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Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous that if the contested "Fast & Furious" documents were handed over, then he might dismiss Eric Holder's contempt charge. "If those documents say what Eric Holder says they say, we might in fact dismiss contempt," Issa said. "If we get documents that do show, cast some doubt, or allow us to understand this, we’ll at least delay contempt and continue the process," the chairman said. On Fox News Sunday, Issa said he believes the contempt vote will be bipartisan if it happens. "I believe it will be bipartisan. You never know how many. But there are a number of Democrats, 31, who wrote to administration asking them to be forthcoming. Many of them will stay with us," he said. He reiterated that the vote could be delayed if the documents were turned over. "If the president and Attorney General Holder would simply start producing the documents they know they could produce to us - they're not, by any means, going to be covered by executive privilege - this could be delayed or even eliminated. But we have to see the documents first." During another part of his appearance, Issa said he doesn't believe White House officials played any part in the Fast & Furious scandal, and that his investigation focused only on the Department of Justice.
This is Issa on This Week:
Elijah Cummings, a top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said on Fox News Sunday that Speaker of the House John Boehner should sit down with Eric Holder and negotiate a deal to avoid a contempt vote. "There's no evidence that [Holder] knew about it, no evidence that he authorized or condoned it," Cumming said. "I'm really kind of saddened that at this point in the history of the Congress that we would be finding this attorney general in contempt." Cummings said he wants the Speaker "to come forth and show the strong leadership that I know he will, and sit down with the attorney general to resolve this matter." Cummings said Holder "has made it clear that he is willing to work with this Congress. He's already turned over 7,600 documents, gone through millions of e-mails, and even given up what's called internal deliberative documents."