George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley appeared on Fox News on Friday to praise Republican efforts to prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress and slammed the “unreasonable” detention of audio tapes of President Joe Biden.
Turley appeared on “Hannity” to discuss Congress’ recent resolution to hold Garland in contempt after Biden failed to provide lawmakers with audio recordings of his meetings with Special Counsel Robert Hur. Fox guest Kayleigh McEnany questioned the law professor about the situation surrounding Garland, noting that there were no “surprises” to the American public. (RELATED: Jake Tapper tells Dan Goldman there’s ‘no basis’ for Biden DOJ to withhold Har tapes)
“Unfortunately, they are not surprised. This is Merrick Garland’s record, not just his department’s record. He has a record of meddling in potential cases and investigations that could embarrass the White House. This recent spat with Congress is especially indicative. Merrick Garland’s position and withholding these audio tapes is not only untenable, but constitutionally understandable. It’s absurd,” Turley said.
“He’s going to federal court and making arguments that would make most trial lawyers blush in front of a judge. He’s going to argue that we don’t consider records to be privileged, but he believes that audiotapes of the same records are privileged. As if this is not what the president should be hearing. No court has ever expanded that privilege before. They’ve made it even more absurd by saying there is some kind of deepfake privilege.”
“If we release the tapes, AI will start creating fake audio tapes of the president’s voice. Here’s a hint, Gordon: they already have the president’s voice and you’ve already submitted a transcript. Any high school student could recreate such a fake tape. Because we’re not releasing the actual audio tapes, it’s more likely to be accepted as true,” Turley continued.
“So I applaud Chairman Johnson for saying he’s going to court. I’ve represented the House in previous cases, and the House actually has a very good record, including cases where we’ve won in federal court for Article I powers. And this is it. This is what you need to fight for.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has since declined to file further charges against Garland, but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he intends to litigate the matter in federal court to obtain the tapes.
“I will be filing a contempt report with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,” Johnson said. post “We will also move to enforce Attorney General Garland’s subpoena in federal court.”
