Republicans are set to hold US Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over the Justice Department’s refusal to hand over audio recordings of Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.
“The House Judiciary Committee is aiming to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to provide audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“The Republican-led committee is planning to hold a meeting to review a contempt report and hold a committee vote on the matter on May 16, according to two sources familiar with the plans.”
BREAKING: House Republicans plan to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in Contempt of Congress. pic.twitter.com/05j7D9tiSA
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) May 6, 2024
House Oversight Chairman James Comer previously released a statement after the DOJ rejected his committee’s request for the audio recordings.
“The Biden Administration does not get to determine what Congress needs and does not need for its oversight of the executive branch,” stated Comer. “The American people deserve to hear the actual audio of President Biden’s answers to Special Counsel Hur.”
According to Robert Hur’s 345-page report, Joe Biden couldn’t remember when he was vice president or when his son Beau died.
Additionally, Robert Hur stated in his report that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”
“He knew he kept classified information in notebooks stored in his house and he knew he was not allowed to do so,” Hur stated.
Despite this acknowledgement, Hur decided not to prosecute Joe Biden, citing his advanced age and poor memory as factors influencing the decision.
“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,” the report stated.
Special Counsel Robert Hur testified before Congress in March on Biden’s interview regarding his stolen classified documents scandal that spanned two days.
Also, according to the report, In 2017, Joe Biden read aloud classified passages about meetings in the Situation Room to his ghostwriter “verbatim on at least three occasions” – despite this, Biden STILL wasn’t charged.
“We also considered whether Mr. Biden willfully disclosed national defense information to his ghostwriter by reading aloud certain classified notebook passages to the ghostwriter nearly verbatim on at least three occasions,” the report read.
Biden wasn’t charged for reading classified information to his ghostwriter because jurors might conclude his actions were “unintentional.”
