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June 20, 2012 | | ON THE HILL Not so fast. Moments before a House committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the White House took the dramatic step of asserting executive privilege on the committee’s attempt to open thousands of documents about the “Fast and Furious” investigation, reports The Daily Beast’s Patricia Murphy. VOTES Who's your president? The answer is still unknown in Egypt, where authorities confirm the winner of the presidential runoff race will likely be unknown until June 21. Judges are reviewing some 400 election complaints from both campaigns. Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi claimed early victory over former Hosni Mubarak minister Ahmed Shafik on Sunday before polls had closed. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces—which assumed presidential power after Mubarak was ousted—says it will hand over power once one candidate is deemed the winner. Mubarak’s health, which has wavered over the last 24 hours, was greatly improved Wednesday, his lawyers saying he could make a 'full recovery.' PENN STATE In an abrupt end, the defense rested today without putting the former coach on the stand. The Daily Beast’s Diane Dimond on the trial’s last evidence, which sought to cast doubt on the young accusers. ECONOMICS Good news for consumers, bad news for the stock market. The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will be extending Operation Twist in order to lower the long-term interest rates for millions of consumers and businesses. The Fed said it will continue shifting its portfolio from short to long-term securities through the end of the year. The Fed says it plans to buy $267 billion in longer-term Treasury securities with maturities of 6 years to 30 years and will sell or redeem an equal amount of securities with maturities of 3 years or less. Stocks took a dive after the announcement, but turned mixed by mid-afternoon. SCARY French police have detained a man who held four people hostage at a bank in Toulouse, France, on Wednesday, and all the hostages have been safely released. The gunman released one woman hostage after four hours in exchange for food and water, and a second woman was released sometime afterward. The man, who claimed to be linked to al Qaeda, wanted to speak to Mohamed Merah, the Toulouse man who killed seven people in a shooting rampage in February that traumatized France. | | 
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