US House holds Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over Joe Biden interview
- Garland had refused to turn over the recording of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, whose report set off a political storm
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over audio recordings of a special counsel interview with Democratic US President Joe Biden.
The measure passed 216-207 on a party-line basis with one Republican joining Democrats in voting no.
The Department of Justice has already turned over a transcript of the interview, which set off a political firestorm in February when Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report describing Biden, 81, as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.
The White House has asserted that the recordings are covered by executive privilege, and a vote by the House to hold Garland in contempt would put the US Justice Department in the awkward position of having to decide whether to prosecute its own leader. It is not required to take up the charges.
Garland is the third attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress, following Democratic President Barack Obama’s attorney general Eric Holder and Republican President Donald Trump’s Bill Barr. The Justice Department did not pursue charges in either case.
“Transcripts alone are not sufficient evidence of the state of the president’s memory,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said as debate opened.
