House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is firing back after the Justice Department (DOJ) announced on Friday that it would not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress. The legal battle arose from Garland's refusal to turn over an unredacted audio recording of an interview between President Joe Biden and special counsel Robert Hur.
The recording was part of Hur's investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents. Leading Judiciary Committee Republicans Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and James Comer (R-Ky.) had issued a subpoena for the audio. While the DOJ provided some records, it excluded the critical audio recording. Federal prosecutors argued that GOP interest in the recording was more political than legitimate oversight.
Hur's report found that Biden “willfully retained” classified materials after his time as vice president. However, it added, the transgressions didn't warrant prosecution, which would be difficult given his appearance as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Evidence of Biden's alleged memory issues emerged in detail during Hur's investigation, including “painfully slow” interviews with his ghostwriter in 2017 and the special counsel's office in 2023.
The Hill further reports:
“It is sadly predictable that the Biden administration's Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for defying congressional subpoenas even though the department aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for the same thing,” Johnson said in a statement, referring to two allies of former President Trump, The Associated Press reported. “This is yet another example of the two-tiered system of justice brought to us by the Biden administration.”
Earlier Friday, the DOJ issued a determination that Garland had committed no crime when he failed to meet the demands of House Republicans who subpoenaed audio of special counsel Robert Hur's conversation with President Biden amid the president's classified documents probe.
CNN reported that Johnson said he would be “certifying the contempt records to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia” and he will be moving to “enforce the subpoena of Attorney General Garland in federal court.”
The news comes after House Republicans voted earlier this week to hold Garland in contempt of Congress after DOJ declined to turn over the audio. Republicans already have the transcript of the conversation and Biden did not discuss anything relevant to the GOP's impeachment investigation, per the department.
Hours after Hur's report was released, the White House announced an impromptu press conference with Biden. During the conference, the president made several gaffes, further fueling the debate over his memory and cognitive abilities.
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