In a 208 to 207 vote today, House Republicans advanced a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena and release audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden. Hur described Biden as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” stating in his report that a jury would be unlikely to convict due to Biden’s “mental state”:
We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. 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.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced the House’s decision, stating on X:
This week, Attorney General Merrick Garland will be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a lawful subpoena. We cannot allow the Department of Justice to hide information from Congress.
Representative Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) testified before the House Rules Committee yesterday and said that Congress must hold Garland in contempt. She stated on X:
Today I testified before the House Rules Committee as to why Congress must hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt. The AG has ignored 2 subpoenas directing him to release the audio of Special Counsel Hur’s interview with Joe Biden. What is he hiding and why?
During a speech on the House floor, Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) expressed doubt regarding Garland’s claim that the transcript released accurately represents Hur’s audio recordings, stating on X, “Either the transcript doesn’t match the audio, or the audio is SO BAD, that he doesn’t want us to hear it.”
Representative Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said that House Republicans would work together to fight inflation, the border crisis, violent crime, weakened national security, and “chaos around the world” under the Biden administration, and confirmed that Republicans would hold Garland accountable with the contempt of Congress resolution.
