A key House panel advanced a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, teeing the measure up for a vote on Wednesday despite uncertainty over whether it can pass.
The House Rules Committee approved the resolution on Tuesday evening in a party-line vote, escalating a feud with the Department of Justice days after a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records. If passed by the full House, the measure would refer Garland for criminal prosecution over his refusal to turn over audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur.
Democrats have dismissed the resolution as an attempt to dredge up the most politically explosive finding of the report: that Hur, investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents, did not charge him in part because a jury would judge him to be a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
But Republicans insist the audio is needed to assess the integrity of Hur’s investigation, plus carry out its impeachment inquiry into the president.
“His continued refusal to comply with subpoenas hinders our ability to provide the oversight expected by the founders and demanded by our constituents,” Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess (R-TX) said in prepared remarks during the Rules Committee meeting. “The committees appearing before us today have articulated the impeachment and legislative purposes for their subpoenas related to special counsel Hur’s interview of President Biden. They are acting well within the scope of our Article I responsibilities, yet the attorney general refuses to comply.”
“He has left us with no choice but to pursue contempt charges to preserve the spirit of congressional oversight and safeguard our delicate system of checks and balances,” Burgess added.
The vote to hold Garland in contempt comes after he rejected a subpoena from House Republicans in February to provide access to the audio recordings. The DOJ has already published the full transcripts of those interviews, arguing they are sufficient for Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. The White House has also cited executive privilege.
But top Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees have rejected the explanation, arguing the refusal “has hindered the House’s ability to adequately conduct oversight over Special Counsel Hur regarding his investigative findings and the President’s retention and disclosure of classified materials and impeded the Committees’ impeachment inquiry.”
A vote to hold Garland in contempt will force Biden-district Republicans into an uncomfortable position in an election year. GOP leaders are dealing with a two-vote majority, meaning the margin of error will be slim as they bring the legislation to the floor.
Lawmakers expressed doubts about whether there were the votes to pass the measure on Tuesday, but it was scheduled for a vote.
Garland has called the idea that his agency was involved in the Trump hush money case, as Republicans claimed in a hearing last week, a “conspiracy theory.” The Manhattan district attorney carried out the prosecution of Trump in that trial, while the DOJ has separately charged Trump over his own handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“These resolutions are not about Merrick Garland. They are about politics,” Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) said during Tuesday’s hearing. “They are about trying to go after Joe Biden, which is all the majority has done since day one. … Transcripts of exactly what is on these recordings have already been released, so let’s just be honest. This is simple: The reason Republicans are doing this is obvious to anyone with half a brain. This is a distraction from the fact their nominee for president is a convicted felon.”
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The House Rules Committee also advanced the annual National Defense Authorization Act during its meeting on Tuesday, setting it up for a vote later this week. If passed, that bill would authorize $895 billion for national defense discretionary programs.
The NDAA typically passes without much fanfare and along party lines, although the measure could hit some snags as lawmakers attempt to attach hundreds of amendments to the thousand-page document.