Holder Denies Operation Fast and Furious "Cover-Up"

Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday denied accusations that the Justice Department was covering up the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious, which involved Mexican drug gangs and was linked to the death of a U.S. Boarder Patrol agent.

"This has become political, that's fine," Holder told lawmakers at hearing called by Republicans, adding that there has been no attempt "at a cover-up" and that the Justice Department "will continue to share huge amounts of information" with lawmakers.

CBS News reports that Holder's response came early on in the hearing, after Republican congressmen accused the Obama administration of withholding internal documents about the operation in order protect itself. "I think you're hiding behind something here," Republican Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana said. "You ought to give us the documents. ... It appears we're being stonewalled."

Democrats, meanwhile, see things differently. In a new report they say that they found no evidence that the flawed gun probe was conceived of or directed by high-level appointees at the Justice Department and instead was one of a handful of similar operations that were part of a misguided five-year-long effort run out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Phoenix office and the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office -- a window that includes both the George W. Bush and the Obama administrations. Bloomberg Businessweek has more on that report here.