Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is urging the House of Representatives to take its contempt of Congress case against Attorney General Merrick Garland to court after the Department of Justice declined to pursue charges.
Johnson plans to “certify the contempt records to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia” and move to “enforce the subpoena of Attorney General Garland in federal court,” according to CNN.
“It is sadly predictable that the Biden administration’s Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for defying congressional subpoenas, even though the department aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for the same thing,” Johnson stated on Friday. “This is yet another example of the two-tiered system of justice brought to us by the Biden administration.”
Johnson’s decision follows Carlos Uriarte, the DOJ’s top congressional liaison, rejecting the GOP’s efforts to bring a case against Garland.
“Consistent with this longstanding position and uniform practice, 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 read.
On Wednesday, House lawmakers voted mostly along party lines to hold Garland in contempt of Congress. The vote was part of Republicans’ efforts to hold the attorney general accountable for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena for the transcript of an interview former special counsel Robert Hur conducted with President Joe Biden last year.
Truth Voices reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.
