House panels vote to hold Garland in contempt 

Two House committees on Thursday advanced a measure charging Attorney General Merrick Garland with contempt of Congress for failing to turn over audio recordings of the president.

President Biden’s last-minute move to assert executive privilege over audio recordings of his meeting with special counsel Robert Hur comes as Garland said those who claim privilege “cannot be prosecuted for contempt of Congress.” However, this did not deter Republicans from proceeding.

The House Judiciary Committee passed the bill on a party-line vote of 18-15, and hours later the House Oversight Committee passed a similar bill on a 24-20 vote. The committee extended the hearing until 8 p.m. to allow members to travel to New York to be with former President Trump during his hush money trial.

Republicans already have a recording of the conversation between Mr. , suggesting that the person may be hesitant to ask a question.

For Democrats, the only basis for seeking access to the tapes is to argue that Republicans are abusing their power for purely political gain and to allow Republicans to use the tapes in campaign commercials.

“The transcripts do not capture evidence of demeanor,” Rep. Dan Bishop, RN.C., said at the beginning of the judicial hearing.

“Transcripts are often incomplete, especially in conveying timing of questions and answers, witness disagreements, hesitations, etc. It’s all evidence of attitude.”

If the contempt resolution passes, it will be debated on the full floor of the House of Representatives.

But the move is largely symbolic, serving as a referral to the Justice Department, which must consider whether charges are appropriate.

Long before Biden claimed executive privilege over the audio files, that seemed unlikely. The Justice Department had already refused to share the audio files, arguing that the committee did not need unrelated law enforcement files in the investigation.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) commented on the decision to hold Garland in contempt, nodding to Republicans in the New York trial.

“Republicans on this committee have gone from being the president’s criminal defense firm to essentially becoming an adjunct to the president’s media advertising firm,” he said.

“We are insulting the United States attorney general. And for what? Because the president is a hush-money criminal defendant in the New York porn star case, the first of many criminal trials he faces. In return, the committee will not be provided with video materials for campaign commercials.

Efforts to gain access to the tapes were driven by Republican claims that the tapes could help the impeachment inquiry and support allegations of widespread influence. They have argued in previous letters that Biden may have taken confidential documents to help write his memoir, while audio files show evidence of him acting in the interests of his family. It was suggested that it may contain.

Hoar pointed out that Biden’s book does not mention any classified information and that the memoir is based on personal accounts from Biden’s diary, which also mentions classified information and events.

It is also clear from the minutes that the discussion did not include any items related to the impeachment inquiry.

Nevertheless, Republican lawmakers argued that Biden may have kept the documents for personal benefit.

“President Biden had a strong incentive to ignore the rules for properly handling the classified information contained in the notebook, and to do so,” said Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). had an $8 million excuse to ignore the rules.” Biden’s total book advance.

However, ranking member Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.) refuted that claim.

“There’s no ‘there.’ So what do our Republican friends do if the investigation falls short? Simply put, they’re daydreaming,” he said. said.

“The Chairman wants to make it appear that he has uncovered misconduct by the Attorney General. In fact, the Attorney General and the Department of Justice are trying to convince this committee in any way that could be important to the long-silent impeachment inquiry.” We have fully responded.”

The parties also sent back expletives about which leader is suffering from mental acuity.

Republicans excerpted language from Mr. Xu’s report criticizing Mr. Biden’s memory, while Democrats pointed out that Mr. Trump repeatedly fell asleep during his own trial. The video also showed Trump making a series of mistakes, including referring to the country Argentina as if it were a person, and praising the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

But they also bitterly disagreed about their colleague’s trip to New York.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) quipped that he was glad some of his Republican colleagues were still able to attend the hearing.

“I know that the Oversight Committee canceled the hearing that was about to take place on this issue in order to participate in the trial of the president. I am aware that there are some members who will miss out.”

“And I don’t think anything animates the phrase ‘Congress doing nothing’ more than missing a vote or canceling a hearing to sit in on a cult leader’s trial.”

At least 10 Republicans attended the trial, many of them members of the House Freedom Caucus.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who missed a judicial vote to attend the trial, later tweeted a photo of himself behind President Trump and called on the far-right Proud Boys to “step back.” I echoed the call to take a stand.” by. “

This article was originally published early Thursday.