House rejects GOP effort to fine Attorney General Garland for refusing to turn over Biden audio

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday rejected a GOP effort to fine the attorney general Merrick Garland $10,000 a day until he delivers the audio President Joe Biden’s interview on his confidential documents case, as a handful of Republicans resisted taking aggressive action against a Cabinet official.

Even if the resolution — titled inherent contempt — had passed, it was unclear how the fine would be levied, as the dispute over the tape of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur is now playing out in court.

The House voted 204-210, with four Republicans joining all Democrats, to suspend a Republican resolution that would have imposed the fine, effectively rejecting GOP lawmakers’ last-ditch effort to assert their enforcement powers – weeks later from Biden declared executive privilege to block recording release.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but the attorney general’s actions cannot be ignored,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., the resolution’s lead sponsor, during Wednesday’s debate. “No one is above the law.”

The House earlier this year made Garland the third attorney general in U.S. history to be carried out in contempt of Congress. But the Justice Department said Garland would not be prosecuted, citing the agency’s “longstanding position and uniform practice” of not prosecuting officials who fail to comply with subpoenas because of the president’s claim of executive privilege.

Democrats criticized the GOP effort as yet another political stunt. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said the resolution is unwarranted in Garland’s case because he complied with the subpoena.

“Their frustration is that they can’t get an audio recording that they think could be turned into an attack ad on the RNC,” McGovern said in reference to the Republican National Committee. “When you start mocking things like inherent contempt, you diminish this institution.”

Garland himself defended the Justice Department, saying officials went to great lengths to provide committees with information about Hur’s confidential documents investigation, including a transcript of Biden’s interview. However, Garland said releasing the audio could compromise sensitive future investigations because witnesses may be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews could become public.

House Republicans sued Garland earlier this month in an attempt to force the release of the recording.

Republicans have accused Biden of suppressing the recording because he is afraid voters will hear it during an election year. The White House and Democratic lawmakers, however, criticized Republicans’ motives for pursuing contempt and dismissed their efforts to obtain the audio as purely political.

The Congressional investigation began with the release of Hur Report in February, which found evidence that Biden intentionally withheld and shared highly classified information when he was a private citizen. However, the special counsel concluded that criminal charges were not warranted.

Republicans, outraged by Hur’s decision, issued a subpoena for audio of her interviews with Biden during the spring. But the Justice Department turned over only some of the records, omitting the audio of the interview with the president.

In addition to the scathingly critical assessment of Biden’s handling of sensitive government records, Hur offered unflattering characterizations of the Democratic president’s memory in his report, provoking new questions about your competence and age that eased voters’ deep-seated concerns about the 81-year-old’s pursuit of a second term.