If the mountain does not come to Mohammed…
On Friday, the Justice Department informed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that it would not seek prosecution against its own boss, Attorney General Merrick Garland, even though the House found him guilty of contempt of court for ignoring its subpoena and refusing to release the audio recording of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden.
Department of Justice to Speaker Johnson: No prosecution of Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress
In a strongly worded letter, the Justice Department informed spokesman Mike Johnson that it would not charge Attorney General Merrick Garland with contempt of Congress for refusing to release an audio file of President Joe Biden’s testimony in his Case of confidential documents.
“Consistent with this long-standing position and consistent practice, the Department has determined that Attorney General Garland’s responses to the subpoenas issued by the committees did not constitute a crime. Accordingly, the Department will not bring charges of contempt of Congress before a grand jury or take any other steps to prosecute the Attorney General,” the Justice Department said.
In response, Johnson announced the House of Representatives’ next step: see them in court.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that the House of Representatives will go to court to enforce the subpoena against Attorney General Merrick Garland seeking access to the audio interview of President Joe Biden’s special counsel, hours after the Justice Department declined to prosecute the Republicans. Disregard for Congress Charging.
“It is unfortunately predictable that the Biden administration’s Department of Justice will not prosecute Garland for contempt of congressional subpoenas, even though the department has aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for the same thing,” Johnson said in a statement. “This is another example of the two-tiered justice system that the Biden administration has given us.”
Johnson raises a point that many have noted: The Justice Department seems perfectly comfortable with degenerating to prosecute the attorney general while being more than joyful to prosecute President Donald Trump’s former advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for essentially the same thing. There may be some nuance here, however.
The Justice Department noted that it also waived prosecution Attorney General Bill Barr, who was impeached for contempt of court in 2019. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach Barr after he refused to turn over documents related to a special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump.
The Ministry of Justice declined prosecution former White House Chief of Staff under Trump, Mark Meadows, after he was charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Committee of 6 January Investigation the attack on the US CapitolYears earlier, then Attorney General Eric Holder was found in contempt of court in connection with the arms smuggling scheme known as Operation Fast and FuriousThe Justice Department also took no action against Holder.
The key to the DOJ’s denial appears to be executive privilege. The reason this may not be a lifeline for Bannon is that it not clear at all that Trump formally invoked executive privilege with respect to the matters he was asked to testify about – or at least not all of them. In Navarro’s case, it seems to be a closer calland this issue is still being tried in court, even though Navarro is in prison because of it.
Another difference – at least as far as Holder, Barr and Garland are concerned – is the well-known dilemma that the Justice Department is essentially indicting itself.
Despite the obvious impasse of law enforcement, Johnson’s swear to move forward.
“I will refer the contempt of court reports to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,” said the Louisiana Republican. “We will also seek enforcement of Attorney General Garland’s subpoena in federal court.”
I’m sure Matt Graves is eagerly awaiting the transfer…
In any case, it will be compelling to observe further developments.
