The
Justice Department declared Friday that Attorney General Eric Holder's decision
to withhold information about a bungled gun-tracking operation from Congress
does not constitute a crime and he won't be prosecuted for contempt of
Congress.
The
House voted Thursday afternoon to find Holder in criminal and civil contempt
for refusing to turn over the documents. President Barack Obama invoked his
executive privilege authority and ordered Holder not to turn over materials
about executive branch deliberations and internal recommendations.
In
a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, the department said that it will not
bring the congressional contempt citation against Holder to a federal grand
jury and that it will take no other action to prosecute the attorney general.
Dated Thursday, the letter was released Friday.
More
than 100 Democrats walked out of the House chamber to boycott the first of two
contempt votes, saying Republicans were more interested in shameful
election-year politics than documents.
