House rejects Garland inherent contempt resolution even as he withholds Hur tapes

The House shot down an effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress, dealing a blow to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna‘s (R-FL) push to punish the Biden administration official for withholding access to audio recordings of interviews between special counsel Robert Hur and the president.

Lawmakers voted 204-210 to hold Garland in contempt, falling short of the majority vote needed to pass the resolution. The measure was shot down after four Republicans sided with Democrats over concerns the matter should be played out in the courts rather than legislatively.

“I’m gonna let the committee go through its work, have its court hearings, and use due process,” Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) told the Washington Examiner last month.

Luna filed her resolution as privileged on Wednesday, prompting Democratic leaders to attempt to table the measure and effectively kill it before it reached the floor for a full vote. However, that motion was killed in a 207-209 vote.

Democrats then moved to refer the motion to the Rules Committee, a procedural move meant to temporarily delay a vote on the motion. That effort also failed in a 207-211 vote.

However, a handful of Democrats who were absent on Wednesday were present for votes on Thursday, giving the party enough pushback to kill the measure.

Luna has been pushing to hold Garland in inherent contempt after he skirted requests from House Republicans to hand over audio tapes of interviews between Hur and President Joe Biden regarding the special counsel’s investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents. The Justice Department provided access to transcripts of those interviews, which GOP investigators have argued are insufficient due to possible alterations or edits.

However, that push became more prevalent after the first presidential debate last month, during which Biden stumbled over his talking points and repeatedly lost his train of thought — raising concerns about his cognitive abilities on both sides of the aisle.

“What America saw at the first presidential debate leaves no question that Congress needs to hear Special Counsel Robert Hur’s tapes from his interview with President Joe Biden. President Biden’s performance was so concerning to all of us who watched that even before the debate had ended, people were questioning his ability to continue as president,” Luna wrote in a letter to House Democrats this week. “Even many of you had to make the difficult decision to call for President Biden to drop out of the race. The urgency of this situation cannot be overstated, and we must act swiftly.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had initially expressed reservations about the resolution, arguing he would rather pursue alternative paths to access the tapes. The House Judiciary Committee has already filed suit with the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to force Garland to comply with its subpoena, which Johnson has supported.

“As a constitutional law litigator, former country litigator, my preference is to follow the legal process and legal proceedings that protect the institution,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “I’d rather do it in the way that we’ve done in our present litigation, but we will let the chips fall where they may.”

Democrats have repeatedly moved to dismiss any contempt charges, arguing the resolution is an attempt to dredge up the most politically explosive finding of the special counsel’s report: that Hur, investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents, did not charge him in part because a jury would judge him to be a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Garland was held in contempt after he rejected a subpoena from House Republicans in February to provide access to the audio recordings. The DOJ has already published the full transcripts of those interviews, arguing they are sufficient for Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. The White House has also cited executive privilege.

But top Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees have rejected the explanation, arguing the refusal “has hindered the House’s ability to adequately conduct oversight over Special Counsel Hur regarding his investigative findings and the President’s retention and disclosure of classified materials and impeded the Committees’ impeachment inquiry.”