Republicans on two House committees voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege to block them from obtaining his recorded interviews with special counsel Robert Hur. The House Judiciary Committee voted 18-15 on May 16 to approve the contempt resolution, and the House Oversight Committee followed with a 24-20 vote in favor of their own resolution.
These actions stem from Garland’s refusal to provide impeachment investigators with the recordings of Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents. Despite Hur concluding that Biden had willfully retained and disclosed classified materials in violation of the law, he decided not to prosecute, citing potential jury sympathy towards Biden due to his age and memory issues.
President Biden’s assertion of executive privilege prevents the prosecution of Garland for noncompliance. Republicans argue that if Biden is too incompetent to stand trial, he is unfit to lead the nation. They demand to hear the recordings to evaluate the special counsel’s decision and Biden’s competence.
The contempt resolutions need to pass the full House before being referred to the Justice Department. It remains unclear whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will bring the resolutions to the floor for a vote.
