The House of Representatives may vote this week on whether or not to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. The House should vote, and the House should vote to hold Garland in contempt.
Garland has refused to turn over to the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Accountability Committees investigative materials subpoenaed by the two committees – two of the three committees authorized by a House resolution to conduct an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The investigative materials in question are the audio recordings of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews of Biden and Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. Transcripts of both sets of interviews have already been produced and turned over to the two committees in response to the subpoenas.
The saga began on February 12 of this year, when the chairmen of the three committees authorized to conduct the impeachment inquiry sent a letter to Garland requesting documents and records related to Special Counsel Hur’s report, in which Hur explained his decision against recommending that Biden be prosecuted, despite uncovering evidence during his investigation that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.” The documents and records requested included the audio recordings of Hur’s interviews with Biden and Zwonitzer.
Four days later, on February 16, the Department of Justice responded to the committees’ letter, but failed to produce any of the requested........