Staff Reports
Attorney General Merrick Garland is under fire from the House GOP for allegedly failing to turn up recordings from President Joe Biden's meeting with special counsel Robert Hur. Garland is being held in contempt by the House Judiciary Committee for both his denial and his obstruction of the House GOP's impeachment investigation. In the event that Garland is found in contempt of Congress by the House Republicans, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., will have to determine whether to bring charges against him. The implementation of the referral is complex since Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney now serving, reports to Garland.
https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1788587282636644775
The Washington Examiner piece also mentioned that when former Attorneys General Eric Holder and William Barr were imprisoned for contempt of Congress, prior U.S. attorneys chose not to prosecute them. Consequently, it doesn't seem plausible that the Department of Justice would press charges against Garland in this particular instance.
It is noteworthy that the Department of Justice does not frequently attempt to prosecute people of contempt of Congress; yet, in recent years, the DOJ has pursued and succeeded in convicting people who disregarded subpoenas sent by the House Jan. 6 committee.
The House GOP's attempts to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt are continuing to generate discussion and highlight the persistent rift between the Department of Justice and Congress as the issue with him develops.
