The House Judiciary Committee voted to move forward with holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Thursday, one of two committees taking up the issue as part of a larger House Republican effort to build an impeachment case against President Joe Biden.
Judiciary Committee members voted 18 to 15 to advance the contempt resolution against Garland for refusing to hand over audio recordings from special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with Biden related to his classified documents case.
The House Oversight Committee, the other committee taking up a contempt resolution, moved their meeting from Thursday morning to 8 p.m. on Thursday night to accommodate the attendance of several Oversight GOP members at former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial in New York.
While Republicans traveled to the Empire State, Biden went on the offense ahead of the House Judiciary Committee’s markup on the resolution. The Justice Department announced Thursday morning that the president was asserting executive privilege over the recordings, placing another roadblock in the way of House Republicans as they continue to argue with the DOJ over whether Congress should have access to the audio recording.
Now that the contempt resolution has been advanced, it will go to the floor for a full House vote to be scheduled by House leadership. If it passes the full House, a criminal referral is made to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., which must then weigh whether to move forward with prosecution.
The committee’s contempt resolution would likely not result in any criminal proceedings for Garland, as he heads the Justice Department. Spokespeople for the DOJ have disputed the legitimacy of the committee’s efforts and warned that releasing audio would have a chilling effect on witnesses coming forward to law enforcement.
House GOP members on the Judiciary Committee spent most of the hearing declaring that the executive branch “doesn’t get to choose” what evidence they provide to the committee, while House Democrats blasted Republicans for politicizing the issue and wanting the audio recording for “Donald Trump’s campaign commercials” or use Biden’s stutter to “smear” him.
A major talking point during the hearing was whether Republicans displayed a need for the audio recording while already possessing Hur’s interview transcript. Some Judiciary GOP members claimed the transcript could have been altered and fake during the hearing, and others said executive privilege is not applicable during an impeachment inquiry.
“That tape must be quite something if the administration of the president has decided to assert executive privilege to keep it from the committee in the course of an impeachment inquiry. Think about it,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said. “The basis for withholding the audio recording, when the transcript has been furnished, must rest on something about the recording that is distinct from the information contained in the transcript.”
Though the president’s conduct posed “serious risks to national security,” Hur said in his report that he did not charge Biden because he believed a jury would find him a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” and likely not convict him for this reason.
Republicans latched onto those lines quickly as evidence that the president is not mentally competent to serve as commander-in-chief, believing that the audio recording will shed light on Biden’s mannerisms, colloquialisms, and ability to answer questions.
“They don’t get to choose,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) said.
“The person providing the evidence doesn’t get to choose the manner in form in which the evidence is provided. … There’s a difference between a transcript and a video and audio,” Armstrong continued. “And I don’t possibly understand the argument of ‘we’ll release the transcript, but we won’t release the tapes.’”
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) pushed back against Republicans‘ reasoning for wanting the audio recording, arguing that Hur specified the differences in Biden’s classified documents case compared to Trump’s case.
“There’s a reason Trump sits alone, or will sit alone at this criminal trial that’s upcoming — it’s because he acted to obstruct justice. Biden and [Mike] Pence did not,” Ivey said.
Ivey also argued that Republicans did not raise concerns with Hur about lying or altering his findings when the special counsel testified on Capitol Hill in March.
“He said, ‘No, I’m not trying to hide anything. I’m not trying to protect the president. We’re not trying to slant anything. I did this. I called the balls and strikes as I saw him,'” Ivey said, referring to Hur. “And you know, I think it’s a bit of a smear to sort of suggest otherwise. And it’s a little unfair to do it now when he’s not here, when you had the chance to do it when he was here.”
During the hearing, Democrats slammed Republicans who skipped out on the markup to attend Trump’s trial.
“It’s nice to see that some of my colleagues on the other side can make it today,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said. “I don’t know if that means that there weren’t enough seats in the courtroom in New York.”
“I know some members will miss this vote, because they want to be at the president’s trial, and I don’t think that anything could animate the phrase ‘do nothing Congress’ more than missing votes and canceling hearings to go up and be a spectator at your cult leader’s trial,” Swalwell added. “That is the definition of ‘do nothing Congress.’”
However, Republicans like Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) continuously criticized House Democrats for bringing the discussion to Trump and his hush money trial.
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“That’s not why we’re here,” Van Drew said. “…The issue is, this committee feels that it needs an audio transcript because the charges, the concerns, are so serious.”
“I wish we didn’t have to have this hearing either,” Van Drew added later. “The chairman wouldn’t have called this hearing if simply [the DOJ] had said, ‘Yes, you can have the video recordings, you can actually check out his demeanor.'”
