House Republicans hold AG Garland in contempt over Biden classified docs probe recordings
House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s October interview with President Biden related to his retention of classified documents.
Lawmakers approved the contempt measure along party lines, with 216 Republicans in favor and 207 Democrats opposed. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) was the lone dissenting member of his party.
“Today, the House took a significant step in maintaining the integrity of our oversight processes and responsibilities by holding Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement. “This decision was not made lightly but is essential to ensure transparency and accountability within the Special Counsel’s office.
“It is up to Congress – not the Executive Branch – to determine what materials it needs to conduct its own investigations, and there are consequences for refusing to comply with lawful Congressional subpoenas. Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight of the Special Counsel’s work and specifically Special Counsel Hur’s determination not to prosecute President Biden for the clear violation of the law.
“The Committees need the audio tapes to verify the accuracy of the written transcripts given this White House has been known to heavily edit the President’s statements,” Johnson added. “This is a simple matter – we have the transcript, and we need the audio.”
But an internal DOJ memo obtained by the Hill claims that Garland would be shielded from prosecution, given Biden’s move last month to assert executive privilege over the recordings.
A portion of the 57-page memo reported by the outlet states that seven decades of precedent show the contempt of Congress statute has not been applied to executive branch officials who don’t comply with subpoenas due to the privilege.
“Consistent with this longstanding position, no US Attorney has pursued criminal contempt charges against an Executive Branch official asserting the President’s claim of executive privilege,” the memo reads.
The Post has reached out to the DOJ and the White House for comment.
Explaining his own “nay” 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 American people expect Congress to work for them, solve policy problems, and prioritize good governance. Enough is enough.”
House Democrats whipped their members to vote the contempt resolution down after it passed the Judiciary Committee last month along party lines, 18-15, with no Republicans objecting.
Garland appointed Hur as special counsel in January 2023 to investigate whether Biden improperly held on to classified and national security files after leaving the vice presidency.
In February, the special counsel released a report that found the president, 81, had “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” — but did not recommend bringing criminal charges.
The 388-page report suggested one reason Hur had not pursued an indictment was that Biden would likely come across to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
A subsequent transcript of the president’s sit-down with Hur’s investigative team Oct. 8-9 of last year revealed Biden often confused or forgot significant dates — including when his son Beau died of brain cancer and when former President Donald Trump was elected.
House Republicans have requested the audio of that interview — along with other recordings of the special counsel’s interrogation of Biden ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer — but the White House blocked their release in May, citing executive privilege.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) had subpoenaed Garland for those records, which they saw as central to Republicans’ impeachment inquiry of Biden.
During the floor debate, Jordan pointed to instances in which the White House has doctored transcripts of Biden’s public remarks, implying the private recording could yield information not contained in the transcript of the Hur interview.
“The president asserted executive privilege in this matter — maybe that was proper, maybe not — but the way to test executive privilege is not by a contempt resolution: It’s by going to court,” responded Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
The DOJ had refused in April to voluntarily share any recordings — leading to a slew of lawsuits by conservative groups as well as legacy media outlets.
“The House’s step is to punish Garland, which he deserves. Our lawsuit is going to get the tapes to the American People,” said Mike Howell, the executive director of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, which is a party to the case.
In court filings, the DOJ has referenced the existence of “minor inconsistencies” between the transcript and the audio recording, such as filler or repeated words.
Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) scoffed at the “madcap, wild-goose chase” to obtain the audio files during debate on the House floor, saying it would offer up only “throat clearings and sneezes” — or at best become an “embarrassing TV attack ad” against Biden.
The Justice Department has also cited concerns about the audio being transformed into an AI deepfake and widely distributed — or the likelihood of its distribution discouraging cooperation with future witnesses in investigations.
Judiciary panel members grilled Garland over his department’s failure to cooperate with their impeachment probe last week.
The attorney general told lawmakers that he saw the looming contempt threat as “a serious matter” but would not be “intimidated.”
