Merrick Garland Held In Contempt of Congress Over Biden Tape

The Attorney General has been reluctant to release audio recordings of Biden’s testimony to Special Counsel Robert Hur, citing concerns over manipulation and an already-publicly-available transcript of the meeting.

Attorney General Merrick Garland was held in contempt of Congress on Wednesday for violating a House subpoena related to a recording of Joe Biden’s testimony to Special Counsel Robert Hur. Garland drew the ire of Republican lawmakers after he submitted a transcript of the interview to the House Judiciary Committee but refused to submit audio recordings, citing concerns that the recordings would be improperly used for political campaigns.

House Republicans weren’t the only party that desired access to the tapes, however. Major news organizations such as CNN, NBC, ABC, Reuters, and the Washington Post all sued the Department of Justice, citing transparency concerns and claiming that the transcript was “no substitute” for the recording, according to CNN’s lawyers.

Democrats have largely been dismissive of the accusations of contempt, pointing instead to current delinquent subpoenas of many leading House Republicans from the now-defunct January 6th Committee’s investigations in 2022. The Department of Justice also reportedly distributed a memo summarizing that Garland would not be prosecutable on the contempt charge due to the Department’s policy that employees of the executive branch are not liable for presidential claims of executive privilege, which President Biden has claimed over the recordings. 

The House ultimately voted 216-207 to hold Garland in contempt, with all Democrats and Ohio Republican David Joyce voting “no” and all other Republicans voting “yes.”

Read more here: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-vote-holding-attorney-general-garland-contempt-biden-audio-rcna156327