House Republicans now suing Merrick Garland
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland
Merrick Garland, Joe Biden's pick to be attorney general, already has been found in contempt of Congress for refusing to provide audio tapes of Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur, who found Biden likely broke the law by taking government documents, but recommended against prosecution because of his "diminished" capacities.
Now Garland is facing another challenge on that front.
CBS is reporting a lawsuit has been filed by House Republicans against Garland in U.S. District Court in Washington.
The case comes from the House Judiciary Committee, which insists that there's no valid claim of presidential privilege regarding the records, since transcripts already have been released.
They are investigating Biden for possible impeachment, and say they can get a lot of information about his abilities and demeanor from the tapes that the transcript does not provide.
In fact, the committee charges the tapes "offer unique and invaluable insight about information that cannot be captured in a transcript, such as vocal tone, pace, inflections, verbal nuance, and other idiosyncrasies."
The lawmakers previously demanded the information, then found Garland in contempt over his refusal to cooperate, only to have the DOJ rejected the case.
"Audio recordings are better evidence than transcripts of what happened during the Special Counsel's interviews with President Biden and Mr. Zwonitzer [Biden's biography]," the lawsuit said. "For example, they contain verbal and nonverbal context that is missing from a cold transcript. That verbal and nonverbal context is quite important here because the Special Counsel relied on the way that President Biden presented himself during their interview — 'as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory' — when ultimately recommending that President Biden should not be prosecuted for unlawfully retaining and disclosing classified information."
The House is considering a plan to hold Garland in "inherent contempt," a process different from criminal contempt, which would allow the House itself to detain Garland and put him on trial.
The plan is being supported by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who recently suggested instead of taking Garland into custody on that count, that the House announce a fine of $10,000 per day for Garland.
"This version of inherent contempt will become standard practice for those who seek to undermine Congress as an equal branch of government,” Luna said in a post on the social media website X on Friday.
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