The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it will decline to indict Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
in letter In a letter Friday to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte explained that President Joe Biden “invoked executive privilege and directed Garland not to release the materials.” Subpoena The House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House Judiciary Committee in February CNN.
On Wednesday, the House voted 216-207 to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena “containing records, transcripts, memos, video and audio files” related to special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s “willful mishandling of classified information.” press Released by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
“The direction was based on a Department of Justice legal opinion advising that asserting the privilege was legally appropriate,” the Justice Department wrote. “The President’s direction came after the Department produced materials in response to all four of the Committee’s subpoenas. The Department provided Special Counsel Harr’s report, without any redactions, in support of his testimony before Congress.”
As Breitbart News previously reported, the request for “audio tapes of Hoar’s interviews with Biden” came after Garland “only provided written records” that were deemed “inadequate” after transcripts of Hoar’s interviews with Biden showed Hoar had a “poor memory.”
A transcript of Hoare’s interview with Biden revealed that the president didn’t remember the date his son Beau died, or even when he was serving as vice president.
Most significantly, Republicans had demanded audiotapes of Ho’s interview with Biden. Garland had only provided transcripts, which Republicans argued were insufficient after Ho said Biden had become mentally unstable and had “reduced memory” during the interview.
Heo completed his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified information in February and stated in his report that he did not intend to indict Biden because he is an “elderly person with a weak memory.”
“It is the Department’s long-standing position that it will not prosecute for contempt of Congress officials who refuse to provide subpoenaed information, subject to the President’s assertion of executive privilege,” the letter continued.
In 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr and then-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were charged with contempt of Congress after failing to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The Justice Department’s response about Garland being held on contempt of Congress charges came shortly after Steve Bannon, former President Donald Trump’s former chief White House strategist, was ordered to report to prison on July 1 to serve a four-month sentence for ignoring subpoenas from a Democratic-led House committee that was investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 8: (— EDITORIAL PURPOSES ONLY, CREDIT REQUIRED – “STEVEN HIRSCH/POOL” – NO MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN – DELIVERED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS) Steve Bannon, former advisor to former President Donald Trump, attends his arraignment in New York Criminal Court, New York, USA, Thursday, September 8, 2022. The charges against the former chief strategist and campaign official for former President Trump have yet to be disclosed, but are likely related to a state fraud investigation related to fundraising efforts for the construction of a US-Mexico border wall. The charges are likely related to allegations that he misled “We Build The Wall” donors. (Photo by Steven Hirsch/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Bannon was convicted by a jury in 2022 and sentenced to four months in prison. The sentence was then put on hold as Bannon appealed, and in May an appeals court upheld his conviction.
“Because the Department of Justice has determined that Attorney General Garland’s responses to subpoenas issued by the Committee do not constitute a crime, it will not present a contempt of Congress indictment to a grand jury or take any other steps to indict the Attorney General,” the Justice Department letter added.
