The U.S. Department of Justice is refusing to turn over subpoenaed audio recordings.
Two top lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 13 took steps to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, recommended the lower chamber hold Mr. Garland, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, in contempt for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), meanwhile, scheduled a hearing this week to advance a resolution to hold Mr. Garland in contempt.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) did not respond to a request for comment.
The actions come after the DOJ, Mr. Garland’s department, declined to provide the House with audio tapes of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, despite subpoenas being issued for the tapes. The department also refused to hand over recordings of President Biden’s ghostwriter speaking with Mr. Hur, who was appointed by Mr. Garland.
Mr. Hur said in his report that President Biden intentionally kept and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency ended. President Biden repeatedly consulted the documents after leaving office for a book, one of the “strong motivations” to not comply with rules governing retention of materials marked classified, according to the report.
But Mr. Hur determined that no criminal charges were appropriate, in part because “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Committee Chairs Say DOJ Withholding Materials
Republicans in April threatened to hold Mr. Garland in contempt if he and his department failed to produce the tapes they wanted.
“If the department continues to withhold materials responsive to the committees’ subpoenas … we will have no choice but to invoke contempt of Congress proceedings,” Mr. Jordan and Mr. Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which issued one of the subpoenas, said in a letter to the attorney general.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte said in response in a recent missive that the Biden administration asked lawmakers to explain how the audio recordings “would serve the purposes for which you say you want them” but that lawmakers “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.”
