don't think it's about expanding gun rights nobody supports law enforcement more than the national rifle association and millions of their members or hundreds of thousands of our members are law enforcement agents across the nation in local county sheriffs are all agents and so forth are all member a lot of them a large majority of them are members of the national rifle association with the n.r.a. was doing here and looking at some of the research i've done is simply go back to put into place into the castle doctrine which apparently was gutted by the indiana supreme court overstepping its bounds they want to head and replaced it with the language to give that already back to the citizens to be able to defend themselves against what we know in common law for hundreds of years as an illegal entry not arresting the right to resist arrest because they'll be charged but the right to resist and illegal entry ok and you know what this is the first law of its kind and the last that allowed for this for our. citizens in some instances to be able to police that they feel like they're in danger do you think t

the issa investigation makes great fodder for republicans and the national rifle association, but it also makes a mockery out the truth. what the congress is going to do tomorrow is absolutely political and it is shameful. i think we pay congressmen to do other things than this kind of garbage. get your cell phones. i want to know what uthink. will tomorrow's contempt vote go down in history as a national embarrassment? text a for yes, b for no. 622639. you can go to our blog and leave a comment. we'll bring you the results later in the show. key player on the program tonight, joining me now is elijah cummings, the ranking member on the house overcite and reform committee. good to have you with us tonight. first of all -- >> good to be with you. >> let's talk about the vote if we can right off the top, politico is reporting that the congressional black caucus plans to walk off the house floor during tomorrow ps vote. will you be participating in that and is this going to happen? >> that decision is still being made. there had been discussions with regard to that because black caucus m

the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." well, the national rifle associationon selling a botched gun running program as a left-wing plot intended to take away your firearms. and it looks like the nra's snowjob is going to get a boost from some house democrats who are pretty nervous. the gun lobby represents just a fraction of gun owners in the country, but it's politically positioned to put pressure on . democrats to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. the organization says it will track how members vote tomorrow. i say, sowhat? so far, four democrats are willing to cave to the nra's power. the four have received endorsements from the group in the past, and according to opensecrets.org, all have accepted donations from the nra. the nra has been setting the stage for months. the nra president was out pedaling the conspiracy theiry that the fast and furious program was designed to restrict gun laws back in october. >> the president and attorney general and secretary of state would be running around going 90% of the guns come from america.

in the addled cartoonishly paranoid guy who is afraid of stuff that is happening. >> the national rifle association announced before the vote today on whether or not attorney general holder should be held in contempt, they announced that the vote would be scored as part of their ratings from the national rifle association. so your rating as a member of congress from the nra will be hurt if you don't vote to hold eric holder in contempt of congress for this crazy conspiracy theory. naturally, the vote in the house committee on holder today was party line. every single republican voted to hold the attorney general in contempt over this crazy conspiracy theory that the obama administration allowed guns to be sold in mexico in order to upset people so guns couldn't be sold anymore. that the second amendment was going to be eliminated because they upset people by gun violence when they promulgated in order to upset you. fox news and the echo chamber that it elevates is an important phenomenon. there's a whole world of things that are presented as plausible over there that don't translate at all to the r

going to a lobbying group that has helped cause and politicize an exaggerated crisis the national rifle association pressures a lot of politicians to ensure gun safety laws are as lax as possible one of the ways it does this is by giving lawmakers a score based on the way they vote so the group raised a few eyebrows when it said it was core legislators on today's resolution to hold eric holder in contempt of congress but the n.r.a. has decision to score the vote isn't too surprising that a vendetta against the attorney general since the fast and furious story broke take a look at this and are a add. u.s. border patrol agent brian terry was forty years old when he was murdered by a mexican drug cartel after crime scene was at least one firearm deliberately allowed into mexico the united states justice to report. president obama recounted calls to president tell him to fire the recall paid for by the men and women of the national rifle association. so basically the n.r.a. claims holder knew the government was giving guns to the cartels and didn't stop it democrats counter that it was a routine operat

that is because of the influence of the national rifle association. the national rifle association's actually counting the vote here and will count the vote against any democrats in nra-leaning districts because they want the contempt vote against eric holder. i spoke yesterday with one of the top officials of the national rifle association. he says in his view he thinks that operation fast and furious, which was a gun-running operation that turned bad, was essentially a precursor, if you will, to open the door to more gun control, at least more gun control reporting in the united states. of course the national rifle association doesn't want -- >> i'm going to interrupt you, joe. you see the total now. 222 yays, 46 nays, this will pass. you need 218. eric holder, the attorney general of the united states, will be held in contempt of congress for refusing to provide documents in regards to the fast and furious gun smuggling operation. 241 now voting in favor. only 53 opposed. 53 democrats as you can see, no republicans voting nay. 17 democrats so far vo

. >> luke, you have been reporting on the influence of the most powerful lobby, the national rifle association. the gun lobby deciding that they will hold members to account for this vote so they are seeing this as a gun vote and for that reason, many democrats as you report from states where guns are really important, may well vote against the white house. >> absolutely. it's a very fascinating development in this story. we heard this theory floated by darrell issa that in fact, the reason why the white house was not being forthcoming about the fast and furious investigation was because they were trying to showcase the fact that weapons were going across to mexico and that perhaps the public outrage from that would then call for more gun control and assault weapons ban, perhaps. the white house says this is absolutely ridiculous, not true in any capacity. speaker boehner this morning actually distanced himself from this, saying i have never said that, i haven't heard of it but i haven't necessarily seen the documents pertaining to it. all that being said, the nra is going to score this vote a

the national scandal. why is the national rifle association getting involved? tell you. [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, what's next? [ zapping ] [ clang ] this is the next level of performance. the next level of innovation. the next rx. the all-new f sport. this is the pursuit of perfection. >>> house republicans are not backing down in their standoff with attorney general eric holder. today, they said they will hold a contempt of congress vote against holder for withholding documents on the botched fast and furious gun running program. here is how the white house press secretary jay carney responded to that news. >> it is unfortunate. we hope republicans change their minds as to what the right course of action is, and what is the best thing to do for the american people, but we certainly understand or see and agree with the assertion by some including the leading house republican that this is politics. >> all right. drama here, joe johns, and there he is from washington. joe, so

and now with the entry of the national rifle association, certainly the potential there for 20, possibly even a few more than that democrats coming from those districts that are influenced by the national rifle association saying in an election year, i'm not going to vote against the nra, because it could come back to bite me. and talking to some of those house democrats who are saying hey, i'm going to vote against holder at this stage, even though he's from my party. >> even though he's from the party. did they say they were voting against him because they believe maybe he shouldn't be held in contempt, believe he mislead congress, close enough or afraid of the nra? >> always seeing justification, justification that it is time for this thing to end, the administration should have been more clear earlier, so they made justifications on point, on the issue. they don't say i'm just going to side with the national rifle association. but the end of the day, we know the power of this lobby in washington, and we know what guns mean to some americans out in some parts of this country. >> john,

i talked to the national rifle association just a little while ago. heard from some democrats in our nra supporting districts, who say they will be voting against attorney general holder. so why is the nra doing this? well, they say, they believe the "fast and furious" operation which is at the root of all of this actually was a part of a larger gun control strategy, if you will, which is something the nra is very much against. i asked speaker boehner if there was evidence of that. he said he never said that in the first place. so that's something that's coming out of the oversight reform committee. we're asking around the hill, carol, for evidence of a larger gun control strategy in the "fast and furious" operation. >> democrats call it a conspiracy theory. and some republicans say that's why the government isn't turning over those doubts, because the obama administration is secretly creating this gun control thing. and these doubts will show that what's what "fast and furious" was really about. >> absolutely. there's also some suggestion that the ch

other thing, i was talking to some of the people who were voting for it, they said that the nra, national rifle associationwhich means they are going to get you if you don't go their way. that was unfortunate. the attorney general eluded to special interests, that's the special interests that's at work here. >> you think the nra intimidated the 17 democrats? >> yes, i challenge them to deny it. they made it very clear it would be a scored vote, and, you know, look, they have a monopoly on the conversation around guns, and their logic's convoluted, though, what they seem to suggest is that their vote against holder would, because they thought that this -- that this might bring forth gun control legislation or might justify gun control legislation. >> that's bogus. >> well, it's absurd, but, you know, it proves that they have been so successful on capital hill, they have to go look for people to fight with. >> here's more from leader nancy pelosi and eric holder today. >> their premise is false. i contend that it has more to do of tying the hands of the attorney general's responsibilities to stop the voter s

seventeen democrats all previously endorsed by the national rifle association sided with republicans. the gop is demanding that holder turn over documents linked to the failed gun tracking operation called fast and furious. about 100 democrats including nancy pelosi boycotted the vote. >>> and we are following a developing story out of prince george's county this morning where oneperson is still missing after the collapse of a warehouse roof. sherry ly has the latest. >> reporter: good morning. right now, we just saw some firefighters going right back into that building right there. they are doing everything they can to try and find that person that is still missing inside the warehouse. this is a business that stores documents which are stacked high on shelves and those toppled over when the roof fell in and one of the big concerns right now is the threat of another collapse. a fire official says about 09% of the roof collapsed at the landover warehouse buckle the rear and side walls. they evacuated the building on cabin branch drive. they discovered one person was still unaccounted

i think no one can deny the political nature of this story, especially now with the national rifle association involved. they're very concerned about the issue of gun control. and in this case, they say, they suspect that this "fast and furious" operation was sort to promote a larger gun control plan. and some of that evidence, or at least inference coming from the chairman of the reform committee over in the house side darrell issa. so it's a -- there are a lot of larger things at play here. and a lot of them have to do with election year politics. >> all right. joe johns there on the hill for us. joe, thanks so much. of course, we'll have more on this contentious issue when former attorney general alberto gonzales joins me in just about 30 minutes. >>> of all the time i've been live in iraq what went through your mind. >>> this is the geographic south pole. ♪ the radical new macbook pro with retina display. ♪ innovation...in every dimension. ♪ [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i'

pressure is also coming from the national rifle association. >> it's clear that once the nra decided they would score this, if you want a perfect record with the nra you have to vote for contempt. >> the house is expected to consider two contempt resolutions against the attorney general. one is example, which passed the house oversight committee last week. the other is civil, which if passed would allow the house to ask the court to force them to hand over the "fast and furious" documents. >> bret: we'll head back for breaking news. tomorrow could mean presidential race than we have seen so far. chief political correspondent carl cameron has the story. >> on the eve of the supreme court decision on constitutionality of the president obama affordable care act, mitt romney weighed in the last time. >> my guess is they're not sleeping real well at the white house tonight. >> if the court upholds it and says look, it passes the constitution and it's still bad policy. so if i'm elected we'll repeal it and replace this. [ applause ] >> if the court strikes down obamacare, romney g.o.p. all

>> it's a bit more complicated because the national rifle association has decided they're going to score the vote, and that, of course, is putting a lot of pressure on the democrats who live in moderate or conservative leaning districts with a lot of passionate gun right owners to cast a vote. we have one report out this afternoon that jim matheson of utah is leaning towards doing, voting yes on a contempt vote because of this. >> the nra, the folks that scare the heck out of wisconsinites that tom barrett was going to take their firearm, they're back in it on the contempt vote. john mccain has suggested a special prosecutor for security leaks. are they concerned about that? >> they have denied they would leak this intentionally. they point it out it's a "new york times" reporter that could have good sources and uncovered the information on his own. this is going to play out over time and we'll see what is happening here. but of course, leaking this type of stuff is a problem if it was done with the intent of bolstering up the president's credentials, but we have seenone evidence to sugg

there could be more defections after the national rifle association said they would include it in theining me now, former aide to eric holder, matthew miller. good to see you. good morning. >> good morning. >> darryl issa has predicted as many as 31 democrats will join the republicans and vote in favor of contempt. what do you think is going on here? >> well, i don't think it will be that high number. i think you'll see a small number of democrats join, which is unfortunate. but not unexpected given what the nra has said is the top three issues of the year. this has always been more about political theater and appealing to the extreme right wing than it has been about uncovering any facts in the fast and furious. >> would you think that if a significant number of democrats would negate the argument that this is a republican witch hunt? >> no, i don't think it will be a significant number. i think it will be a small number. the nra has a pattern of retaliating against someone that doesn't side with them. we've been dealing with that since the beginning. >> the rnc has been talking abou

democrats are expected to vote with republicans in an attempt to retain the endorsement of the national rifle associationwhich backs the effort against eric holder. we will have more on the boat and operation fast and furious later in the broadcast. senate leaders have finalized a tentative deal to avoid a doubling of low-interest rates on student loans. the washington post reports students are still facing major changes that will lead to billions of dollars in increases on student loan payments. starting on sunday, students pursuing graduate degrees will need to start paying their federal loans while they're still in school and immediately after graduation. leading to an increase of $18 billion in loan payments over the coming decade. the government felt also stopped covering interest on undergraduate loans -- also stepped covering interest on undergraduate loans, meaning students will start accumulating interest right away. the changes have been recently overshadowed as lawmakers scrambled to prevent a spike in interest rates. new research shows states have passed stand your ground laws -- such as the

the national rifle association has pushed this conspiracy theory for over a year. the nra says they're conspireing to take away the guns. this helps the firearm industry. since 2008 the impact of gun sales on the economy has gone up 66%. republicans are also firing up the head-shaking crowd by saying president obama has abused his power. how do they know? take a look at just a sample of the reaction from right wing blogged after the president invoked executive privilege over documents in the investigation. they compare the president to richard nixon and say he's directly involved in a cover-up. i don't remember republicans acting this way when executive privilege was invoked by george w. bush to protect karl rove from the senate judiciary committee? the right wing didn't seem to care when executive privilege concealed dick cheney's meeting with energy executives in the summer of 2001. on top of all the false outrage, republicans use the holder investigation to directly impact the president's re-election chances, and they like that. the transportation bill expires on

so the national rifle association. they said today's vote, they're going to look at it when giving letter grades. i know you got an "a" on the last scorecard. i know thriey've given you abou $19,350 over the last four years. i also know you're not running for election. but the nra's support, letter grade, had to matter to you. >> well, as you said, i'm not on the ballot in the fall election. so i don't know how anyone can make the claim that that had anything to do with the vote that i cast today. you have every right to bring that up. but it wasn't part of the reason i voted the way i did. >> you might run again one day, right? >> i have no plans to run again. that had nothing to do with the vote that i cast. i cast again because i want to be consistent with the vote i cast four years ago when president bush was in power. >> look, we applaud the saying, you know, i'm not going to just go with my party, i want to be bipartisan. so i want to make that clear. but i wanted to ask you sort of a personal question. because, y

and to get your question, the national rifle association, has weighed in on this issue. there are lots of districts in the country where they carry a lot of sway. and so, again, i can't speak to the individual judgment members reached on this. but i do know from talking to many of our colleagues, that the fact that the nra decided to make this a political issue, has influenced some people's approach to this question. >> well, what strikes me is you are making my point because you are saying this act, holding the attorney general in contempt is not going to produce more information and, yet, you have got democrats saying yeah, we will go along with it. maybe because of the nra's scoring it and saying they will take points away from candidates who don't vote for the contempt ruling but you see them turning their back on a fellow democrat and on the president's man, chris, congressman van hollen. it seems you have got democrats running away from the president and the attorney general. >> well, yuan, -- juan, what i think you have and i'm not judging any particular member's d

the 17 democrats voted with republicans in an apparent bid to maintain the backing of the national rifle association, which supported the contempt vote. holder criticized republicans and vowed to continue his duties. >> today's vote is regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation during an election year. by advancing it over the past year-and-a-half, congressman issa and others have focused on politics over public safety. >> syrian activists are reporting a new massacre as part of a wave of violence in rebel strongholds near the capital damascus. at least 51 people reportedly have been killed and scores wounded in the damascus suburb of douma. activists say the shredded bodies of up to 20 members of the same family were found after a savage attack by pro- government militia. another 10 people were reportedly killed at a checkpoint as they tried to flee. in an interview, syrian president bashar al-assad vowed to continue the crackdown despite foreign pressure to step down. >> foreign pressure will not have an influence on our stance. we have been under pr