Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told Buzzfeed Monday he expects 31 Democrats to join House Republicans in finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for stonewalling the committee’s investigation into the controversial "Operation Fast and Furious":
Issa, who has risen to national prominence as the point of the Republican spear in investigating alleged Obama administration wrongdoing, called for a committee vote on contempt next week in advance of a full House vote on Holder's conduct in the so-called "Fast and Furious" operation, in which a federal agent was allegedly killed with a gun the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allowed to be trafficked.
"The real question is, we’re opening up the data that we have to all the members, so as they start reading specifics of what we know was known and was hidden from Congress, and what we’d like to know and been denied, how many of the Democrats will vote with us," Issa said after speaking at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York. "I expect we’ll have about 31 Democrats with us."
Issa said under normal circumstances he'd expect the vote to pressure Holder to turn over the documents, but that now he's hoping the president intercedes on Congress' behalf.
"After Thursday’s hearing with the Attorney General, no, I don’t expect it, but I would hope that the president would second-guess the man that he says he has full faith and confidence in, and tell him that it’s time to deliver reasonable documents," Issa said.