Holder faces House contempt vote on gun probe

The Republican-led House is scheduled to vote on Thursday on whether to charge the nation's top law enforcement officer with contempt of Congress related to his withholding of documents in the "Fast and Furious" gun-running sting operation on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The operation was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is part of the Justice Department that Holder heads.

Speaking at a Reuters Washington Summit, Pelosi called the move against Holder "one of the most irresponsible" acts she has witnessed in the Congress, but said some Democrats are feeling pressure to vote with Republicans.

The National Rifle Association, which wields influence in both parties in Washington, has put members on notice that the contempt vote is considered a "gun issue" with repercussions for anyone voting no.

The Democratic leader said she tells members that if the Republicans "are acting politically, you may have to react politically."

Pelosi accused Republicans of trying to "tie up" Holder to keep him from looking into voter suppression activities around the country. "They want the attorney general to be tied up," she said. "They don't want him to combat voter fraud. This is such a canard."

Fast and Furious, devised by law enforcement officials in Arizona, which borders Mexico, was aimed at tracing the illegal flow of guns from the United States over the border where they were suspected of falling into the hands of violent drug cartels.

The operation went awry when agents lost track of many of the guns and at least one was found at the murder site of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The Justice Department initially maintained that there was no operation in 2009 and 2010 to let guns "walk" over the border - a claim the agency later withdrew.

House Republicans say they are trying to determine whether high-ranking administration officials knew the true nature of Fast and Furious but withheld it from congressional investigators.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is seeking documents which Holder declined to provide after months of negotiations with top Republican leaders who control the House, saying he had already turned over thousands of pages relating to the operation, code named "Fast and Furious."

Holder has said that the additional materials sought by the committee are covered by the doctrine of executive privilege, historically invoked by Presidents to protect the confidentiality of communications within their administrations.

Legal analysts say there is little Congress could do to enforce a contempt citation against the attorney general. Normally it would be up to the Justice Department, which Holder heads, to enforce a contempt citation.

Last week, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a party-line vote, passed a measure to charge Holder with contempt of Congress. Democrats have accused Republicans of stoking a scandal for political gain to hurt Democratic President Barack Obama ahead of the November 6 election.

"We'd really rather not be there. We'd really rather have the attorney general and the president work with us to get to the bottom of a very serious issue," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters Wednesday, referring to the vote by the full House.

Boehner said that Republicans have given the administration "ample opportunity" to comply with the committee's requests for documents.

"Unfortunately, they're not willing to show the American people the truth about what happened. It's an unfortunate place where we are," Boehner said.

Besides voting on the contempt charge against Holder, the House also is planning to consider a second resolution to ask U.S. courts to force Holder to turn over the documents. Some legal experts also doubt courts would want to get involved in the dispute, particularly when it involves a claim of executive privilege.

(Editing by Will Dunham, Fred Barbash and Vicki Allen)