The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
It all stems from the Justice Department’s refusal to release audio recordings of an interview with President Joe Biden regarding an investigation into whether he — as vice president — improperly kept classified documents. The investigation ended earlier this year without charges against President Biden, with special counsel Robert Hur issuing a final report that described the 81-year-old president’s memory as “poor” and having “significant limitations” that would have made it “difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him.”
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“He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’),” the report stated. “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”
Read: Full report from special counsel Robert Hur
Despite already having transcripts from Hur’s interview with President Biden, House Republicans say they need the recordings because they may provide valuable information beyond what’s in the transcripts.
“As a long-practicing attorney, they are not the same thing. The audio is the best evidence of what he said, how he said it, the time that it took for him to say it, and in what ways they may have altered that transcript.” said Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming. “The moment that they released the transcript and said ‘This is the interview,’ they waived their ability to claim any kind of a privilege and they don’t have a legally valid privilege.”
It’s not just House Republicans who are after those audio recordings. A group of media organizations — including Scripps News parent company E.W. Scripps — have a lawsuit in federal court to try to get access to those recordings.
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At this point it appears unlikely that the Biden administration will turn over the recordings, as the president has invoked executive privilege over the tapes, protecting Garland from further investigation. Democrats, meanwhile, say it’s simply not necessary for the DOJ to release the tapes, and that Republicans are seeking to use them as political ammo against President Biden’s reelection campaign.
“These attacks on our justice system have to come to a stop,” said Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. “They are dangerous. They’re irresponsible. They’re nothing but false conspiracy theories being pushed to try and excuse the actions of the former president (Trump).”
If the House does vote to hold Garland in contempt, it’s unlikely to lead anywhere as it is ultimately left up to the DOJ to decide whether to press charges. That being said, the entire case could also be litigated in court for a very long time.
