Contempt

Attorney General Eric Holder avoided commenting on the Fast and Furious scandal in Boston today. The Boston Herald reports:

Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. refused to say today whether he would consider resigning if a federal probe into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ disastrous “Fast and Furious” operation threatens President Obama’s re-election.

The question was posed to Holder by a Herald reporter at the Seaport World Trade Center, where he delivered a keynote address on the state of civil rights to a packed room of federal prosecutors and local law enforcement. Holder kept on walking and didn’t answer.

In just two days, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take a historic vote, potentially to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for allegedly refusing to turn over documents about the two-year gun-tracking investigation in Mexico that resulted in the murder of a Border Patrol agent.

Later, Holder made an oblique reference to the House vote scheduled for Thursday on whether to hold the attorney general in contempt. "It’s going to get really busy on Thursday, apparently," Holder said, according to the Boston Herald. Holder's comment was reportedly met with "awkward laughs."

A self-effacing Holder drew awkward laughs from the symposium hosted by longtime pal U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz when, while touching upon how busy his schedule is, he said, “It’s going to get really busy on Thursday, apparently.”