Last week, several House committee chairs noted that Attorney General Merrick Garland had defied subpoena requests regarding Biden’s interview during his classified documents investigation.
They were considering sending a referral for contempt of Congress, but Garland may have just gotten a reprieve.
Talking Points…
- Contempt of Congress
- House committees in limbo
- Analysis
The GOP committees have been dying to get their hands on those audio tapes of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Hur. While they have the transcript of the interviews, it would hardly present the same image that the audio tapes would convey, and that is what the GOP is after. They want to see how Biden was helped through the interview as well as hear the confusion in his voice while discussing certain subjects.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) had announced prior that the GOP could refer an indictment over the lack of cooperation from Garland on this matter. At the time, he stated:
“The Committee’s February subpoena required the Department of Justice to produce audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with the Special Counsel investigating his mishandling and improper disclosure of classified materials. The Department has chosen not to produce them. That’s why we’re here today.”
Keep in mind that this comes after Democrats railed against Trump allies for thwarting congressional subpoenas, and the White House has doctored numerous transcripts already to cover for Joe Biden. Simply put, nothing will tell the story like those recordings.
There is no doubt that Garland should be charged here, but some lingering questions are preventing the GOP from moving forward on this issue. First, there is the question of Garland’s own DOJ charging him with contempt, which is difficult to imagine.
Second, the GOP is not even sure it has enough support to pass the bill. With a majority of only five, they only have two votes to spare, and with that anti-Trump presence among some GOP House members still present, they are not sure they can get the entire party on board with this criminal referral, so now the House is in limbo on the matter.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) explained:
“We’re not gonna do it unless we know we can pass it.”
He later added that “more than one” member of the GOP caucus seems not to want to commit to going after Garland on this matter. There has been some finger-pointing on this front already, but Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) assured everyone it was not him. Additionally, the House has seemingly lost its focus, with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) being more than happy to point out Rep. Greene’s (R-GA) feud with Rep. Jasmine Crocket (D-TX), stating:
“Some of the members on the other side were saying that Chairman Comer presided over so much chaos and dysfunction in our committee that they lost the thread of what they were doing there.
“I mean, the whole country was looking at Marjorie Taylor Greene talking about fake eyelashes, but nobody was focused at all on their outlandish claim that the attorney general of the United States is in contempt of Congress.”
I suspect that this issue will be settled once the House returns from the holiday recess. My personal feeling is that the House will want to test the DOJ's duplicity on this, as long as the GOP can get the entire caucus behind the indictment.
