Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida detailed on Fox News on Sunday the steps lawmakers are expected to take to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable following the Justice Department’s decision to decline to indict him for concealing audio tapes of Biden.
Luna appeared on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” to discuss Congress’ recent resolution to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of his meetings with Special Counsel Robert Hur over President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. Fox host Maria Bartiromo began by asking Luna what lawmakers’ “next move” would be, given that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will push for the case to go to federal court after the Justice Department declined to prosecute. (RELATED: ‘This is the hill to fight on’: Turley praises Republicans, slams Garland for ‘unreasonably’ retaining Biden audio tapes)
“Well, actually, a few months ago I introduced a resolution on what’s called ‘intrinsic contempt of Congress,’ which is something Congress has the authority to do and hasn’t done since the early 1900s. Basically, I was preparing this and putting it together because I expected the Department of Justice to not do its job. I brought it to Chairman Johnson’s attention and this would allow Congress to actually be the disciplinary body and hold Garland accountable. We could use the Capitol Police to retrieve Garland and the tapes and bring them to the House of Representatives and provide a check and balance on the Department of Justice,” Luna said.
“Again, this has been going on since the early 1900s, but this vote will be taken by Congress and hopefully provide some accountability. This is [the] “As Mr. Johnson stated, the courts are going to get bogged down there and it’s not going to help anything. The American people deserve more than a strongly worded letter. I think we’re all frustrated and we want to see some accountability again.”
Bartiromo continued to question Luna about Republicans trying to retrieve the audio tapes from Garland because they already have records of the conversations. The Fox host asked Luna if he thought the tapes might have been doctored in some way because they had been confirmed to have filled in words like “ums” and “ahs” edited out.
“I think it could have been tampered with, but I also think it will be clear to the American people whether Biden is capable of making those decisions. Let’s not forget, we have a foreign policy fiasco right now. We have Russian warships off our coast and if he’s not fit to be president he’s not going to be a candidate in November. I think that’s why Democrats are trying to protect him and the Department of Justice,” Luna said.
“So you don’t think he’ll be a candidate?” Bartiromo asked.
“That won’t happen if these tapes are made public, Maria. I think they have a big problem and I think his lack of cognitive ability is their biggest problem right now,” Luna replied.
Congress passed a contempt resolution against Garland on Wednesday by a vote of 216-207 after he refused subpoenas for the audio tapes from the Judiciary and Oversight and Accountability committees in February. The White House has argued that lawmakers don’t need the tapes because the transcripts are available, but the Justice Department rejected the charges on Friday.
Johnson has since stated In an online post, he said the Justice Department’s response was “unfortunately and expected,” but that he plans to certify the department’s contempt report and take steps to “enforce Attorney General Garland’s subpoena in federal court.”
