Members of the House to vote on whether to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
The House is set to vote today on a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Republican lawmakers demanded that the Justice Department turn over audiotapes of an interview that prosecutors conducted with President Biden. Garland said the administration doesn't have to do that, that it would violate the separation of powers between the president and Congress.
SCHMITZ: NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been following this dispute, and she's on the line now to talk more about it. Hey, Carrie.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Rob.
SCHMITZ: Carrie, why do Republicans want these tapes so much?
JOHNSON: Republicans say they want these tapes because they're considering the possible impeachment of President Biden and because they're considering an update to laws that cover how sensitive and classified information is handled. But really there could be another explanation, too - that the tapes would make Biden look and sound bad.
Remember, prosecutors decided to close this investigation of how classified information came to be found at the home of President Biden with no charges, in part because they said jurors could conclude Biden was a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. Here's House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer.
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JAMES COMER: If the attorney general chooses to divide Congress and not produce the audio recordings, he must face the consequences of his actions.
SCHMITZ: The attorney general has not turned over those tapes. So what are the consequences going to be?
JOHNSON: No one wants to be found in contempt of Congress, especially not Merrick Garland, who spent a couple of decades as a federal judge before his current job. But that reprimand doesn't have quite the sting it used to. I've now covered two other attorneys general who were held in contempt, Eric Holder and Bill Barr. And it's important to note Garland has some legal protection here. Last month, President Biden asserted executive privilege over these tapes, so Garland won't be prosecuted for refusing to hand them over, not that the U.S. attorney in D.C. would even want to pursue a prosecution against Garland, who happens to be his boss.
SCHMITZ: So, Carrie, what is the Justice Department saying about this controversy?
JOHNSON: You know, the attorney general tends to be a guy who does his talking on paper or in courtrooms. But over the past few weeks, Merrick Garland has really pushed back. Here's what he had to say recently about this tapes dispute.
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MERRICK GARLAND: We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one. To the contrary, this is one that would harm our ability in the future to successfully pursue sensitive investigations.
JOHNSON: Garland says DOJ has already turned over written transcripts of the same interviews the Republicans want with the special prosecutor and that handing over audio could really make it harder for future prosecutors to interview people in the White House. He's also blasting attacks on the Justice Department, saying people are making false claims about DOJ being political when it's really the critics who are trying to put prosecutors in the middle of politics here.
The attorney general took the unusual step of writing an opinion piece in The Washington Post this week. There, he said disagreements about politics are totally normal, but lying and conspiracy theories are really not.
SCHMITZ: So, Carrie, will we, the public, get to hear these audiotapes before the election?
JOHNSON: The odds are low. The Biden administration does not want to give them up. Media groups and conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have sued to get access to the tapes, but the case is taking a long time to get through the court system. Right now it seems unlikely the tapes would be released in time for them to show up in campaign ads or Republican fundraising pitches before the presidential election in November.
SCHMITZ: That's NPR's Carrie Johnson. Thank you.
JOHNSON: My pleasure.
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