June 14, 2024
The Department of Justice just sent this letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and said no. They are not going prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland – even though House Republicans voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.
I told you all about that vote with only Republicans voting yes in this video earlier this week. House Republicans say garland should be held in contempt because he refuses to turn over the audio tapes of the classified documents deposition of President Biden where he was described as a “well meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” The White House asserted executive privilege over those audio tapes so garland told house committee chairmen his hands were tied.
In the letter, DOJ says “consistent with this longstanding position and uniform practice, the department has determined that the responses by attorney general garland to the subpoenas issued by the committees did not constitute a crime, and accordingly the department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the attorney general.” DOJ says house republicans have a failed to provide a “sufficient need for the audio files that would further a legitimate congressional purpose.”
Republicans said they needed the audio files to confirm that the full transcript released of the same interview was accurate. Democrats said Republicans only wanted the tapes so they could cherry pick parts and use the audio in campaign attack ads.
The reality is when it comes to these types of contempt of congress charges– other attorneys general including Eric Holder under former President Obama and Bill Barr under former President Donald Trump were also the subjects of the same contempt of congress referral. Back then the DOJ refused to prosecute either man.
Bottom line – the tapes will not be released. And nothing is going to happen to Merrick Garland.
