House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has vowed to pursue Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has denied a congressional committee’s request to release the audio recording of former Special Counsel Robert Hur‘s interview with President Joe Biden. (The Department of Justice said it will not prosecute Garland over the contempt of Congress charges.)
The full transcript of the interview, in which Biden was questioned about handling classified documents after he left the White House in 2016, is available to the public but House Republicans say the audio will help their investigation of President Biden, which has failed for more than a year to produce evidence of criminal activity.
Critics of the Republican investigation maintain it is a political ploy and a distraction, creating opportunities for hurling innuendo at the President in the court of public opinion, without meeting the burden of proof. Biden’s defenders see the audio, which they suspect Republicans will edit and take out of context, as another political weapon — especially since the full transcript is readily available.
As Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY) noted: “there is no legitimate legislative purpose” to acquire the audio. (The committee is a legislative branch operation; Goldman is a Stanford-trained lawyer.)
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) introduced a resolution for “inherent contempt of Congress,” which the congresswoman asserts “Congress has the authority to do.”
Luna said the resolution would allow Congress “to be the punitive arm,” and “hold Garland accountable by using the Sergeant at Arms to essentially go and get him as well as his team.” Luna said she discussed the resolution with Johnson and said “that vote will be coming to the floor.”
Luna says her resolution to have the House Sergeant at Arms arrest Attorney General Merrick Garland will be coming up for a vote pic.twitter.com/dMpEyizoDK
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 16, 2024
Note: William McFarland is the current Sergeant at Arms — “the chief law enforcement and protocol officer of the House of Representatives and is responsible for maintaining order in the House side of the United States Capitol complex.” McFarland was appointed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in January 2023.
Former FBI Special Agent turned Yale-trained lawyer and legal analyst Asha Rangappa responded to Luna’s proposal of using the Sergeant at Arms by writing: “The Attorney General has an FBI agent detail. That should go well.”