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House Republicans vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress
WASHINGTON – House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress in a dramatic escalation of the GOP’s broader war against the Biden administration’s Justice Department.
The lower chamber voted along party lines, 216-207, to hold Garland in contempt for withholding the audio recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur over his mishandling of classified documents. Garland is now the third attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt.
Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, was the only Republican lawmaker to break off from his party colleagues on Wednesday. In a statement after the vote, Joyce said, “As a former prosecutor, I cannot in good conscience support a resolution that would further politicize our judicial system to score political points.”
The resolution includes a referral to the U.S. attorney of the District of Columbia for criminal prosecution, but that will almost certainly not happen. Instead, GOP investigators are expected to enter a drawn-out legal fight with the Justice Department to obtain the recordings.
Still, given Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House, where the GOP can generally afford to lose only a couple of votes, there was consternation among lawmakers about whether the contempt effort would pass. The lower chamber was scheduled to hold the vote Wednesday, but Republican leaders had the option to pull the resolution if they lacked the votes so they could avoid an embarrassing public defeat.
Republicans advanced contempt resolutions out of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees last month. Leaders already had held back a full contempt vote after a handful of moderate GOP lawmakers were skeptical about picking another fight with the justice system. Their concerns come as Republicans continue to rail against New York prosecutors after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his New York hush money trial.
For their part, GOP leaders publicly projected that they could corral their unwieldy conference to pass the resolution.
Tuesday morning, Garland accused Republicans of launching growing attacks against the Justice Department in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
“We will not be intimidated,” Garland wrote. “It is absurd and dangerous that public servants, many of whom risk their lives every day, are being threatened for simply doing their jobs and adhering to the principles that have long guided the Justice Department’s work.”
Republicans, led by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, have sought Biden’s interview audio for months after Hur’s report characterized the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Comer and Jordan argued the recording is necessary for their impeachment inquiry into the president, but the Justice Department refused to provide it. Officials told Republicans the department has already shared the transcript of the interview, along with other relevant documents from the investigation.
To hand over the audio recordings, the Justice Department argued, risks endangering future investigations if subjects believe their interviews could be released publicly. In a further step to shield the recordings, Biden asserted executive privilege over the audio last month.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel determined the recording falls under executive privilege, and Garland shouldn’t be punished for following the president’s order to keep the recording confidential, according to Carlos Uriarte, an associate attorney general.
Democratic lawmakers have echoed the Justice Department’s sentiments in recent days. Rep. Jamie Raksin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, scoffed at the GOP’s argument that the audio could provide new territory for their impeachment inquiry. The investigation has yet to turn up direct evidence supporting accusations Biden abused his public office for his family’s foreign business dealings.
Contributing: Bart Jansen
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