Rep. Elijah Cummings Begs Rep. Darrell Issa to Stop the Fast and Furious 'Witch Hunt'

Another phrase for this: Crying uncle.

Rep. Elijah Cummings warned Rep. Darrell Issa against turning a potential contempt resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder over the Fast and Furious scandal into “an election-year witch hunt,” he wrote in a letter late last week.

“Holding someone in contempt of Congress is one of the most serious and formal actions our Committee can take, and it should not be used as a political tool to generate press as part of an election-year witch hunt against the Obama Administration,” the Maryland Democrat wrote Friday to Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Cummings is especially incensed that Issa’s letter got leaked to the press. Sympathy for that position is in short supply. Congressmembers on both sides use press leaks to amp up pressure and move issues along. Holder could have avoided the possibility of being held in contempt by being cooperative and telling the truth at the start. That might have come with its own set of consequences, of course, since Fast and Furious is Obama’s bloodiest scandal and Holder’s office knew about it long before he has acknowledged any personal knowledge of it.