Attorney General Merrick Garland avoided an essential contempt resolution after four Republican senators joined with Democrats to oppose the effort.
The House voted Against The verdict was 209-207, after the House found Garland guilty of substantive contempt in June for refusing to turn over audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden during his investigation into his willful mishandling of classified information.
After the interview, Heo described Biden as “an old man with a bad memory.”
The resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), blamed the resolution’s failure on the absence of seven Republicans, but 10 Democrats were also absent.
“Today’s vote on my essential contempt resolution and the House appropriations bill failed to pass due to the absence of Republican members,” she said. Said “The overwhelming majority of our party supports this resolution and it has already survived multiple deadly attacks by the Democrats. Our efforts have not been in vain,” they said in a statement.
BREAKING: Rep. Luna reintroduces essential contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland
“Today’s vote on my essential contempt resolution and the Congressional appropriations bill failed to pass due to the absence of Republican members. The overwhelming majority of my party supports it… pic.twitter.com/Hs3CFij4NZ
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) July 11, 2024
She continued:
I have reintroduced the resolution and will sponsor it again in the coming weeks once Congress reconvenes and members return. Attorney General Merrick Garland will be punished and held accountable for his attempts to undermine our institutions. No one is above the law.
Reps. John Duarte (R-Calif.), Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), and Mike Turner (R-Ohio) voted against the resolution. Joyce was the only Republican to vote against the contempt resolution passed in June.
“As a former prosecutor, I cannot in good conscience support a resolution that would further politicize our justice system in order to score political points,” Joyce said. Said In a statement at the time of the vote, he said: “The American people expect Congress to work for them, solve their policy problems, and prioritize good governance. Enough is enough.”
Garland’s refusal to turn over the audio recording of Hoar’s interview with Biden takes on even more significance in light of Biden’s disastrous performance in the June 27 debate, where Biden was unable to complete sentences, complete thoughts or articulate audible phrases, seemed to confuse past events and timelines, and made a series of embarrassing and politically charged gaffes that convinced many Republicans that Garland was complicit in covering up Biden’s declining performance.
What was that? After a week of rest and preparation, Biden coughs, stumbles and rambles his way through debate
Courtesy of CNN Presidential Debate
On the day of the June election, the Department of Justice Claimed The memo noted that Garland would be protected from prosecution for contempt of Congress because Biden strategically asserted executive privilege over the recordings on May 16, 2024, before the Judiciary and Oversight Committees adopted contempt resolutions.
Luna indicated his intention to force a vote on a contempt resolution to hold Garland in substantive contempt of Congress after Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), led by Garland, stated that it would not ignore the contempt resolution passed by the House of Representatives.
“For Congress to legislate effectively, we must have access to information to make informed decisions,” Luna said. I have written “When Congress is denied this critical information, we are left to grapple with complex issues in the dark,” she wrote to colleagues.
Congress enacted inherent contempt law in 1957, allowing the House Chief of Staff to bypass the executive branch and the Department of Justice and detain anyone who fails to comply with a congressional subpoena.
Luna’s resolution would instruct House protocol officers to “bring Mr. Garland before the House of Representatives for questioning and to compel him to produce the evidence requested.”
The Florida congresswoman alleges that the Biden administration called Republicans to pressure them to oppose the resolution, similar to a successful pressure campaign in earlier this year to block an amendment that would have required intelligence agencies to obtain warrants before spying on Americans.
“This is the very definition of corruption,” Luna said.[Garland] “He believes he is above the law and can tell elected officials what to do. My message to Mr. Garland is simple: release the tapes to Congress and let us hear them.”
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translator.
