On Thursday, the GOP-led House shot down an effort to use its rarely-employed inherent contempt power against Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to share audio from the classified documents probe against President Joe Biden.
Four Republicans and 206 Democrats voted against the resolution, which sought to fine Garland $10,000 a day until he stopped defying a subpoena for the tapes, while 204 Republicans and no Democrats supported it. Twelve Republicans and seven Democrats did not vote.
The lawmakers who broke ranks included Dave Joyce (R-OH), Mike Turner (R-OH), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and John Duarte (R-CA).
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who introduced the resolution, said she planned to try again in the future. “Republican bills went down today. We will bring the vote back to the Floor with legislative appropriations when Members are here,” she said in a post to X.
The congresswoman previously floated a resolution to hold Garland in inherent contempt of Congress that would have empowered the House sergeant-at-arms to detain the Biden Cabinet official until he complied with the subpoenas, but Luna ultimately opted to go with the fines.
At issue are audio files of interviews with Biden and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. Special counsel Robert Hur’s team declined to recommend charges against Biden, who is running for re-election, but described him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
House Republicans subpoenaed Garland for the tapes in a standoff with the Department of Justice, which claimed that sharing the audio with Congress would impede future investigations. Meanwhile, Democrats argued that their GOP colleagues’ actions were tainted by politics.
Lawmakers managed to obtain transcripts of the interviews, but Republicans insisted that they still needed the audio to conduct oversight and pushed forward with regular contempt of Congress proceedings, even after Biden asserted executive privilege over the tapes.
The House voted in June mostly along party lines — with Joyce as the one GOP defector— to hold Garland in contempt, after which the Judiciary Committee sued Garland on July 1, asking a D.C. federal court to overrule executive privilege assertion and make Garland produce the tapes.
Biden is increasingly facing a crisis of confidence among Democrats after the 81-year-old appeared confused and lost his train of thought during his debate against former President Donald Trump a little more than two weeks ago, but so far has refused to bow out of the race.
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[[{“value”:”
On Thursday, the GOP-led House shot down an effort to use its rarely-employed inherent contempt power against Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to share audio from the classified documents probe against President Joe Biden.
Four Republicans and 206 Democrats voted against the resolution, which sought to fine Garland $10,000 a day until he stopped defying a subpoena for the tapes, while 204 Republicans and no Democrats supported it. Twelve Republicans and seven Democrats did not vote.
The lawmakers who broke ranks included Dave Joyce (R-OH), Mike Turner (R-OH), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and John Duarte (R-CA).
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who introduced the resolution, said she planned to try again in the future. “Republican bills went down today. We will bring the vote back to the Floor with legislative appropriations when Members are here,” she said in a post to X.
The congresswoman previously floated a resolution to hold Garland in inherent contempt of Congress that would have empowered the House sergeant-at-arms to detain the Biden Cabinet official until he complied with the subpoenas, but Luna ultimately opted to go with the fines.
At issue are audio files of interviews with Biden and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. Special counsel Robert Hur’s team declined to recommend charges against Biden, who is running for re-election, but described him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
House Republicans subpoenaed Garland for the tapes in a standoff with the Department of Justice, which claimed that sharing the audio with Congress would impede future investigations. Meanwhile, Democrats argued that their GOP colleagues’ actions were tainted by politics.
Lawmakers managed to obtain transcripts of the interviews, but Republicans insisted that they still needed the audio to conduct oversight and pushed forward with regular contempt of Congress proceedings, even after Biden asserted executive privilege over the tapes.
The House voted in June mostly along party lines — with Joyce as the one GOP defector— to hold Garland in contempt, after which the Judiciary Committee sued Garland on July 1, asking a D.C. federal court to overrule executive privilege assertion and make Garland produce the tapes.
Biden is increasingly facing a crisis of confidence among Democrats after the 81-year-old appeared confused and lost his train of thought during his debate against former President Donald Trump a little more than two weeks ago, but so far has refused to bow out of the race.
“}]]
