Washington, DC—June 12, 2024…Today, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution recommending that the House find U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with subpoena duly issued by the Committee on the Judiciary. Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3) voted in support of the measure.
Congressman Womack said, “The House acted to hold Attorney General Garland accountable today for his refusal to comply with Congressional subpoenas to fully examine the president’s mental fitness and handling of classified documents. It’s our responsibility to defend the Constitution and the authority of Congress. The American people deserve transparency, especially when it concerns the leader of our country.”
Background:
In early February, Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report on President Biden’s mishandling of classified materials after documents were discovered in his home and office in 2022.
On February 27, the Judiciary and Oversight and Accountability Committees issued identical subpoenas to Attorney General Garland compelling the production of certain documents and records, including audio and video recordings, of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Biden and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.
Audio tapes are the best evidence and will ensure that the transcripts provided to the committees accurately reflect the true content of interviews.
The White House has recently edited President Biden’s mistakes by labeling them “inaudible” in transcripts; the Committee Members must be able to assess for themselves that the transcript accurately reflects the true content of the interviews. The Biden Administration has reportedly made edits to Biden’s transcripts.
These subpoenas were issued for several reasons, including as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry, to inform legislative reforms to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) use of special counsels in investigations of current and former presidents, and to determine whether legislation is needed to ensure that federal agencies properly account for records and documents after an executive branch official leaves office.
To date, DOJ has refused to produce the subpoenaed audio recordings, choosing instead to obstruct and delay. Finally, on the morning of the markup of the contempt resolutions in the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, President Biden asserted executive privilege over the recordings.
President Biden waived any potential assertion of executive privilege over the Hur interviews when he released the transcript. During Watergate, a federal district court held that President Nixon waived any claim of executive privilege over certain audio recordings because he had already published transcripts of the conversations.
President Biden has not set forth any valid basis for invoking executive privilege. There is no claim that the audio contains confidential communications between the President and his advisors (presidential communications privilege) or that confidentiality is required to protect pre-decisional and deliberative communications within Executive Branch agencies (deliberative process privilege).
Article I of the Constitution vests in Congress a “broad” and “indispensable” power to conduct oversight and investigations that “encompasses inquiries into the administration of existing laws, studies of proposed laws, and surveys in our social, economic or political system for the purpose of enabling Congress to remedy them.”
Criminal contempt of Congress, established in 2 U.S.C. § 194, is a criminal process by which the House can seek to hold a witness accountable for failing to comply with a committee subpoena. Holding an individual in criminal contempt protects Congress’ oversight and investigative functions by compelling compliance through the threat of penalties, punishing individuals who willfully fail to comply, and deterring future noncompliance.
