House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
The contempt resolution addresses the Justice Department’s refusal to turn over the audio of President Biden’s special counsel’s interview with Robert Hur.
The resolution was adopted by a vote of 216 to 207.
Garland is the third attorney general to be charged with contempt for defying a congressional subpoena — following Bill Barr under President Trump and Eric Holder under President Obama.
The contempt charge is a formal recommendation to prosecute Garland. He will likely be shielded from legal ramifications as Biden has asserted executive privilege over the audio.
The Justice Department plunged into Republican-led ‘conspiratorial speculation’ about coordination between the DOJ and Manhattan attorney Alvin Bragg on Trump’s prosecution
After Congress held Trump aides Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon in contempt, both were sentenced to prison.
If the DOJ adopts the contempt resolution and charges Garland, the consequences could include a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment “for not less than one month nor more than twelve months,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
But it is highly unlikely that the DOJ will prosecute its own leader. The Office of Legal Counsel noted in May that no U.S. attorney has ever filed a contempt charge against an official asserting the president’s claim to executive privilege.
Republican Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio was the only Republican to vote against the resolution.
Joyce said of his opposition: “As a former prosecutor, I cannot in good conscience support a resolution that would further politicize our justice system to score political points.”
“The American people expect Congress to work for them, solve policy problems and prioritize good governance. Enough is enough.’
During the interview, special counsel Robert Hur said Biden appeared “elderly” with a “poor memory” as he mixed up his son Beau’s date of death and hit a series of other stumbles.
The DOJ released written transcripts of the interview, but they said releasing audio could make it more difficult for prosecutors in the future to secure recorded interviews where witnesses knew it could be distributed to the public.
However, Republicans have suggested that the interview transcript could be inaccurate.
Biden has exercised executive privilege over the audio of Hur’s interviews with himself and his book ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer to keep it out of the hands of the Republican Party.
However, Republicans have suggested that the interview transcript could be inaccurate.
Garland lashed out at the dismissive move, saying earlier Thursday that the DOJ has gone to “extraordinary lengths” to provide the committee with information.
“We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that committees get answers to their legitimate requests, but this is not one,” Garland told reporters ahead of a hearing to press his contempt charge.
Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., fired back: “The White House claims privilege over the recordings, but has already waived the privilege by releasing the interview transcript.
The Justice Department jumped into Republican-led “conspiratorial speculation” about coordination between the DOJ and Manhattan attorney Alvin Bragg over Trump’s prosecution.
Carlos Uriarte, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, wrote to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan informing him that the DOJ had sought emails between leadership there and Bragg’s office regarding an investigation or prosecution of former President Donald Trump, but that none had been found.
“The committee’s self-justifying ‘perception’ is completely unfounded, yet the committee continues to spread it widely,” Uriarte wrote.
“As the Attorney General stated at his confirmation hearing, the conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York State Court was somehow controlled by the Department is not only false, but irresponsible.”
Uriarte warned that Republicans’ claims could put DOJ officials in danger.
“Allegations of wrongdoing without – and in fact contrary to – evidence undermine confidence in the justice system and have contributed to the increased threat of violence and attacks on law enforcement officers and prosecutors. Our extraordinary efforts to respond to your speculation should put this to rest.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and top prosecutor Matthew Colangelo have agreed to testify before House Republicans on July 12.
Republicans pointed to Colangelo as evidence of conspiracy when he left the DOJ in December 2022 and later joined Bragg’s team.
Republicans have pointed to former DOJ official Matthew Colangelo as evidence of collusion when he left the DOJ in December 2022 and later joined Bragg’s team.
Republicans are planning a vote to hold Merrick Garland in contempt on Wednesday
The DOJ said their search “did not turn up any instances in which Mr. Colangelo had email communications with the District Attorney’s office during his time at the Department.”
Bragg’s case against Trump led to a conviction last month on 34 counts of falsifying corporate records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
House Republicans are planning a vote to charge Attorney General Merrick Garland with contempt of Congress — though the vote is on shaky ground by a two-vote margin of error. The contempt resolution addresses the DOJ’s refusal to turn over the audio of the interview with President Biden’s special counsel and the interview with Biden ghost writer Mark Zwonitzer.
The DOJ offered transcripts of the interview, but said handing over the audio would harm their ability to get subjects to agree to recorded interviews.
Judiciary and Arms Chairman Jim Jordan claimed Colangelo has an “obsession” with investigating Trump “rather than prosecuting a crime.”
“Given the perception that the Department of Justice is assisting in the politicized prosecution of District Attorney Bragg, we are writing to request information and documents relating to Mr. Colangelo’s employment with the New York Attorney General’s Office.”
In December 2022, Colangelo, the third-highest official in President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, stunned his colleagues by packing his bags and heading to the Big Apple to take on a less senior role at the District Attorney’s Office Alvin Bragg in Manhattan.
Colangelo’s “unusual” move was technically a demotion, former US Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo told DailyMail.com.
‘Moving from [The Justice Department] to the district attorney’s office in Manhattan must mean that someone is a true believer,” said Yoo, who served in the George W. Bush administration and now teaches law at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It suggests that the prosecutor here is after the man, Trump, and not the crime,” Yoo said. He also helped lead an investigation into the links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and his charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
That investigation resulted in a 2018 agreement in which Trump denied wrongdoing but agreed to dissolve the foundation.
From there, Colangelo plowed straight into Trump’s business empire, looking for any accounting irregularities.
During that investigation, Colangelo personally interviewed the ex-president’s son, Eric Trump, in a statement.
When the junior Trump complained that prosecutors singled out his father for an act of political sabotage, Colangelo snapped at him.
“I can’t spend all day with these kinds of disgusting answers,” he says.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York declined to charge Trump over Stormy Daniels’ payment.
The FBI reportedly concluded that they likely could not prove that Trump intended to break the law — and they closed the case in the summer of 2019.
