House panels vote to hold Garland in contempt
![House panels vote to hold Garland in contempt](https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/garlandmerrick_041624ar07_w.jpg?w=900)
Two House committees on Thursday advanced measures to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress in an effort to censure him for failing to turn over audio recordings of the president.
A last-minute move from President Biden to claim executive privilege over audio recordings from his interview with special counsel Robert Hur did not dissuade the GOP from proceeding, even as Garland said those asserting the privilege “cannot be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress.”
The House Judiciary Committee passed the measure in an 18-15 party line vote, while the House Oversight Committee did the same in a 24-20 vote hours later. The panel bumped their hearing to 8 p.m. so that its members could travel to New York to be by former President Trump’s side during his hush money trial.
Republicans already have the transcript of Hur’s conversation with Biden, but they argue the audio recordings will be more revealing, suggesting pauses could speak to Hur’s commentary about the president’s cognitive functions or show a hesitancy to ask questions.
To Democrats, the only rationale for seeking the tapes is so the GOP can use them in campaign commercials, arguing they are misusing power purely for political gain.
“Transcripts do not capture demeanor evidence,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) said at the top of the Judiciary hearing.
“Transcripts are often imperfect, especially to convey the timing of question and answer and disfluencies of a witness, or hesitations, among other things. All of that is demeanor evidence.”
The passage of the contempt resolution leaves it heading to the full House floor for consideration.
However, the move is largely symbolic, as it acts as a referral to the Justice Department, which must weigh whether charges are fitting.
That looked unlikely well before Biden asserted executive privilege over the audio files, as DOJ had already declined to share them, arguing the panels have no need for law enforcement files that are unrelated to their investigation.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) nodded to those Republicans at the New York trial in commenting on the decision to hold Garland in contempt.
“Republicans on this committee have moved from being the criminal defense firm for the president to being essentially an adjunct of the president's media advertising firm,” he said.
“We're holding the Attorney General of the United States in contempt. And for what? Because he won't give video material for a campaign commercial to this committee on behalf of a president who is a criminal defendant in a hush money payment to a porn star case in New York, the first of many criminal trials that he will face.”
In the background of the effort to gain access to the tapes was Republicans’ assertion that they could be useful for their impeachment investigation and back up their allegations of influence peddling. They’ve argued in prior letters that Biden may have taken classified documents to aid in the writing of his memoir while suggesting the audio files could include evidence that he took actions to benefit his family.
Hur noted classified information was not referenced in Biden’s book and that personal entries from Biden’s diaries, which also referenced classified information and events, formed the basis for the memoir.
It’s also clear from the transcripts the discussion did not include items of relevance to the impeachment probe.
Nonetheless, GOP members asserted Biden could have kept the documents for personal gain.
“President Biden had strong motivations to do so and to ignore the rules for properly handling the classified information in his notebooks — in fact he had $8 million reasons to ignore the rules,” Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said, referencing the sum of Biden’s book advance.
But Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) shot back at that assertion.
“There’s just no ‘there’ there. So, what do our Republican friends do when an investigation turns up short? Simply put, they engage in fantasy,” he said.
“The Chairman wants to make it seem like he uncovered some wrongdoing by the Attorney General. In reality, the Attorney General and DOJ have been fully responsive to this Committee in every way that might be material to their long-dead impeachment inquiry.”
The parties also lobbed insults back and forth over which of their leaders struggles with mental acuity.
While Republicans plucked phrases from Hur’s report critical of Biden’s memory, Democrats noted Trump has repeatedly fallen asleep in his own trial. They also played clips of Trump making a string of errors, like referring to the country of Argentina as if it were a person and another clip praising the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lector.
But they also volleyed over their colleagues’ trip to New York.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) quipped that he was glad some of his GOP colleagues still made it to the hearing.
“I know that the Oversight Committee canceled a hearing that was supposed to happen right now on this matter so that they could be at the president's trial. I know some members will miss this vote, because they want to be at the president's trial,” he said.
“And I don't think that anything could animate the phrase ‘do-nothing Congress’ more than missing votes and canceling hearings to go up and be a spectator at your cult leader's trial.”
At least 10 GOP lawmakers attended the trial, many of them members of the House Freedom Caucus.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) who missed the Judiciary vote to attend the trial, tweeting a photo of himself afterward in the background behind Trump, echoing his call to the far-right Proud Boys in pledging to “stand back and stand by.”
This story was initially published earlier Thursday.
Date: |
Filter
-
Justice Department won't prosecute Garland after House contempt vote
The House voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.CBS News - Top stories -
House GOP holds Garland in contempt of Congress, escalating Justice Department feud
Politico - Politics -
DOJ declines to prosecute Garland after congressional contempt vote
The Justice Department (DOJ) issued a determination Friday that Attorney General Merrick Garland committed no crime in failing to meet the demands of House Republicans who subpoenaed audio of President Biden’s conversation with special counsel ...The Hill - Politics -
Justice Department says it won't prosecute AG Garland after contempt vote
The Justice Department said Friday that it will not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena. CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion has details.CBS News - Top stories -
DOJ declines to prosecute Garland after House Republicans pass contempt resolution
Garland had refused to turn over audio of Biden's special counsel interview.ABC News - Top stories - Republican Party -
Defense policy bill, Garland contempt push in spotlight at House Rules
Politico - Politics -
DOJ won't prosecute Merrick Garland after House GOP held him in contempt over Biden tapes
Attorney General Merrick Garland will not face charges after House Republicans voted to hold him in contempt over audiotapes of President Joe Biden's interview with special counsel Hur.NBC News - Politics - Joe Biden -
Justice Department will not prosecute Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress
The Justice Department announced Friday that it will not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas for recordings of President ...CBS News - Top stories -
House panel blocks lawmakers from getting pay raises
Legislation that could have ended a years-long freeze on pay raises for lawmakers was changed to uphold the pause as it passed out of committee on Thursday. The House Appropriations Committee sent the annual spending bill to fund the legislative ...The Hill - Politics -
Justice department declines to pursue Merrick Garland contempt charges
DoJ tells Republicans it will not pursue prosecution of attorney general after House votes to hold him in contempt. The US Department of Justice on Friday told the Republican House of Representatives speaker, Mike Johnson, that it would decline to ...The Guardian - World
More from The Hill
-
Watch live: Trump gives keynote at 'The People's Convention' in Detroit
Former President Trump is set to headline Turning Point USA's "The People's Convention" Saturday in Detroit. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for the White House, is also expected to use the trip to key battleground state Michigan as a way to ...The Hill - Politics - Donald Trump -
Crockett calls Thomas 'corrupt' after Supreme Court decision to upend bump stocks ban
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) slammed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as “corrupt” during an interview with MSNBC on the court’s recent decision to overturn a Trump-era bump stock ban. Thomas has come under increasing scrutiny for gifts he ...The Hill - Politics -
Eyeing Trump presidency, conservatives want to delay funding fight
Bullish of former President Trump’s chances of winning back the White House in November, some conservatives are pitching a funding stopgap that would extend into next year rather than expire during a lame duck session when President Biden would ...The Hill - Politics - Donald Trump -
Iran and Sweden to swap prisoners, including convicted war criminal
Iran agreed Saturday to release two Swedish nationals held in Tehran for over two years in exchange for a convicted Iranian war criminal tied to the 1988 mass killing of protestors critical of the Islamic Republic in the capital city. While ...The Hill - Politics - Iran -
Raskin hits Republicans for bowing to 'sugar daddy' Trump after Capitol visit
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) criticized his Republican colleagues in Congress Saturday after they met with former President Trump in closed-door meetings earlier this week, calling the positivity around the visit "a scandal and a disgrace." The ...The Hill - Politics - Donald Trump