WASHINGTON | The Justice Department has declared 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.
FILE – In this June 12, 2012 file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. In email exchanges with subordinates in February and March 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder and the department’s second-highest official expressed growing concern that something might have gone wrong in a federal gun-smuggling probe called Operation Fast and Furious. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
From left, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Md., Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-NY, walk out of the Capitol, arm-in-arm, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus and many House Democrats protest the vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, Thursday, June 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
From left, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Md., Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Rep, Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, and many House Democrats walk out of the Capitol during the vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, Thursday, June 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after members of Congress walked off the House floor in protest of a contempt of Congress vote for Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., center, holds hands with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., next to Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., right, as House Democrats leave the Capitol in protest of a House vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, Thursday, June 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Md., flanked by House Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn of S.C., left, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012, after some members of Congress walked off the House floor in protest of a contempt of Congress vote for Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, the department says 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.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole says the decision is in line with long-standing Justice Department practice across administrations of both political parties.