WASHINGTON – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to release audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interviews with Justice Department officials.
Republican lawmakers claim the audio recording is valuable in their months-long impeachment proceedings against Biden.
Republicans in the House of Representatives brought the contempt of court charge against Garland after he agreed with Biden’s claim of Executive privilege about the recordings of his interviews during special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his handling of classified information. Hur ultimately did not recommend criminal charges against Biden.
The House of Representatives voted 216-207 to pass the resolution. Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio was the only Republican to vote no.
“Congress cannot act as a necessary check on the President when the executive branch can defy duly authorized, legal subpoenas,” Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said in a statement after the vote. “House Republicans today rightly held Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable for failing to comply with lawful subpoenas from the Oversight and Judiciary Committees.”
garland Approved In a statement, he condemned the vote as “deeply disappointing” and accused Republicans in the House of Representatives of “turning an important congressional authority into a partisan weapon.”
“Today’s vote disregards the Constitution’s separation of powers, the Justice Department’s need to protect its investigations, and the substantial amount of information we have provided to the committees,” Garland said in the statement.
The Ministry of Justice issued a Transcript von Hurs interviews with Biden to both committees.
But Republican committee chairmen requested the audio because they believed the transcripts were “insufficient.”
“We are in the middle of an impeachment trial and we are entitled to the best evidence. That’s why we want the tapes,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (Republican of Ohio) said on the floor Wednesday morning during debate on the contempt resolution.
Jordan accused the White House of having a “history of altering transcripts,” apparently referring to a tardy April report by the right-leaning publication Daily Caller that highlighted transcript corrections made by White House communications staff. The White House regularly releases transcripts of Biden’s speeches and comments.
“The audio recording is the best evidence of the words President Biden actually spoke,” Jordan continued in the plenary session.
News organizations are also after the audio material. Several, including CNN And NBChave filed suit for the recordings under the Freedom of Information Act.
Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, criticized Republicans on the floor Wednesday for their attempt to charge Garland with contempt of court as part of an ongoing impeachment inquiry. Raskin called the proceedings a “crazy, senseless hunt.”
Republican members of the House of Representatives already have access to a “verbatim” transcript, said the Maryland Democrat.
“Do they think that the holy grail of the 118th Congress – evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors by a president – is lurking in the background of the tape during recesses or throat clearings and sneezes?” Raskin continued. “…They literally don’t even know what they’re looking for anymore.”
Members of the House of Representatives Voted In December, the Democrat voted along party lines to initiate impeachment proceedings to determine whether Biden profited from his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings during his time as vice president.
Trump, Biden and secret documents
In response to Raskin’s accusation, Jordan said in the plenary session on Wednesday that Republicans knew what they wanted: “We seek equal treatment under the law,” he said.
“The committees need the audio recordings to determine whether the Justice Department did justice by not prosecuting the president,” Jordan said.
“They told us we would act independently of the White House … OK, that may be so, but we know this: A former president will be indicted. Joe Biden will not [charged]”, Jordan continued on the floor.
Trump is facing charges in Florida for storing classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate, after losing the 2020 presidential election to Biden. The case was delay indefinitely by Trial Judge Aileen Cannon.
Beginning of February, Hur rejected to bring charges against Biden for his handling of the classified information. Hur described Biden in his report as a “likable, well-meaning older man with a bad memory,” a comment that Biden vehemently reprimanded.
Hur interviewed Biden in October 2023 as part of his investigation into classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president. The documents were found in the President’s office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, DC, and later in his private Wilmington Homein November 2022 and January 2023 respectively.
Current trend towards criminal disregard
Criminal disregard is a tool that Congress can exploit as leverage to compel compliance with subpoenas. The subpoena is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 or imprisonment for a minimum of one month but not more than 12 months if the Department of Justice files charges.
Although the tool has historically been rarely used in Congress, it is becoming increasingly common. Since 2019, the House of Representatives has approved six such subpoenas. So far, the Justice Department has declined to bring charges against executive branch officials who have been charged with contempt of court. The statute of limitations is 5 years.
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment on whether it would bring charges against Garland, an unlikely scenario.
Garland is not the first U.S. Attorney General to be charged with contempt of court.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached former President Donald Trump’s Attorney General, William Barr, in contempt of Congress in 2019 after he refused to release documents related to the 2020 census and after he ordered a Justice Department employee to ignore a subpoena to testify.
The Ministry of Justice not Bring charges against Barr, who was charged with contempt of court along with then-Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served in the Obama administration, was contempt by Congress in June 2012 for refusing to release documents related to Operation Fast and Furious, an investigation into arms trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Justice Department declined to prosecute Holder. Holder was the first sitting U.S. Cabinet member to be charged with criminal contempt of Congress.
Congress also found Holder in civil contempt for the botched operation, leading to a years-long legal battle that ended in a settlement in 2019.
