House Republicans To Hold Attorney General In Contempt Over Biden Audio

House Republicans plan to move forward next week with holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over unredacted audio of an interview conducted as part of the special counsel probe into President Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The House Judiciary Committee is set to convene on May 16 to advance the contempt charges, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The contempt proceedings are the latest flare-up in the increasingly tense relationship between Republicans and the Justice Department. Last month House Republicans threatened to hold Garland in contempt for not fully complying with a congressional subpoena issued as part of their probe into special counsel Robert Hur’s decision not to charge the president with any crimes.

Republicans led by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and James Comer (R-KY) had ordered the department to turn over audio of Hur’s interviews with Biden by early April. The Justice Department only provided some of the records excluding the audio interview with the president warning of the precedent that would be set for future investigations if the audio was provided.

Should the House hold Garland in contempt it is unlikely that the Justice Department which he oversees would prosecute him. The last time an attorney general was held in contempt was in 2012 when the GOP-controlled House voted to make then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. the first sitting Cabinet member to be held in contempt of Congress.

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