Garland Faces Contempt Votes in Congressional Subpoena Standoff

Two House committees on Thursday will consider whether to recommend that US Attorney General Merrick Garland be held in contempt of Congress.

In a report, the Oversight and Accountability panel outlines what it calls the Justice Department’s failure under Garland to comply with congressional subpoenas for an audio recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel <-bsp-person state="{"_id":"0000018f-7f95-de3b-adcf-ffb7d6f60000","_type":"00000160-6f41-dae1-adf0-6ff519590003"}">Robert Hur during his investigation of the president’s handling of classified records and other material.

Merrick Garland

Photographer: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg

The report, to also be considered in a separate potential contempt vote by the Judiciary Committee, asserts the department has invoked no constitutional or legal privilege to withhold this material and that it has impeded the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry of the president.

That inquiry has had little success so far, but Hur in his report set off a political bombshell when he referred to Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory.” The special counsel did not bring charges in the case.

Read more: <-bsp-bb-link state="{"bbDocId":"S8KC5PT1UM0W","_id":"0000018f-7f95-de3b-adcf-ffb7d72e0000","_type":"0000016b-944a-dc2b-ab6b-d57ba1cc0000"}">Biden Assails Special Counsel For Questioning His Mental Acuity

If the Republican-controlled panels approve the contempt resolution, it would be sent to the full House for approval, and potential referral by Speaker Mike Johnson to a US attorney’s office for potential prosecution.

In a letter last month to the two committee chairmen, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte, the Justice Department’s head of congressional affairs, wrote, “the committees have not articulated a legitimate congressional need to obtain audio recordings from Mr. Hur’s investigation, let alone one that outweighs the department’s strong interest in protecting the confidentiality of law enforcement files.”

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<-bsp-person state="{"_id":"0000018f-7f95-de3b-adcf-ffb7d7320000","_type":"00000160-6f41-dae1-adf0-6ff519590003"}">Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
<-bsp-person state="{"_id":"0000018f-7f95-de3b-adcf-ffb7d7360000","_type":"00000160-6f41-dae1-adf0-6ff519590003"}">Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

John Harney, Jon Herskovitz

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