Several House Republicans to seek impeachment of Eric Holder

Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., told The Gainesville Sun that he and a group of Republicans are going to seek impeachment proceedings, which would need to be advanced by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, by the end of the year.

"It's to get him out of office -- impeachment," Yoho told the Sun. He said, "it will probably be when we get back in [to Washington] It will be before the end of the year. This will go to the speaker and the speaker will decide if it comes up or not."

The House is scheduled to return to D.C. on Nov. 12, and only has 16 legislative days scheduled for the rest of the year.

Yoho's chief of staff, Cat Cammack, told the Sun that the Fast and Furious program - in which federal agents allowed illegal buyers to purchase guns in order to track them back to Mexican drug cartels - "has been one of the No. 1 complaints we get in our office, and why no one has been held accountable."

The House voted to hold Holder in contempt on both criminal and civil charges for failing to provide sufficient documents related to the program for a Congressional investigation. The Justice Departmentdeclined to prosecute Holder.

The only other cabinet secretary to face impeachment was War Secretary William Belknap, who served in the administration of former President Ulysses Grant. The House sought to impeach him after allegations that he had received thousands dollars in kickbacks in exchange for awarding a contract to operate a military trading post at Fort Sill. He resigned before the impeachment proceedings. The House voted to impeach him, but the Senate fell short of the two-thirds vote on each article after holding the trial and he was acquitted.