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

7:35 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, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, The Raw Story, Business Insider, CANNONFIRE, RADAMISTO, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, The Impolitic and Gretawire

Mark Levin / Facebook:

Executive Privilege and how the House should move forward legally — As the Supreme Court recognized in US v. Nixon, the Executive Branch has a legitimate interest in confidentiality of communications among high officials so that the President can have the benefit of candid advice.

Discussion: JOSHUAPUNDIT

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 …

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, Examiner, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Week, Taylor Marsh, Philly.com, Truthdig and No More Mister Nice Blog

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

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, This Just In, Little Green Footballs, Politico, Mediaite, 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: Ballot Box, ABCNEWS, Hot Air, National Review, Ricochet Conversations Feed, PJ Media, iOwnTheWorld.com, Fox News Insider and The Right Scoop

John Gramlich / CQ.com:

Contempt Citation Would Carry Limited Legal Consequences — House Republicans have been threatening Eric H. Holder Jr. with a contempt citation for weeks. But even if he does not turn over information about a controversial gun-tracking operation, the attorney general is unlikely to be sent to jail or suffer serious penalties.

Discussion: The Right Scoop

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run and CANNONFIRE

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

Discussion: ACS Blog, BBC, Swampland and Law Blog

Byron Tau / Politico:
Holder: Issa wanted to ‘provoke’ conflict

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

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

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

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

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

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

Discussion: Guardian, Washington Monthly, ABCNEWS and American Spectator

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

Politico:
President Obama uses executive privilege on Fast and Furious

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

Fox News:
House panel approves Holder contempt resolution

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

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, The Powers That Be and Ricochet Conversations Feed

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

Discussion: RedState and National Review

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

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

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

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Politico, American Prospect, Mediaite 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: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, 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, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wall Street Journal and TBogg

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

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

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC Prepares to Replace Ann Curry on ‘Today’ — NBC executives are readying a plan to replace Ann Curry on the “Today” show, only a year after she became the co-host of the iconic franchise. — The planning — which is taking place in secret and has not been finalized …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Mediaite, TVNewser and Deadline.com, more at Mediagazer »

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

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

Michael Powell / New York Times:

Andrew Sarris, Influential Film Critic, Dies at 83 — Andrew Sarris, one of the nation's most influential film critics and a champion of auteur theory, which holds that a director's voice is central to great filmmaking, died on Wednesday morning in Manhattan. He was 83.

Discussion: Guardian, Runnin' Scared, Gawker and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

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.