 
 
 Issa also accused the Justice Department of trying to compel the committee to close its investigation in exchange for documents it hasn't yet seen. "I can't accept that deal. No other committee chairman would," he said. 
 
 But Cummings fired back that Holder never made such a demand -- a Justice official also refuted Issa's claim -- and said the attorney general had come to the committee in "good faith" to try and work out an agreement. 
 
 Cummings said the contempt vote has "diminished" the prestige of the panel. "For the past year, you've been holding the attorney general to an impossible standard," he said, addressing Issa. "Mr. Chairman, it did not have to be this way. It really didn't." 
 
 Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., added that she was "horrified" by the panel's looming vote, calling it a "political witch hunt" and accusing Republicans of "overruling" the president. 
 
 The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was first informed of the president's decision to assert executive privilege over the disputed Fast and Furious documents in a letter Wednesday morning, shortly before the contempt vote was scheduled. 
 
 Issa said committee staff were evaluating the letter but described the move as too little, too late as he and other GOP lawmakers questioned the basis for the assertion. 
 
 "This untimely assertion by the Justice Department falls short of any reason to delay today's proceedings," Issa said. 
 
 The committee, while voting down several Democratic amendments to the resolution, later approved a GOP amendment designating Obama's executive privilege claim as inappropriate. 
 
 The move by Holder and Obama to lock down some requested documents only complicates the fight over the botched anti-gunrunning operation between the legislative and executive branches. 
 
 After Holder made the request to Obama via letter on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote to Issa, R-Calif., on Wednesday informing him that the president has granted the request. 
 
 "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 wrote. "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." 
 
 Obama's decision pertains to documents from February 2011 and afterward examining how Justice officials learned about the Fast and Furious probe. 
 
 Holder, in his letter to Obama requesting he assert executive privilege, said those documents pertain to the "deliberative process" on how to respond to congressional and media inquiries. 
 
 In a statement released late Wednesday, Holder accused Issa of rejecting all efforts to "reach a reasonable accommodation." 
 
 "Instead, he has chosen to use his authority to take an extraordinary, unprecedented and entirely unnecessary action, intended to provoke an avoidable conflict between Congress and the Executive Branch. This divisive action does not help us fix the problems that led to this operation or previous ones and it does nothing to make any of our law enforcement agents safer. It's an election-year tactic intended to distract attention -- and, as a result -- has deflected critical resources from fulfilling what remains my top priority at the Department of Justice: Protecting the American people," he said. Holder said claims that his department was unresponsive are "untrue." 
 
 White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer also called the vote"a politically motivated, taxpayer-funded election-year fishing expedition." 
 
 But Issa countered with a statement asserting the vote was "not the outcome I had hoped for." He said it "would not have occurred had Attorney General Eric Holder actually produced the subpoenaed documents he said he could provide." 
 
 Wednesday's developments follow a flurry of activity Tuesday, as Holder tried to negotiate a way to avert the contempt proceedings. Issa had earlier indicated a willingness to postpone the vote after Holder indicated a willingness to make compromises and supply some documents in response to House Republicans' subpoena. 
 
 But Issa told reporters after a roughly 20-minute meeting with Holder Tuesday that the attorney general instead briefed them on the documents in lieu of delivering them. 
 
 Issa told Fox News that Holder didn't provide "anything in writing." 
 
 Issa further said during the committee meeting Wednesday that the purpose of the probe "has never been to hold the attorney general in contempt." He said the committee had an aide on Capitol Hill all night in the hope that the Justice Department might send over documents to the panel. 
 
 The failed Fast and Furious operation attempted selling thousands of guns to arms dealers along the U.S.-Mexico border to trace them to leaders of drug cartels. However, many of them showed up in crime scenes. Congressional investigators have been trying to determine if and when high-level Justice officials knew about problems with the operation. 
 
 After a day in which their son's name was repeatedly invoked, Terry's parents Josephine and Kent Terry also released a statement Wednesday afternoon expressing disappointment with the administration's latest actions. 
 
 "Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast and Furious and President Obama's assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family and the American people the truth," they said. 
 
 The Department of Justice has adamantly defended its response. Holder said Issa rejected what he thought was "an extraordinary offer." 
 
 GOP House leadership has given Issa the green light to proceed how he sees fit, sources told Fox News, which suggests the vote would reach the House floor. 
 
 Issa had demanded to see a trove of documents on the controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation. He also wants to know who prepared a now-retracted letter from Feb. 4, 2011, in which the department claimed the U.S. did not knowingly help smuggle guns to Mexico, including those found where Terry was killed.
– Eric Holder angrily denied that the Justice Department was trying to hide anything about the botched "Operation Fast and Furious" program in his testimony before Congress today—and insisted that he'd had no knowledge of the gun-tracking operation. "There's no attempt at any kind of coverup," the attorney general said, pointing out that the department had turned over thousands of documents and intended to turn over more. "This has become political, I get that," he added, according to Fox News. "Not only did I not authorize those tactics, when I found out about them, I told the field … that those tactics had to stop," he said. (The idea was to track weapons as they made their way to cartels, but authorities lost track of many.) Holder added that those responsible would likely be fired or charged with crimes within six months, once an internal investigation is finished. "I can assure you those people will be removed from federal service," he said, according to CNN. But Republicans weren't satisfied, saying he was still withholding documents, and Darrell Issa threatened to do whatever necessary to obtain them. Issa has previously threatened to charge Holder with contempt of Congress.