Congressional Republicans haven’t given up on their crusade against Attorney General Merrick Garland, but as NBC News reported Thursday afternoon, their efforts aren’t going especially well.
The House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in “inherent contempt” for failing to turn over the audiotapes of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.
The final tally was 210-204. The measure would’ve passed, but four House Republicans — Reps. David Joyce of Ohio, Mike Turner of Ohio, Tom McClintock of California, and John Duarte of California — balked and voted with the Democratic minority.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, let’s recap how we arrived at this point.
Several months ago, former special counsel Robert Hur wrapped up his investigation into President Joe Biden inadvertently taking some classified documents after his vice presidential tenure ended. Not surprisingly, the prosecutor decided not to indict the incumbent president.
Soon after, Hur released a report, which included a transcript of an interview that Biden volunteered to participate in. (Donald Trump, in contrast, refused to be interviewed by either special counsel Robert Mueller or special counsel Jack Smith.)
In theory, that ended the story. In practice, however, there was one additional element that Republicans decided to pursue: the audio recording of the incumbent president’s Q&A with investigators. Republicans admitted that they were just looking for a campaign cudgel, but that didn’t deter the effort.
When the White House asserted executive privilege, and the Justice Department told Congress it wouldn’t get the recording, House GOP members voted to hold Garland in contempt.
And then things got a little weird.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida recently announced a plan to go after the attorney general with an “inherent contempt” measure that would, for all intents and purposes, empower the House’s sergeant-at-arms to arrest Garland.
When that failed to gain traction, Luna turned to Plan B — a second “inherent contempt” measure that would subject the A.G. to $10,000-a-day fines until the Justice Department provided lawmakers with the interview tapes.
On Wednesday, this effort received a hearty endorsement from Trump. Roughly 24 hours later, the measure fell short in the House anyway.
What’s next? One can only guess, though it seems inevitable that the GOP majority will continue to explore new ways to go after the attorney general. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
