Washington (CNN) - An offer from the Obama administration to show Congressional investigators some documents related to the failed "Fast and Furious" sting operation was rejected Tuesday, sources from both sides say.
The last-ditch offer was a joint effort between the Justice Department and the White House and made to senior aides to House Speaker John Boehner and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa.
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According to a summary of the offer provided by a senior administration official and a Justice Department official familiar with the discussions, the Justice Department outlined an offer that included giving Congress access to some of the documents generated between February 4, 2011, when the DOJ initially told Congress there was no inappropriate activity, and December 2, 2011, when Justice acknowledged the program was "fundamentally flawed."
"We reached out and showed them a representative sample of the documents so they could see first-hand the types of communications in contention," the administration official said. President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege in the dispute.
The DOJ also offered to conduct a briefing, give Congress documents related to the whistleblowers, and work with the committee to respond to any questions they had after reviewing the materials. According to a summary of the offer Justice maintained this would have given Congress "unprecedented access to deliberative documents."
The Administration official said the documents would "dispel any notion of an intent to mislead Congress."
One senior House GOP aide confirmed the Justice Department made the offer to senior Republican staff, but said it wasn't sufficient. GOP leaders plan to move forward with a House vote slated for Thursday to hold Holder in contempt of Congress.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz told CNN, "This was a good faith effort to try to reach an accommodation while still protecting the institutional prerogatives of the Executive Branch, often championed by these same Republicans criticizing us right now. Unfortunately Republicans have opted for political theater rather than conduct legitimate Congressional oversight."
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House Republicans would rather start a legal fight they know they can't win than find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. As long as the court ruling comes AFTER the election, it doesn't matter that they will inevitably lose. Another fishing expedition, wasting tax payer dollars from the people who claim to care about government waste.
this partisanship at all costs is hurting our country
This was Boehner's chance to show leadership and again he failed.
why are the american people are sitting around and not trying to force the repubs to do something about the hundreds of thousands of automatic weapons are going across into mexico. will the american people just simply stand by and see the repubs crucify this man for trying to save lives. while put up with the repubs and the NRA, mission of flooding mexico with as much assault weapons as the NRA can sell. this is a tragedy for this country. i know that 65 percent of the repubs supporters are white folks and they own america, but does none of these repubs supporters have any soul to just sit back and watch these repubs put more mexicans and american lives in danger, just so the NRA can sell some more guns. now they want to slam this attorney gerneral to cover up the wickedness they are persuing. america is going south on this one.
This administration continues now for four years to hide documents, pass the bogus Obamacare bill without reading it; the arbitrary intrusion into our private lives and the alteration of our once Constitutional form of government should be a warning sign to vote this worst president in the history of our country, out. Our children's children will curse us for anything less.
Obama and Holder need to be transparent as obama promised he would be. They need to show anything congress wants and quit stalling. So let Holder be in Contempt and let the chips fall where they may. Time to clean up this gun running fiasco that was botch by the democrats.
The GOTP just keeps doubling down on their witch hunt, regardless of other priorities and lack of evidence.
Their futile attempts to undermine this administration will be their downfall. But, not nearly soon enough.
If this vote proceeds, then it's only fair that DOJ investigate Issa's corrupt business practices for which he has \not been forthcoming nor provided clarity. He lives in a glass house and has not business being on this witch hunt.
Every single time a Democrat in DC gets in trouble they try to defend it by using phrases like "politcal theater","political games", etc.. Stop trying to belittle what is going on and start answering some questions. Watching some of this has made me really think there is dirt being covered up. Dems need to take this a bit more seriously and stop acting like it's just a political play.
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa could care less about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry !
This is a political kagaroo court to distract from the incompetence of a do nothing congress .
To arm our nations enemies is a sure sign of traitorism and cowardness,
Federal agents and Arizona officials blast Homeland Security's refusal to cooperate with the state's immigration law and 'business as usual' approach in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. The Supreme court gave him half a victory and then he went pouting off and told the justice department not to help enforce the laws of the land. How exactly can any one be expected to believe in you Obama you are a child! Your own federal agents are upset with you!
The American people know you are covering up both the Gun running and the National Security leaks . Dems are voting with the GOP to hold Holder in contempt. Obama you are sinking fast.
Other intelligent species must think we're a joke planet.
Resign and impeach.
What is wrong with our congressman? It's amazing how the can hate someone so bad. I hope he still comes out as a winner.
Our political system has become nothing more than theater,the actors from either party take the stage ,the media blows the trumpets and we sit back in our easy chair getting fat off of junk food. Time for a change.......
Rep. Issa is just putting on a show now....
A witch hunt is no fun unless you burn the witch!
What kind of documents are being asked for by Issa? If Holder is concerned about ongoing investigations, why hasn't Issa said that he would look at them and not have them made public? Wouldn't that solve anything? I would hope that Issa thinks about that.
Obama is a wonderful leader and mertis our support.
However,
If Obama was an overweight, straight, irish man, he would have been impeached years ago, but no. Obama, in spite of his track record of having done absolutely nothing that did not require a "back room deal" or that was another fail promise, had and has had the bar significantly lowered from college to politics, the senate and then "fast tracked" to the white house. With no experience whatsoever, the country (those that voted for this PUTON) and those who did not have been taken for a ride that no white man could have ever accomplished.
But really, what were we to expect? The man has never been responsible for anything, so how do we expect him to act responsibly? In short: our president is a small and small-minded man, with neither the temperament nor the intellect to handle his job. When you understand that, and only when you understand that, will the current erosion of liberty and prosperity make sense. It could not have gone otherwise with such a man in the Oval Office.
Rep. Issa is the one that has been arrested in the past several times...
In time, history will look back and call this the second raise of McCarthyism...
Even if Eric Holder is found in contempt...nothing will happen...McCarthy tried his run and ended up showing the world what he really was...The GOP have been taken over by extremist that will do anything to make Obama a one term President...
Charge Holder and all who are trying to cover this up even the so-called president for first degree murder. They intentionally allowed those weapons to cross the border and fall into cartel hands. Now patriots like me and those I patrol our border area with are facing those weapons. Maybe that's what Obozo and Holder had in mind from the beginning
Just one last attempt at the dems trying to cover up this admins screw ups. well the congress aint going to let them pull the wool over their eyes. lets get the AG out now and the good for nothing prez out in november. romney 2012
Too late. You can't put the genie back into the bottle. This is going to be an interesting show. It's far worse than Watergate, involves multiple government agencies and people were murdered. These attempts at a cover up are a demonstration of the arrogance of an administration that is operating outside the law and in spite of the people.
Who does Holder work for?