Tipsheet

Garland to Be Held in Contempt. This is Why.

Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich  |  May 13, 2024 5:00 PM

House Republicans plan to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress later this week. Garland continues his refusal to turn over audio files of the interview former Special Counsel Robert Hur conducted with President Joe Biden. The interview was part of Hur's investigation into Biden for mishandling classified information as a private citizen. 

"Special Counsel Hur’s report makes clear, despite its conclusion that criminal charges are not warranted, that President Biden willfully and unlawfully retained classified materials while he was a private citizen. The Committees subpoenaed Attorney General Garland to produce documents and materials responsive to four specific requests concerning Special Counsel Hur’s investigation on February 27, 2024," Jordan continued. "To date, despite numerous requests from the Committees for certain audio recordings responsive to the subpoena, and a specific warning that failure to produce the audio recordings would result in contempt proceedings, Attorney General Garland has failed to do so. The Attorney General has further invoked no constitutional or legal privilege relieving his obligation to fully respond to the Committees’ subpoenas. Attorney General Garland’s willful refusal to comply with the Committees’ subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the appropriate United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution as prescribed by law." 

"In short, the audio recordings would offer unique and important information to advance the Committees’ impeachment inquiry and inform the Judiciary Committee as to the need for legislative reforms to the operations of the Department or the conduct of Special Counsel investigations. Moreover, contrary to the Department’s assertion that the audio recordings are 'cumulative' of the transcripts, an audio recording is the best evidence of a witness interview," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan released in a resolution Monday. 

In Hur's written report, which was published in February, he revealed Biden was not being charged with mishandling classified information at his downtown Washington D.C. office or in his Delaware garage because he was too old and has a bad memory. 

"We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during out interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," the report states. "Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."

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The House Oversight Committee will hold a markup of contempt charges against Garland on Thursday.