WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in “substantial contempt” for failing to turn over audiotapes of interviews between President Joe Biden and special counsel Robert Hur.
The “privilege” resolution, written by Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, an ally of Donald Trump, called for the House to impose a penalty of $10,000 for each day that Garland fails to turn over the tapes.
In the past, there was a unique contempt procedure in which House chamber security officers would detain the accused and try them on the House floor, but that hasn’t happened in the House for over a century. Luna’s resolution simply directed House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, to impose the daily fines, but it was unclear how he would specifically enforce them, and the issue could ultimately end up in court.
They did not ask that Garland be detained.
After the vote failed, Luna vowed on social media that the resolution would be reintroduced to the Legislature, saying it was defeated “due to the absence of several Republican members.”
“I have reintroduced the resolution and will introduce it again in a few weeks when Congress reconvenes and members return,” Luna said on X. “Attorney General Merrick Garland will be punished and held accountable for his attempts to undermine our institutions. No one is above the law.”
The vote was 204 to 210. Four Republicans (Reps. John Duarte and Tom McClintock of California, and Dave Joyce and Mike Turner of Ohio) joined all Democrats in voting against the resolution. The other 12 Republicans were absent.
Joyce, the former prosecutor, noted that any executive privilege call was referred to Biden, not Garland, and that the Justice Department has already turned over the transcript of Biden’s interview.
“The privilege belongs to the president. The attorney general turned over the records. When asked for the tapes, the president said the tapes were privileged,” Joyce, the former prosecutor, said in an interview. “Mr. Garland is caught in the middle. He has to go through the courts to get to where he needs to be.”
Republicans are seeking audio of Biden’s interviews with Hoare, who was appointed by Garland to lead the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents while he was a senator and vice president. Hoare said Biden’s conduct “poses serious risks to national security” but did not indict the president because it would allow Biden to portray himself as a sympathetic “old man with a failing memory” to jurors.
The Justice Department in March released an edited transcript of the president’s five-hour interview with Heo, conducted on Oct. 8 and 9, 2023. But Luna and other Republicans have said they want to listen to Biden’s audio for themselves to ensure the recording wasn’t manipulated.
The White House has asserted executive privilege and refused to turn over the audio tapes, but Biden’s Democratic allies in Congress say the recorded transcripts are sufficient.
Thursday’s substantive contempt vote came one month after the House voted 216-207 to hold Garland in contempt of Congress over the audio tapes, but the Justice Department said it would not prosecute the law enforcement leader.
Democrats first tried to “shelve” or kill Luna’s resolution on Wednesday night, but that attempt failed. They then filed a motion to delay the process by sending the resolution to the Rules Committee, but that also failed, setting up a vote on the full House floor on Thursday.
