CNN
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A Republican-led House committee on Thursday voted to proceed with contempt proceedings against Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to turn over an audio recording of a meeting between President Joe Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur.
The move is a major escalation in the dispute between House Republicans and the executive branch over the recordings, which came after Biden claimed executive privilege over the files.
The House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight Committee both approved reports recommending a contempt motion against Garland for failing to comply with a Congressional subpoena, paving the way for the full House to vote on contempt charges against the attorney general. It has opened, but it is not clear when. That vote could take place.
The vote passed along party lines in both committees.
Republicans are capitalizing on Mr. Xu's description of Mr. Biden in his final report as a “well-meaning old man with a poor memory,” a characterization that Mr. Biden disputes. Republicans argue that access to the tapes would provide valuable information not available in written records, but the Justice Department questions whether House Republicans are seeking the audio files solely for political purposes. and that there are clear privacy concerns that should be protected. .
The special counsel's report quickly became a political issue for the president, focusing on an issue that has proven intractable to Biden: age. The White House and Biden campaign react harshly to Hsu's characterization of the president, pushing back against the special counsel's claims that Biden is forgetful, especially on the question of whether the president remembers the year his son died He launched a fierce defense aimed at this.
Republican lawmakers had previously subpoenaed audio recordings of Mr. Biden's interviews, ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, and other materials obtained from Mr. Xu's investigation into Mr. Biden's handling of classified information.
Transcripts of two days of meetings between Mr. Hsu's team and Mr. Biden were released in March ahead of Mr. Hsu's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Mr. Xu did not recommend charges against Mr. Biden in his report.
House Republicans have argued through subpoenas to the Justice Department that the audio recordings are critical to Biden's impeachment inquiry, but the investigation remains stalled as the prospects of the probe leading to impeachment become increasingly slim. Without a narrow majority vote and no evidence of impeachable crimes, Republicans are now struggling with how to conclude the investigation and are considering ways to target other members of the Biden administration. I'm looking for something.
The White House noted that the Justice Department has already provided records of the special counsel's interviews with Biden and his ghostwriter, and has complied with other aspects of the original subpoena from the Republicans.
“Due to the President's long-standing commitment to protecting the integrity, effectiveness, and independence of Department of Justice and law enforcement investigations, the President has decided to assert executive privilege over the recordings,” White House Counsel Edward Mr. Siskel sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James. Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan.
Mr. Siskel accused Republicans of trying to distort the recordings and criticized them for pursuing prosecutors with whom they disagree.
“The lack of a legitimate need for audio recordings exposes the likely goal of mutilating, distorting, and using audio recordings for partisan political purposes,” Siskel wrote.
Given the White House's claim of executive privilege, the Justice Department asked House Republicans to halt a planned contempt lawsuit.
“Given the information we now have, the committee should not proceed with contempt and should avoid unnecessary and unwarranted conflict,” said Carlos Uriarte, assistant attorney general in the Legislative Bureau.
Uriarte also defended the need to protect the audio tapes, saying, “We believe that the release of subpoena audio recordings will harm future law enforcement efforts and that the Commission's continued requests are “We have repeatedly made it clear that this raises serious concerns about separation.”
CNN filed a lawsuit in April seeking access to a recording of Biden's interview.
Garland, speaking after Biden announced he would assert executive privilege, condemned the Republican-led attack on the Justice Department.
“The Department of Justice is a fundamental institution of our democracy,” Garland told reporters at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. “People depend on us to ensure that our investigations and prosecutions are conducted according to the facts and the law and free from political influence.”
The White House claimed executive privilege at Garland's request, and Garland sent a letter to the president on Wednesday.
Republicans said in their contempt report that the Justice Department cannot determine what information would be helpful in the investigation, and that the nuances of language in the audio recordings are unique to the subject matter not reflected in the recordings. claimed to provide insight.
“The Constitution does not allow the executive branch to instruct Congress on how to conduct or monitor impeachment investigations,” the report states.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party said in its report that while interview transcripts reflect what was said, they do not “reflect important linguistic context, such as tone and tone, or nonverbal context, such as pause and pace of speech. ” he claims.
Republicans argue that such pauses and intonations “may indicate a witness's ability to recall events or whether the person is intentionally giving evasive or unresponsive testimony to investigators.” ” he claims.
Republicans point to a recent example of a discrepancy between the president's transcript and audio recording, including a speech last month in which Biden read teleprompter cues out loud during a speech that were not reflected in the recording of the event. However, he said that it was not reflected in his speech. First transcript of his remarks.
The House Oversight Committee has delayed the start of Thursday's raise to allow Republican members to attend former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York City, two sources familiar with the plan told CNN. .
Asked for comment on the reason for the schedule change, a spokesperson for the oversight board told CNN: “Due to conflicts with members' schedules, markup will begin at a different time to accommodate members' schedules. It became,” he said.
When the Oversight Committee's price increase process began, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) briefly got into a heated argument, and it took some time for things to descend into chaos. It didn't take long.
The price increase occurred late at night before the commission voted to proceed with the contempt suit against Garland.
This article and heading have been updated with additional developments.
