The House of Representatives accused the head of the US Department of Justice of disrespecting Congress
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over to lawmakers an audio recording of an interview with President Joe Biden as part of an investigation into classified documents.
About this informs Voice of America.
The move, which is symbolic because Garland’s Justice Department will ultimately decide whether to indict Biden, is another escalation of the feud between allies of Republican Donald Trump and the White House ahead of the November election, it said.
Republicans are demanding audio recordings of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur in October. He interviewed the president as part of an investigation into classified documents that Biden improperly kept after he was fired as vice president.
Hur concluded in February that the allegations were not justified, adding that because of his “limited accuracy and memory,” the president would likely be seen in court as a “nice, friendly old man with a bad memory.”
The House voted 216-207 to charge Garland with contempt of Congress and refer his case to the Justice Department, with only one Republican — former U.S. Attorney Dave Joyce of Ohio — voting against the resolution.
Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, called it “a significant step in maintaining the integrity of our processes and oversight responsibilities.”
“Congress, not the executive branch, determines what materials it needs to conduct its own investigations, and there are consequences for refusing to comply with lawful congressional subpoenas.”, – said in his statement.
Garland said in a statement that he was “deeply disappointed that Republicans have turned the powerful powers of Congress into a partisan weapon.”
“Today’s vote ignores the constitutional separation of powers, the Justice Department’s need to protect its investigations, and the substantial amount of information we have provided to the committees.”, he added.
Democrats in Congress say the Justice Department cooperated with Republican investigators by providing them with a 250-page certified transcript of Biden’s interview with Hur.
They accuse Republicans of simply wanting to use the tapes to discredit Biden in campaign ads. But Johnson disputes that and says his committees need the records to verify the accuracy of the transcripts. The move comes amid efforts to impeach Biden on corruption charges that failed after a series of hearings by House Republicans. The accusers were unable to demonstrate any wrongdoing by the democratic president.
“House Republicans are trying to blame Attorney General Garland for the failure of their bogus impeachment inquiry into President Biden by bringing up an unsubstantiated, clearly politically motivated contempt resolution.”, said Catherine Clarke, the second most important.
Garland became the third attorney general and the fourth cabinet member to be impeached in contempt by the House of Representatives since 2012.
