House GOP Planning Garland Contempt Vote
House GOP Planning Garland Contempt Vote
The Facts
US House Republicans on Wednesday were planning to hold a vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress because the Justice Department (DOJ) has refused to comply with a subpoena for the audio recordings of Pres. Joe Biden being interviewed by a special counsel.
Republicans, led by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who say they need the audio as part of their ongoing impeachment inquiry of the president, have pursued the recordings since Special Counsel Robert Hur's written report described Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The Spin
This is a political game Republicans are playing in order to distract from the legal troubletroubles of former Pres. Donald Trump, the GOP's presumptive nominee for president. Republicans received a transcript of Hur's interview and their pursuit of the recordings is just part of the off-the-wall conspiracy theories they have to sell to their followers to distract from their deficiencies.
This isn't about politics, it's about an attorney general who believes he's above the law and an administration that's doing all it can to obfuscate this situation. A recording is always superior evidence to a transcript, and Congress has a right to hear what Hur heard as part of their investigation into the president's possible crimes or incompetence. Anyway, the president lost executive privilege when he released the transcript.
