The House Oversight Committee has changed its schedule, canceling a hearing on Merrick Garland’s contempt of Congress case and allowing some members to attend former President Trump’s hush money trial instead.
The committee was scheduled to meet early Thursday, an hour after the twin resolutions censuring Garland will also be considered by the House Judiciary Committee. Instead, it will meet at 8 p.m. to accommodate the large number of Republicans who serve on the committee. Freedom Caucus members can participate in the trial.
Sources told The Hill that the last-minute change was to allow lawmakers to visit New York, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
The House Oversight Committee sidestepped questions about why the hearing was delayed for nine hours.
“Due to conflicts in members’ schedules, Markup will start at different times to accommodate members’ schedules,” a spokesperson told The Hill.
But not all Republicans scheduled to attend the trial are members of the oversight committee. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) also plans to attend, a person familiar with the matter told The Hill.
Two committees are scheduled to vote to hold Garland in contempt after the attorney general refused to turn over audio recordings of President Biden’s meeting with Special Counsel Robert Hur as part of his investigation into classified documents. ing.
Although the committee already has transcripts of the interviews and the subject matter has little or no overlap with the impeachment inquiry, Republicans still argue that the audio files could have important implications for the investigation and that Garland They accused him of “obstructing the committee’s impeachment efforts.” inquiry. “
Democrats quickly suggested that Republicans were abandoning Republican priorities in favor of a different Republican Party.
“House Republicans are attending Donald Trump’s criminal trial, attacking our criminal justice system and the rule of law, and attacking the Attorney General over information they already have so they can score brownie points with Dear Leader. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia) postpones “emergency” hearing due to contempt. I wrote to X.
Committee Democrats were surprised by the last-minute delay in the hearing.
Democrat on House Oversight Committee: “I think everyone knows by now who sets the committee dates.” I wrote to X.
The Oversight Committee includes some of President Trump’s most ardent supporters, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (Florida), and Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colorado). They did not respond to requests for comment on whether they are Trump supporters. He will attend the trial.
It remains unclear which Republican lawmakers are scheduled to appear Thursday morning. But they will follow a number of Trump’s closest allies who have already moved to oppose the trial as it enters its fifth week.
Johnson joined Trump in a New York City court on Tuesday morning, becoming the highest-ranking lawmaker to join the former president during ongoing legal proceedings.
The speaker did not enter the courtroom with President Trump, but spoke outside the courtroom after the visit, denouncing the hush-money trial as a “sham” and saying prosecutors were trying to “intentionally keep him here” in the case against the former president. He accused the government of moving forward with the goal of “keeping them safe and keeping them in check.” He was removed from his campaign. ”
“President Trump is innocent of these charges,” Johnson added.
Including Representative Byron Donald (Florida), Representative Nicole Malliotakis (New York), Representative Cory Mills (Florida), Senator J.D. Vance (Ohio), and Representative Tommy Tuberville (Alabama). Other Republicans also headed to Manhattan courts this year. This week, he joins other Republicans who have been floated as potential running mates for Trump, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy.
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