DOJ Declines to Prosecute Garland After House Contempt Vote

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it will not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for not complying with subpoenas.

On Wednesday, the House voted 216 to 207 to hold Garland in contempt for failing to provide “records, including transcripts, notes, video, and audio files,” related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation of President Biden’s handling of classified information, according to a press release from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

As previously reported by Truth Voices, Republicans requested “audio tapes of Hur’s interview with Biden” after finding written transcripts “insufficient” due to Biden’s “poor memory” as revealed in the transcript.

The transcript showed Biden could not recall the date of his son Beau’s death or when he had served as vice president.

REPUBLICANS EMPHASIZED THE NEED FOR AUDIO TAPES OF HUR’S INTERVIEW WITH BIDEN, ARGUING THAT THE WRITTEN TRANSCRIPTS PROVIDED BY GARLAND WERE INSUFFICIENT AND REVEALED BIDEN’S MENTAL LAPSES AND “POOR MEMORY” DURING THE INTERVIEW.

In February, Hur concluded his investigation, stating that Biden, as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” would not be prosecuted.

In 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were also held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena.

The DOJ’s decision comes as Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist for Donald Trump, was ordered to report to prison on July 1 for a four-month sentence after defying a subpoena from the Democrat-run House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Bannon, convicted by a jury in 2022, had his prison sentence placed on hold during an appeal, which was upheld in May.

“The Department has determined that the responses by Attorney General Garland to the subpoenas issued by the Committees did not constitute a crime, and accordingly the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General,” the DOJ’s letter stated.