UPDATE: House committee holds AG Holder in contempt for failing to turn over Justice documents.

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U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said on Tuesday that he would move forward with a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder unless Holder turns over documents by Wednesday morning involving a botched operation to track guns smuggled to Mexico.

Holder said after meeting Issa late on Tuesday afternoon that he thought he had made a fair offer to provide documents and a briefing to the committee.

"The ball is in their court," Holder said. "They rejected what I thought was an extraordinary offer on our part."

He said the Justice Department would provide the materials and answer questions about them as long as the committee considered that as satisfying its earlier subpoena.

Any committee decision on contempt would have to be approved by the full House of Representatives to have any legal force.

Issa said he hoped to receive the documents as early as Tuesday night. "If we can evaluate them even partially then that would give us grounds to negotiate a postponement and perhaps a final resolution," Issa said.

Issa said the panel would move forward if documents were not submitted by the deadline. (READ MORE)