The Justice Department says Attorney General Merrick Garland will not be prosecuted for contempt of Congress after refusing to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case because his actions “did not constitute a crime.”
"Inherent contempt" of Congress, a power rarely exercised and not used since the 1930s, is now being proposed as a significant measure. In this process, an offender is tried on the House floor, not by the Department of Justice. If the majority finds the offender in contempt, the House Sergeant-at-Arms arrests them until they comply with a subpoena or until the end of the legislative session. This move, historically used to coerce compliance rather than punish, is now being considered in a high-stakes political situation.
This, certainly, won't go anywhere. Those with some sanity will realize that it's not worth up using every bit of political capital they have on a nothing burger.
I thought the Democractic committee members and/or Pelosi said that Congress no longer has a "jail" in which the Sergeant at Arms could hold an arrestee.
The Sergeant-at-arms doesn't need an actual jail in the Capitol itself. If they are empowered to hold someone, they can do it anywhere, even a hotel room. The Capitol Police also have a holding cell which could be used.
"As of right now, we fully intend to bring it," Rep. Luna declared, "I don't really have much faith in the Department of Justice. And I don't think the American people do either.
Lovely how she actually pretends to speak for "the American people"
President Biden had classified documents when he wasn't president. This is a no no. A special counsel was created to investigate and see if he broke the law (which requires showing a level of intent). The special counsel interviewed Biden and afterwards put out a report and was like "we shouldn't procecute this case, the jury would see him as a forgetful old grandpa" (this is not a real quote).
Now congressional Republicans want the justice department to release the audio of the interview. They say they want this to find evidence of criminal activity (as if the justice department wasn't doing the same thing?) And Merrick Garland is refusing under the reasoning that it wouldn't serve a purpose, and disclosing information on someone who hasn't committed a crime, you are going to prosecute, is bad. Imagine if the government did that to all people they didn't like, start an investigation, get a bunch of dirt, and then publish it?! It's insane to me IMHO. So then they decide to hold Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress which is the only escalation they have in this position.
So then they decide to hold Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress which is the only escalation they have in this position.
Also, Merrick Garland is the head of the DOJ, and only the DOJ can prosecute contempt of Congress as a crime. So if Congress says that DOJ is acting in contempt of Congress, they're asking DOJ to prosecute itself.
They lost their shit decades before that. I have no idea why people seem to remember a formerly rational Republican party. I think people were just younger and have a rosy recollection of politicians who served before we formed a coherent political worldview.
TBF, they lost their collective minds over the Clintons, too. Bill was largely a right-leaning centrist but Hillary has a tendency to speak her mind (shock! horror! she's not some decorative arm piece? Who the hell does she think she is, anyway?) Also, some people were proclaiming him to be the "first black President" and that alone probably drove them crazier.
I aint no hypocrite, william barr is supposed to be in prison for contempt of congress for ignoring a subpoena. If Garland was subpoena'd, he's subject to the same standards.
Executive privilege is not written in law. But congress's authority to subpoena, and hold violators in contempt, is.
Edit: I know the whole situation. I was only asking what crime he committed in order to point out that no crime was committed. Thanks for the explanations, though. More people can be aware now.
This is my understanding of the situation so please don't fully take my word for it.
Garland refused to fully cooperate with a subpoena issued to him by rebublicans. (specifically he refused to hand over audio from an interview of Biden in his classified documents investigation) Garland refused to cooperate because Biden told him not to cooperate. Republicans in congress then voted to find him in contempt of congress and wanted the DOJ to prosecute him. The DOJ then came through saying he didn't do anything wrong because he just did what Biden told him to do. And being part of biden's administration it's only normal to do what the president asks.
If we want to go back even further iirc there was a special council investigation into Biden regarding a handful of documents found at biden's home from the Obama administration. Biden apologized saying he forgot that he had those docs. He handed those docs over to investigators and fully cooperated with them. That whole situation ended with special investigators finding that Biden didn't do anything malicious and just forgot to relinquish (I think it was literally 3) those docs when he left office in 2016. That should have been the end of it. Republicans then drudged things up and wanted his interview from that investigation. Presumably to make it look like Biden was guilty of the same crimes trump is guilty of.
Technically speaking though Biden is guilty of violating the presidential records act. The same act trump is/was being tried for in his classified documents case. The difference being that Trump willfully took boxes upon boxes of documents pertaining to our national security secrets to Mar-a-Lago when he left office and then refused to cooperate with the FBI when they called him out for it. This then forced the FBI to raid Mar-a-Lago to get the documents back. Biden on the other hand was just old and forgot about some work he took home. When he was called out about it he fully cooperated and gave the documents back.
Contempt of Congress is a crime. That being said, this was already addressed:
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Justice Department official cited the department’s longstanding policy not to prosecute for contempt of Congress officials who don’t comply with subpoenas because of a president’s claim of executive privilege.
Garland is part of the current administration and the President has not waived executive privilege.