House votes: Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress

2024-06-13 07:41:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

House votes: Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress

The Capitol, the seat of the United States Congress. Source: AP

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland is in contempt of Congress by not releasing an audio recording of President Joe Biden's interview on the classified documents issue. It is the strongest and latest step taken by Republican lawmakers against the Justice Department as the partisan debate over rule of law issues dominates this year's presidential election.

The 216 to 207 vote was largely along party lines, with Republican lawmakers supporting the initiative despite reservations expressed earlier by some of them. Only one Republican lawmaker voted against it – Ohio state lawmaker David Joyce.

Attorney General Garland issued a statement late Wednesday, saying, “It is deeply disappointing that the House of Representatives has turned a serious authority of Congress into a political tool. "Today's vote ignores the separation of powers, the Department of Justice must protect its investigators, and the vast amount of information we have provided to congressional committees."

Attorney General Merrick Garland. Source: AP

He added that he will always raise his voice "in defense of the Department, its employees and the vital mission in defense of our democracy".

Mr. Garland thus becomes the third attorney general to be declared in contempt of Congress. But it is highly unlikely that Mr. Garland will be charged by the Justice Department, which he heads. The White House's decision to use executive immunity to not release the tape to Congress would make it very difficult to bring a criminal case against Mr. Garland.

However, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson defended the decision to go ahead with the vote which now looks more like a symbolic measure.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. Source: Reuters

"We did our job to declare it in contempt of Congress, and I think that sends an important message," said Speaker Johnson. "We will see what will happen next, but the House of Representatives must do its job and I am satisfied with today's result."

The White House and Democratic lawmakers have criticized Republicans' motivation for pursuing the procedure and dismissed efforts to obtain the president's audio recording as purely political.

Attorney General Garland has defended the Justice Department, saying its officials have made every effort to provide information requested by congressional committees about special counsel Robert Hur's investigation into classified documents, including a transcript of the prosecutor's conversation with President Biden./ VOA