Washington.- Secretary of Justice Merrick Garland will not be prosecuted for contempt of Congress because his refusal to hand over the audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his case of handling classified documents “did not constitute a crime,” the Department of Justice reported this Friday. Justice Department (DOJ) of the United States.
In a letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Justice Department official cited the agency’s “longstanding stance and consistent practice” of not prosecuting officials who do not comply with subpoenas because a President asserts his executive privilege.
Last month, the Democratic president asserted executive privilege to block the release of the audio, which the White House says Republicans only want for political purposes. Still, Republicans pressed ahead with the attempt to have Garland held in contempt, voting Wednesday to sanction him for refusing to facilitate the recording.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte noted that the Justice Department, under presidents of both political parties, has refused to prosecute someone in similar circumstances when the president has claimed executive privilege.
As a result, the Department “will not present the contempt of Congress subpoena before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General,” Uriarte said in the letter to Johnson. The letter did not specify who had made the decision in the Justice Department.
Republicans were outraged when special counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute Biden over his handling of classified documents and quickly opened an investigation.
GOP lawmakers — led by Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer — sent a subpoena to obtain audio of Hur’s interviews with Biden, but the Justice Department only turned over some of the records, omitting audio of the interview with Biden. President.
Republicans have accused the White House of hiding the tape because they say the president is afraid voters will hear it in an election year.
A spokesman for Jordan criticized the Justice Department’s move Friday, saying, “The rule of law applies to you, but not to me.”
A transcript of Hur’s interview showed Biden having difficulty remembering some dates and occasionally confusing details – something his former advisers say he has done for years in public and private – but otherwise showing great memory capacity in other areas. Biden and her advisers are especially sensitive to questions about her age. At 81, he is the oldest president in US history, and is seeking another four-year term.
The attorney general has said his department has done everything it can to provide information to lawmakers about the Hur investigation. However, Garland has said releasing the audio could jeopardize sensitive future investigations because witnesses might be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews could become public.
In a letter last month detailing Biden’s decision to assert executive privilege, White House counsel Ed Siskel accused Republicans of seeking to obtain the recordings so they could “shred” and distort them to in order to attack the president. Executive privilege gives presidents the right to withhold information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of decision-making, although it can be challenged in court.
The Justice Department noted that it also declined to prosecute Attorney General Bill Barr, who was found in contempt in 2019. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to issue a referral against Barr after he refused to hand over documents related to a special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump.
Similarly, the Justice Department declined to prosecute former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after he was found in contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the January 6 Committee investigating the attack. to the United States Capitol.
Years before that, then-Attorney Secretary Eric Holder was found in contempt in connection with the arms trafficking operation called Operation Fast and Furious. The Justice Department also took no action against Holder.
Two former Trump White House officials, Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, were indicted for contempt of Congress for defying the Committee’s January 6 subpoenas. Both were found guilty at trial and sentenced to four months in prison. Navarro has been behind bars since March, and Bannon has been ordered to report to jail by July 1.
Hur, the special prosecutor in the Biden case, spent a year investigating the president’s improper withholding of classified documents, from his time as a senator and when he was vice president. Hur said he did not find enough evidence to bring the case to court.
Hur cited limitations in Biden’s memory and the president’s cooperation with investigators that “could convince some jurors that he made an innocent mistake.” Hur’s report also said the president was “someone for whom jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.”
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