Attorney General Merrick Garland has refused to hand over the audio from President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur about how he handled classified papers. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wants to hold Garland in “inherent contempt” of Congress in a less dramatic way.
Luna filed a motion on Friday that would fine Garland $10,000 every day until he obeys the GOP subpoena for the tapes. This is better than telling the House sergeant-at-arms to arrest Garland to enforce the subpoena.
“Those who want to weaken Congress as an equal branch of government will use this version of inherent contempt all the time,” Luna wrote on the social media site X on Friday.
The new vote comes after Luna faced opposition from the GOP to her plan to arrest and hold Garland, along with inquiries about how it could be carried out. Another thing that isn’t clear is how the House could make Garland pay the fines that Luna is now suggesting.
At the same time, House GOP leaders are looking for another way to get Garland to follow through with their subpoena. This comes after voting earlier this month to hold Garland in contempt of Congress: The House Judiciary Committee sued Garland on Monday to get him to hand over the tapes.
In a post on X last week, Luna said that people shouldn’t wait for a lawsuit: “A court case can last for years… Luna brought up memory problems that Hur had brought up as a matter of national security.
The special counsel said that any jury that heard a case about classified papers would probably think of Biden as a “elderly man with a bad memory.” He used parts of the interview where Biden had trouble remembering dates or arguments about Afghanistan policy as examples. The lawyer for Biden replied that Hur’s “gratuitous” language “is not supported by the facts and is not appropriate for a federal prosecutor in this context.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) gave the House a written record of the talk. Biden has said that the tapes are protected by executive privilege. But Republicans say that since the DOJ gave them the transcript, it can’t keep the audio from them because it needs it to make sure the text is correct.
As Luna had proposed before, the Speaker should “issue a warrant commanding the Sergeant at Arms or the deputy of the Sergeant at Arms to take into custody the body of Attorney General Garland wherever found” and keep him in jail. It would be the first time in almost 100 years that inherent contempt was used in this way.
Luna had said last week that she would use her power to get a vote on the matter, but she didn’t.
On Friday, Luna told The Hill that she had to wait because of problems with attendance. She also said that she would be bringing up a new contempt motion that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) supported, since she had talked to him several times this week on the House floor.
Johnson hasn’t said for sure that he agrees with the new motion that would fine Garland $10,000 every day.
When asked about Luna’s inherent contempt claim on Friday, Johnson said that he thought Garland should be forced to follow the law through the courts.
He said, “Letting the third branch settle this disagreement between the executive and legislative branch is the easiest and best way to do it.” “We are exploring all of our options, and there may be other paths we can take, but we haven’t decided on anything yet.”
“There is one thing that all Republicans in the House agree on, and that is that we need to use all of our tools,” Johnson said. “This is a very, very serious matter.”
Luna said on X on Friday that the new version “will be brought to the floor this upcoming session week.” This meant that she could try to get a vote on it. The House is closed for the holiday of Independence Day, but it will be open again on Monday.
Some of Luna’s coworkers didn’t agree with her previous inherent contempt resolution, which would have led to Garland’s arrest. This made people wonder if her attempt to force a vote would have worked with the House GOP’s small majority.
Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) told The Hill last week, “I just cannot support individual members who want to escalate an inherent contempt effort to go then arrest him at the Department of Justice and bring him back to confinement.” “I really believe this is a very strong step, and I don’t believe we should take it lightly.”
This month, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) was the only Republican who spoke out against putting Garland in contempt of Congress. He had also said that he would vote against Luna’s push for inherent contempt.