Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) walked off the floor of the House of Representatives with more than 100 other Democrats today in protest during the vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his refusal to turn over documents relating to a failed federal border operation called Fast and Furious.
Jackson Lee joins comedian John Fugelsang, who asks her what Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, meant when he told reporters the contempt vote had “some kind of smell to it.” The CBC led the walkout.
Jackson Lee answers by referring to Holder’s status as the first African American attorney general, as well as the progressive positions he has taken on various issues: “I think [Cleaver] is saying, ‘Is it because of the uniqueness of the way that this general has fought so hard to overcome voter oppression and suppression? Is it because the general has recognized the history of those who have been denied opportunity in this nation … and revitalized the civil rights division? Is it that reason that all of a sudden he becomes the eye of the storm?’”
