Congress vs. Eric Holder: Will the attorney general be held in contempt?

Republicans accuse Holder of refusing to cooperate with their probe of the "gun-walking" scandal that put weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels

Attorney General Eric Holder says he has turned over every document relating to a congressional gun-smuggling investigation, but Republicans insist he's still hiding something.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

A House committee investigating the Justice Department's botched "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling investigation plans to vote next week on holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says Obama's attorney general isn't cooperating with the panel's effort to get to the bottom of the so-called gun-walking scandal, in which Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents let thousands of weapons "walk" across the border and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels as part of a botched sting. How will this showdown end? Here, a brief guide:

First off: What is this "gun-walking" scandal?

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