memeorandum: Fast and Furious scandal: Obama invokes executive privilege; House panel moves forward with Holder contempt vote (Washington Post)

6:15 PM ET, June 20, 2012

Top Items:

Nancy Pelosi Slams Contempt Vote: 'I Could Have Arrested Karl Rove ... But We Didn't' … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Darrell Issa, Eric Holder, Karl Rove, Nancy Pelosi, Elections 2012, Video, Darrell Issa Contempt, Eric Holder Contempt, Fast And Furious, Holder Fast And Furious, Issa Fast And Furious, Politics News

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, The Raw Story, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Impolitic and Business Insider

Fox News:

Obama grants Holder request on ‘Furious’ documents as contempt vote looms — DEVELOPING ... President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off …

Washington Post:

Fast and Furious scandal: Obama invokes executive privilege; House panel moves forward with Holder contempt vote — President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The Monkey Cage, Wonkette, The Volokh Conspiracy, Balloon Juice and Conservatives4Palin

New York Times:

House Panel Recommends Contempt Case Against Holder — WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House oversight committee voted on Wednesday to recommend holding Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress in a dispute over internal Justice Department documents related …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Week, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Truthdig and No More Mister Nice Blog

Tom Cohen / CNN:

Panel votes to cite Holder for contempt — Washington (CNN) — Voting on strictly partisan lines, a House committee recommended Wednesday that Attorney General Eric Holder be cited for contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents relating to the botched Fast and Furious weapons sting operation.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Little Green Footballs, This Just In, Mediaite, Politico, The Moderate Voice, americanthinker.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Political Carnival and Vodkapundit

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

House panel votes to place Holder in contempt of Congress — A House panel voted Wednesday to place Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to comply with a subpoena, defying an assertion of executive privilege from President Obama.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hot Air, PJ Media, National Review, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Fox News Insider

Byron Tau / Politico:

Boehner: Privilege claim implies White House cover-up — On the heels of President Obama's decision to shield Department of Justice documents under the doctrine of executive privilege, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner wondered if White House officials were being involved in a cover-up.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Gateway Pundit

USA Today:

House panel votes to cite Holder for contempt of Congress — WASHINGTON - A House oversight committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, marking an escalation of the long-running dispute between Republicans and the Justice Department over internal administration …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and CANNONFIRE

Politico:
President Obama uses executive privilege on Fast and Furious

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Post, Rush Limbaugh, Power Line, Examiner, Indecision Forever and Univision News Tumblr

Fox News:
House panel approves Holder contempt resolution

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama Executive Privilege Asserted Over Fast And Furious Documents

Discussion: Guardian, Washington Monthly, ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh and American Spectator

The United States Department of Justice:
Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Vote

Discussion: BBC, Swampland and Law Blog

John Gramlich / CQ.com:
Contempt Citation Would Carry Limited Legal Consequences

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Des Moines Register:
Iowa's Grassley responds to Obama's executive privilege move on ‘Fast and Furious’

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation and The Gateway Pundit

Donovan Slack / Politico:
White House: No cover-up, GOP playing politics with Fast & Furious

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Fox News Insider:
READ: Attorney General Eric Holder's Letter to President Obama Requesting Executive Privilege …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Mediaite, Associated Press, Conservatives4Palin and Weasel Zippers

Evan Perez / Wall Street Journal:
House Panel Votes To Hold Holder in Contempt

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Right Scoop, GOP.com, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Questions and Observations and Mediaite

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed: Romney Campaign Says Obama Fast And Furious Decision “Another Broken Promise”

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Obama asserts executive privilege ahead of Holder contempt vote

Discussion: ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, The Moderate Voice and Townhall.com

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Matthews Slimes GOP as Racist for Going After Holder: An ‘Ethnic’ ‘Stop-and-Frisk’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:
Obama invokes executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents

Discussion: American Prospect, JustOneMinute, Chicago Boyz, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Powers That Be and The Right Scoop

New York Post:
Is this the end of Eric Holder's games?

Discussion: RedState and National Review

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:

Obama Leads In Poll As Voters View Romney As Out Of Touch — Barack Obama has opened a significant lead over Mitt Romney in a Bloomberg National Poll that reflects the presumed Republican nominee's weaknesses more than the president's strengths. — Obama leads Romney 53 percent …

David J. Lynch / Bloomberg:

Americans Say They'Re Better Off Since Obama Took Office — A plurality of Americans now say they are better off than they were when President Barack Obama was inaugurated, providing a surprising lift to Obama's re- election campaign despite troublesome economic news.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Politico, American Prospect and The Political Carnival

CNN:
New poll: Obama has double digit advantage

Discussion: The Political Carnival and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Maggie Habermanand Alexander Burns / Politico:

The 2012 campaign is the smallest ever — For years, operatives, reporters and potential nominees envisioned the 2012 presidential campaign as a titanic clash of media-swarmed combatants with big ideas about the future. In the Republican primaries, this was almost a mantra: this is the most important campaign in a generation.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Taylor Marsh, pandagon.net and Riehl World View

BuzzFeed:
Mitt Romney Is Terrible For Traffic

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin and Weasel Zippers

Mike Allenand Jim Vandehei / Politico:
Tim Pawlenty's stock soars in Romney-world

Discussion: Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Indecision Forever, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Wall Street Journal, No More Mister Nice Blog and TBogg

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Why Rubio probably won't be the pick

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, CNN, Washington Wire, www2.wsls.com, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Middle class could face higher taxes under Republican plan, analysis finds — The tax reform plan that House Republicans have advanced would sharply cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and could leave middle-class households facing much larger tax bills, according to a new analysis set to be released Wednesday.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, American Prospect, Eclectablog and Balloon Juice

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Soak The Middle Class

Discussion: U.S. Congress Joint … and blog.sfgate.com

Jordan Michael Smith / Salon:

New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims — “I don't think the Bush administration would want to see these released,” an expert tells Salon — Over 120 CIA documents concerning 9/11, Osama bin Laden and counterterrorism were published today for the first time, having been newly declassified and released to the National Security Archive.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, Suburban Guerrilla, US Politics, The Mahablog and Hullabaloo

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For immediate release — Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the economy has been expanding moderately this year. However, growth in employment has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated. Business fixed investment has continued to advance.

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Reuters, Firedoglake, Bloomberg, msnbc.com, Business Insider, Ezra Klein, FT Alphaville, ABCNEWS, ThinkProgress and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire

Scott Jaschik / Inside Higher Ed:

E-mails show U.Va. board wanted a big online push — By — E-mail messages were flying among leaders of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia in the weeks leading up to the ouster of Teresa A. Sullivan as president of the university. The e-mail messages show …

Discussion: naked capitalism

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Nothing sweet about heckling Obama in the Rose Garden — What does conservative pundit Tucker Carlson have to do with an outhouse in Montana? — More than you might think. — Over the weekend, the Montana Republican Party proved wrong those of us who believe our political discourse has gone down the toilet.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Democracy in America, FishbowlDC, American Prospect and Breaking News …