The House is expected to vote on Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over audio recordings of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s meeting with President Biden.
Hoare’s findings proved that Biden did not commit any wrongdoing in handling classified documents, but he also said that the 81-year-old president described himself as a “caring, well-meaning elderly man with a declining memory” and that “it would be difficult to persuade a jury to convict a former president, who was already in his 80s, of a felony that requires a wayward state of mind.”
Biden and his allies vehemently denied concerns about his mental health following the report.
Republicans seeking the audio recordings say they provide important context about Biden’s state of mind, while Democrats have dismissed the request as a partisan attempt to politicize the Justice Department.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (right) prepares to vote on a contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland. (Getty Images/File)
The pursuit of Hoare’s audio tapes is part of a broader impeachment inquiry by House Republicans looking into allegations that Biden used his political position to enrich himself and his family. Biden denies any wrongdoing.
Although a majority of Republicans have signaled support for the bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has little room to compromise: he can only lose two votes if the bill is passed along party lines.
Two Republicans, Rep. Juan Siscomani (R-Arizona) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Washington), told Fox News Digital they had not yet decided how they would vote.
“We haven’t gone through that process yet, but if the records are already public, I don’t think there’s any legal basis for them not to release the actual video. In my opinion, that’s what they should do,” Newhouse said.
“I want to understand exactly what the objectives behind it are before I comment,” Siscomani said.
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Ralph Norman MSP (Scottish Member for the Freedom Group) criticised the moderates for indecisiveness.
“I would be shocked if moderates don’t agree that we need to condemn Merrick Garland for not turning over audio to corroborate whatever his testimony is,” Norman said.
Republicans have criticized Garland over the Justice Department’s refusal to release audio tapes of meetings between Special Counsel Robert Hur and President Biden. (Getty Images/File)
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said that if Wednesday’s resolution passes and the Justice Department doesn’t pursue Garland, she will seek to force a vote on her own essential contempt resolution against Garland, which would instruct House whistleblowers to arrest a target rather than passing it on to the Justice Department.
“At this point, we’re going to do that across the board,” Luna said. “I don’t have a lot of confidence in the Department of Justice, and I don’t think the American public does either, but we’re trying to restore a level playing field and show that there should be accountability all the way to the top.”
Democrats, meanwhile, blasted the Republican effort. Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida said, “They want to do that because they don’t have the votes to impeach Joe Biden. That’s why they impeached Merrick Garland. That’s why they’re [Hunter Biden]It’s all an attempt to please his base, because Congress doesn’t want to grant Donald Trump’s wish to go toe-to-toe with Joe Biden by impeaching him.”
The targeting of Garland is part of a broader Republican effort to crack down on the alleged weaponization of the Justice Department by Biden administration officials, an effort that also includes various bills and public threats to defund various aspects of the department, including the special counsel currently investigating former President Trump.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Justice Department for comment on the contempt resolution against Garland.
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Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York led the Democratic push against the bill. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon/File)
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Garland indirectly criticized Republican resistance to the Justice Department. The Washington Post Tuesday morning editorial.
“In recent weeks, we have seen an intensification of public scrutiny, criticism, and attacks that go far beyond legitimate and necessary oversight of our operations. They are baseless, personal, and dangerous,” he wrote. “These attacks have taken the form of threats to defund certain departmental investigations, and most recently the special counsel’s indictment of a former president.”
