DOJ Declines to Prosecute Garland Despite Contempt Charge

The Justice Department announced on Friday that it will not pursue charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland, as reported by multiple outlets. This decision follows the House Republicans’ move to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to provide subpoenaed audio tapes of President Joe Biden.

The Associated Press stated that the Justice Department concluded Garland’s refusal to submit the tapes did not constitute a crime, thereby ending the case against him. The Biden administration had invoked executive privilege over the interview tapes on the final day Garland was required to comply with the subpoena from House Republicans. These tapes pertained to Biden’s handling of classified documents during an interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.

In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., the Justice Department explained that their decision was rooted in a long-standing policy not to prosecute officials for contempt of Congress when subpoenas are defied due to executive privilege claims. Garland has asserted that Congress lacked a legitimate reason to request the tapes, suggesting that releasing them could compromise future investigations of the White House, as reported by NPR.

On Wednesday, the House voted 216-207 to hold Garland in contempt of Congress, with nearly all Republicans supporting the resolution. This vote, however, was largely symbolic, as the Justice Department has the authority to decide on prosecuting contempt charges. Historically, the department has refrained from prosecuting such cases, particularly against members of the current administration. The DOJ has been under Republican scrutiny amidst the special counsel’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Hur’s investigation into Biden.

Details of Hur’s interviews with Biden were disclosed in a special counsel report published in February. Hur found that Biden had willfully retained classified documents but decided against bringing charges, citing the difficulty of convincing a jury of misconduct. Hur’s report noted, “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.