House Republicans are skeptical that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will act on newly passed criminal indictments against Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Several Republicans argued that the Justice Department’s lack of action was hypocritical given that former Trump administration aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were recently indicted and convicted following similar referrals.
“I don’t have much expectation that this administration will follow the letter of the law, the intent of Congress, or the subpoenas issued to the president,” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital.
“This is just a further manifestation of the weaponization of the Department of Justice. They’re not playing umpires. They’re not acting as administrators. They’re not calling balls and strikes. Quite frankly, they’re just doing what appears to be a political purpose, and that’s not their job,” he said.
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Republican House members, including Rep. Byron Donald (R-FL) on the left and Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) on the right, are skeptical that the Department of Justice will carry out the House’s contempt motion against Attorney General Merrick Garland (center). (Getty Images)
Asked whether he expected the Justice Department to follow the House’s lead, Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.) said, “Will Garland pass his own contempt motion? No way.”
“It’s nothing short of hypocritical, given that President Trump asserted executive privilege against Steve Bannon and Merrick Garland moved forward anyway,” Donald said.
Republican lawmakers sought to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s meetings with President Biden.
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Republicans are seeking audio tapes of interviews between Special Counsel Harr (left) and President Biden (right). (Getty Images)
Hoare’s findings cleared Biden of any wrongdoing in handling classified documents, but he also described the 81-year-old president as a “caring, well-meaning elderly man with a declining memory” and said it would be “difficult to persuade a jury that a former president well into his 80s should be convicted 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 argued they would provide important context about Biden’s state of mind, while Democrats dismissed the request as a partisan attempt to politicize the Justice Department.
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The Justice Department pursued two of the three criminal indictments sent to it by the previous Democratic-controlled Congress, but did not act on a third criminal contempt resolution against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows, Bannon and Navarro were all accused of evading subpoenas from a now-disbanded House select committee that was investigating the January 6 events.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon (left) and former adviser to President Trump Peter Navarro (right) were both found guilty of contempt of Congress. (Getty Images)
“I’m not optimistic because I think the Department of Justice has proven itself to be highly partisan and not an honest broker in terms of applying the law,” Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) said of the Garland resolution.
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“I think there’s enough evidence to show his disdain. I hope they’re not being hypocritical. I mean, it’s going to be a sad day for America,” he said.
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.”
