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The House has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, the first time Congress has taken such a dramatic move against a sitting Cabinet official. 
  
 The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats voting in support of a criminal contempt resolution, which authorizes Republicans leaders to seek criminal charges against Holder. This Democratic support came despite a round of behind-the-scenes lobbying by senior White House and Justice officials - as well as pressure from party leaders - to support Holder. 
  
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 reset Holder reacts to contempt vote 
  
 Two Republicans, Reps. Steve LaTourette (Ohio) Scott Rigell (Va.), voted against the contempt resolution. 
  
 Another civil contempt resolution, giving the green light for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to sue the Justice Department to get the Fast and Furious documents, passed by a 258-95 margin. Twenty-one Democrats voted for that measure. 
  
 But dozens of other Democrats marched off the floor in protest during the vote, adding even more drama to a tumultuous moment in the House chamber. 
  
 The heated House floor fight over Holder capped a historic day in Washington, coming just hours after the Supreme Court, just across the street from the Capitol, issued its landmark ruling upholding most of Barack Obama’s health care law. The passions of the day were evident inside the Capitol, where Democrats accused Republicans of ginning up the contempt vote for political purposes while Republicans continued to charge the Justice Department with a cover up on the Fast and Furious scandal. 
  
 The fight over the Holder contempt resolution also drew intense interest from outside groups ranging from the NAACP to the National Rifle Association. 
  
 In a statement released by his office, Holder blasted the contempt votes as “politically motivated” and “misguided,” and he singled out Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and lead Republican on the Fast and Furious probe, for special criticism. 
  
 “Today’s vote is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided – and politically motivated – investigation during an election year,” Holder said in his statement. “By advancing it over the past year and a half, Congressman Issa and others have focused on politics over public safety. Instead of trying to correct the problems that led to a series of flawed law enforcement operations, and instead of helping us find ways to better protect the brave law enforcement officers, like Agent Brian Terry, who keep us safe – they have led us to this unnecessary and unwarranted outcome.” 
  
 Holder added: “Today’s vote may make for good political theater in the minds of some, but it is – at base – both a crass effort and a grave disservice to the American people. They expect – and deserve – far better.” 
  
 White House officials also slammed House Republicans for the unprecedented contempt vote. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said GOP congressional leaders “pushed for political theater rather than legitimate congressional oversight. Over the past fourteen months, the Justice Department accommodated congressional investigators, producing 7,600 pages of documents, and testifying at eleven congressional hearings… But unfortunately, a politically-motivated agenda prevailed and instead of engaging with the President in efforts to create jobs and grow the economy, today we saw the House of Representatives perform a transparently political stunt. ||||| With the National Rifle Administration demanding a "yes" vote and African-American lawmakers vowing to walk out of the chamber, the House moved Thursday toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress in a document dispute related to a bungled gun-tracking operation. 
  
 Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, goes to the House Rules Committee to argue procedures as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on... (Associated Press) 
  
 House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, joined by other House GOP leaders, meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012, following a political strategy session. Boehner defended... (Associated Press) 
  
 Republicans had the votes to make Eric Holder the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt. They cited Holder's refusal to meet Republican demands to hand over _ without any preconditions _ documents that could explain why the Obama administration initially denied that a risky "gun-walking" investigative tactic was used in Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled from Arizona to Mexico. 
  
 The vote on a criminal contempt resolution will send the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who is under Holder. A separate vote on civil contempt will allow the House to go to court in an effort to force Holder to turn over the documents the Oversight and Government Committee wants. 
  
 In past cases, courts have been reluctant to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government. 
  
 The NRA urged House members to vote for contempt, contending the administration wanted to use Operation Fast and Furious to win gun control measures. Democrats who normally support the NRA but who vote against the contempt citations would lose any 100 percent ratings from the group. 
  
 That could affect whether they get endorsements from the powerful organization, particularly if Republican opponents surface who are strong NRA backers. 
  
 The 42-member Congressional Black Caucus said its members would walk out and refrain from voting. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said she was joining the boycott. 
  
 "Contempt power should be used sparingly, carefully and only in the most egregious situations," a letter from the caucus to House members said. "The Republican leadership has articulated no legislative purpose for pursuing this course of action. For these reasons, we cannot and will not participate in a vote to hold the attorney general in contempt." 
  
 Members of the Hispanic, Asian Pacific American and progressive caucuses said they also would not vote. 
  
 The dispute is both legal and political. Republicans asserted their right to obtain documents needed for an investigation of Operation Fast and Furious _ focusing on 10 months in 2011 after the Obama administration initially denied guns were allowed to "walk" from Arizona to Mexico. By year's end, the administration acknowledged the assertion was wrong. 
  
 President Barack Obama asserted a broad form of executive privilege, a legal position designed to keep executive branch documents from being disclosed. The assertion ensures that documents will not be turned over any time soon, unless a deal is reached between the administration and congressional Republicans. 
  
 In debate, however, Republicans framed the issue as the need for closure for the family of Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent killed in December 2010 in a shootout with Mexican bandits. Two guns from Fast and Furious were found at the scene. 
  
 Democrats said the contempt issue was a political stunt to embarrass the Obama administration in an election year, and added that holding the attorney general in contempt will do nothing to bring closure to Terry's family. 
  
 Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the contempt motions were "Fast and foolish, fast and fake." 
  
 Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla., took the opposite view, arguing, "A man died serving his country, and we have a right to know what the federal government's hand was in that." 
  
 Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said Republicans picked an odd day to schedule the contempt vote. 
  
 "I find it interesting that the Republican leadership has scheduled this nonsense for the floor today when it is certain to be buried under the avalanche of news and reaction to the Supreme Court's health care decision," he said. 
  
 For the past year and a half, some Republicans have promoted the idea that Holder and other top-level officials at the Justice Department knew federal agents in Operation Fast and Furious had engaged in gun-walking. 
  
 Two of Holder's emails and one from Deputy Attorney General James Cole in early 2011 appear to show that they hadn't known about gun-walking but were determined to find out whether the allegations were true. 
  
 "We need answers on this. Not defensive BS. Real answers," Holder wrote. 
  
 The Justice Department showed the e-mails on Tuesday to Republican and Democratic staffers of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, whose chairman is Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in an effort to ward off the criminal contempt vote against the attorney general. 
  
 The full contents of the emails were described to The Associated Press by two people who have seen them. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them publicly. 
  
 Holder has refused to turn over these and other communications unless the oversight panel dropped its subpoena for the records _ a condition unacceptable to Issa. 
  
 The department withdrew the Feb. 4 letter denying gun walking took place on Dec. 2, 2011, after documenting what had taken place not only in Operation Fast and Furious, but in three other gun-walking operations going back to 2006. 
  
 In Operation Fast and Furious, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in abandoned the agency's usual practice of intercepting all weapons they believed to be illicitly purchased. Instead, the goal of the tactic known as "gun-walking" was to track such weapons to high-level arms traffickers who had eluded prosecution and to dismantle their networks. 
  
 Gun-walking long has been barred by Justice Department policy, but federal agents in Arizona experimented with it in at least two investigations during the George W. Bush administration before Operation Fast and Furious. The agents in Arizona lost track of several hundred weapons in that operation. 
  
 ___ 
  
 Associated Press Writer Pete Yost contributed to this report. |||||

The House today declared that Eric Holder was in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, reports Politico. It's a first for a sitting attorney general, and the matter now goes to DC's federal attorney to determine whether to press criminal charges, explains the Washington Post. The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats joining Republicans. A separate civil contempt charge allows the House to go to court to try to get the documents, notes AP. During the vote, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Democrats walked out in protest. Afterward, Holder dismissed the move as "politically motivated." Here's a sample of the partisan slogging leading up to the vote, via the Hill: Republicans: "He's the gatekeeper here, and if he won't give us the information this institution needs to do our … constitutional duty, then we will use every legal and constitutional tool that we have to get to it," said Rep. Rich Nugent of Florida. Democrats: "When the history of this despicable proceeding is recorded, it will be said that your actions were politically motivated to discredit and defeat a president," said Rep. GK Butterfield of North Carolina. Moot point? One columnist thinks John Boehner scheduled the vote on a busy news day because he knows the scandal is going nowhere. Click here for that.