House Republicans gunning for AG Garland amid Biden classified documents probe

WASHINGTON (CN) — House Republicans said Monday they are preparing to throw the book at Attorney General Merrick Garland, accusing the top Justice Department official of dodging a congressional request for information related to a special counsel investigation of President Joe Biden.

GOP lawmakers have for months demanded that the Justice Department hand over the details of special counsel Robert Hur’s probe into President Biden’s handling of classified documents — dialing in on transcripts and audio recordings of Hur’s interviews with the president and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.

Despite serving Garland with a subpoena in February, Republicans have complained that the Justice Department has not been forthcoming with the requested documents.

The agency has provided lawmakers with letters and redacted transcripts related to Hur’s probe but has so far bucked attempts to secure audio recordings. The Justice Department has argued that handing over the audio of the special counsel interviews could have a chilling effect on future investigations.

That explanation, however, proved unconvincing to House Republicans, who said Monday that they are prepared to move ahead with a resolution to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with their subpoena.

The drastic effort is led by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Kentucky Representative Jim Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee. Both have been leading figures in House Republicans’ impeachment probe.

Writing in a report accompanying Monday’s contempt resolution, Jordan argued the Justice Department’s failure to comply with the subpoenas “has hindered the House’s ability to adequately conduct oversight over special counsel Hur” and has “impeded the committees’ impeachment inquiry.”

“The [Justice] Department has invoked no constitutional or legal privilege to support withholding this material,” the Judiciary Committee chair said.

Jordan argued the information already provided to Congress by the agency has not been adequate, and that lawmakers still need access to Hur’s audio recordings, arguing that they are “of superior evidentiary value regarding the specific issues the committees are investigating.”

“While the text of the department-created transcripts purport to reflect the words uttered during these interviews,” the Ohio Republican wrote, “they do not reflect important verbal context, such as tone or tenor, or nonverbal context, such as pauses or pace of delivery.”

Those details matter because they can shed light on a witness’s ability to recall events or whether they are being evasive or nonresponsive, Jordan contended.

Audio recordings, the lawmaker added, would also shed light on Hur’s decision not to recommend charges against President Biden for his handling of classified documents — long a point of contention for Republicans.

Pointing to the ongoing prosecution of former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified information, Jordan argued access to Hur’s audio recordings would allow Congress to determine whether the probe was impartial.

“The department’s refusal to produce the audio recordings amounts to a demand that the committees trust that the department-curated interview transcripts are accurate and complete,” he wrote.

The House Oversight Committee has announced that it plans to hold a vote on the contempt resolution during a business meeting Thursday.

Hur’s report on his probe, released in February, recommended that Biden face no charges for any malign conduct. Despite that, the investigation was a topic of controversy for both Democrats and Republicans.

The president’s allies bristled at observations made in the report about his mental faculties — Hur wrote that Biden would be unlikely to be convicted by a jury if the classified documents case ever went to trial because he presented himself as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

During a March hearing on Capitol Hill, Democrats tore into the special counsel for that framing, accusing him of knowingly using the report as a political cudgel against Biden. Some lawmakers suggested that Hur, who previously served as a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, was angling for a job in a second Trump presidency.

The special counsel, though, was dismissive of those charges.

“I did not sanitize information, nor did I disparage the president unfairly,” Hur said at the time. “I called it like I saw it.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have argued that the special counsel’s decision not to bring charges against Biden represents a double standard in the Justice Department, pointing to what they framed as differential treatment in Trump’s classified documents probe.

Hur pushed back, noting Biden had cooperated with investigators and consented to interviews and a search of his Delaware home. Trump, however, had resisted such overtures.

The special counsel’s initial report reignited controversy about Biden, 81, and his mental acuity. But Trump, who turns 78 in June, has faced similar scrutiny.

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