A contempt resolution brought by House Republicans against Attorney General Merrick Garland passed a key procedural hurdle Tuesday night, setting the stage for a vote by the full House.
Republican lawmakers are seeking to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of special counsel Robert Hur’s meetings with President Biden.
The resolution passed the House Rules Committee on a party-line vote after a tough hearing in which Republicans and Democrats clashed over Harr’s allegations about Biden, but the debate quickly devolved into a tit-for-tat comparison between Biden and his son Hunter and the investigation and prosecution of former President Trump.
This would trigger a “rules” vote of the full House to allow for debate and then a vote on final passage of the resolution.
The special counsel’s 388-page report cleared Biden of any wrongdoing, even though he “knowingly retained and disclosed classified materials” even before he took office.
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, United States, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. (Ting Sheng/Getty Images)
Hoare portrayed Biden as “a caring, well-meaning old man with a fragile memory” and said it would be “hard to persuade a jury that a former president, already in his 80s, should be convicted of a felony that requires a resilient mental state.”
Republicans seized on the report, claiming it was evidence that Biden was mentally unfit to serve as president, and accused the Department of Justice of arbitrary prosecution.
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Harr’s account of Biden’s mental health as “baseless,” but House Rules Committee Chairman Michael Burgess of Texas, a Republican, disagreed.
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Republicans have accused Garland of obstructing Congress’ access to tapes of interviews between special counsel Robert Hur and President Biden. (Getty Images)
“So why not clear up the confusion and release the actual audio of the interview? Let the American people decide. Why hide it from them?” Burgess said.
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) argued, “Herr’s recommendation not to indict President Biden was not an unfounded statement — that’s why he rejected the indictment recommendation — because Joe Biden is what’s called a sympathetic, well-meaning old man with a frail memory. He was concerned that a jury would not be inclined to convict.”
The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, at one point said of the procedure, “This is a distraction from the fact that the Republican nominee for president is a convicted felon, which is what this is all about.”
He cited the recent conviction of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, on federal firearms charges to rebut Republican accusations of weaponizing the Justice Department..
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The top Democrat on the House Rules Committee pointed to the recent conviction of Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
“The division here is astonishing, and it’s a great reminder that one party is committed to the rule of law and the other party is not. It’s simple. Would Hunter Biden come out of the courthouse this morning and denounce the judges and prosecutors? Would he allege a vast conspiracy to weaponize the legal system against him? No,” McGovern said. “How can any sane Republican argue that the Biden administration is weaponizing the Justice Department to hurt the Republican Party and help the Democrats? They just convicted the president’s own son.”
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The resolution is likely to pass along party lines, but House Republican leadership has little room for error because of its two-seat majority. A vote by the full House is expected on Wednesday.
Republicans’ pursuit of the Har Biden tapes is part of a broader impeachment investigation into accusations that Biden and his family used his political office to profit from it.
