The House Oversight Committee conducted a contentious hearing that lasted for hours on Thursday night and ultimately passed a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. The resolution, which passed with a 23-19 vote, was brought forth because Garland refused to provide audio recordings from special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden regarding classified documents.
Earlier in the day, the House Judiciary Committee also voted to move forward with its own contempt resolution. The Oversight Committee initially planned to hold their meeting in the morning, but it was postponed to 8 p.m. due to several Republican members attending former President Donald Trump’s trial in New York.
During the hearing, tensions rose when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made disparaging remarks about Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s appearance, leading to demands for an apology from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The atmosphere became more heated when Crockett retaliated, causing chaos in the room.
Despite attempts by Chairman James Comer to maintain order, the hearing eventually went into recess before resuming. After about three hours, the committee concluded the vote on the resolution.
The actions taken by the GOP-led House Oversight and Judiciary committees are part of a broader Republican effort to build a case for impeaching President Biden over his handling of classified documents. Representative Comer emphasized the importance of obtaining the audio recordings and warned of consequences for defying congressional subpoenas, signaling the committee’s decision to hold Garland in contempt of Congress.
