Raskin criticizes attempt to hold AG Garland in contempt as GOP prepares for vote

House Democrats are pushing back against a planned vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to provide the audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur. The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee criticized Republicans for baseless claims of obstruction in their impeachment inquiry into Biden. Republicans are preparing a contempt resolution against Garland, with the vote expected to take place this week. The DOJ has refused to release the recordings, citing concerns about jeopardizing future investigations and accused Republicans of using the recordings for political purposes. Republicans argue that the audio recordings are of superior evidentiary value and could reveal important verbal context in Biden’s responses. Democrats, however, believe that the existing transcripts already provide the necessary information and that the recordings would not change the president’s words or reveal evidence of impeachable conduct. Republicans have long accused Biden of benefiting from his family’s business dealings, but their impeachment probe has not yielded any evidence directly linking the president to such activities. Democrats are urging against holding Garland in contempt, arguing that the recordings are unnecessary and that the impeachment inquiry has already collected extensive evidence without finding any impeachable conduct by the president.

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