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June 28th, 2012
07:36 PM ET
U.S. House finds Attorney General in contempt of Congress in historic vote
It was a historic day on Capitol Hill.
By a vote of 255 to 67, the U.S. House of Representatives held a sitting attorney general in contempt of Congress for the first time in history. Most Republicans voted in favor of contempt, and about 100 Democrats walked out before the vote.
This all stems from the "Fast and Furious" operation, where the government sold and tracked 2,000 guns, hoping to trace them to Mexican drug cartels. Critics in Congress say Attorney General Eric Holder failed to hand over documents related to the operation.
But the Republicans weren't alone – they were joined by 17 Democrats in the historic vote. OutFront tonight is one of them, Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania.
On Twitter
@Jazzie654 Oh yea. They’re omnipresent. But this guy - he is the epitome of calm when he realizes. Who wouldn’t stwitter.com/i/web/status/1…gp09vC
Part of our conversation: vimeo.com/795428219/6aec….
He says this to Ukrainians: “ I ask the Ukrainian people for forgiveness, that I came to their land with a gun in my hand”.
He is in Mexico now. He’s approached border guards and says he got nowhere. He is now seeking political asylum to ttwitter.com/i/web/status/1…rVHH
He fled Russia in early Jan. He shared his dismissal papers with us. In part “this serviceman refused to go to thetwitter.com/i/web/status/1…LXt9
I guess there are some elected officials worth their salt. Not a lot (See: Rep. Altmire above) but some. Now again, I'm not looking at party affiliation, I'm just looking at behavior.
I once tried to contact the legislators who'd sponsored a state tax incentive bill in order to see if my company could benefit from it. Two days later, I was contacted by the lobbyist who'd promoted the bill to the legislature, saying that if we were willing to pay a modest fee, her law firm could "put something together" for us for consideration by the statehouse. I tried contacting the aide to the state rep again, asking her why we were contacted by a lobbyist trying to solicit services to us when I was seeking the help of our public servants. Her reply was that the "lawyers at the lobbying firm assisted legislative attorneys in assembling that language and are the most familiar with the rule, and therefore in a better position to assist you."
MORAL OF THE STORY: The legislators don't write the laws, the lobbyists do.