If the mountain doesn’t come to Mohammed…
On Friday, the Justice Division suggested Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that it could not prosecute its personal chief Legal professional Basic, Merrick Garland, regardless of the Home holding him in contempt for ignoring his subpoena and refusing to return it. Audio of particular counsel Robert Hurr’s interview with President Joe Biden.
Justice Division to Speaker Johnson: No Prosecution of Merrick Garland for Contempt of Congress
In a sharply worded letter, the Justice Division informed Speaker Mike Johnson it could not sue Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to show over an audio file of President Joe Biden’s deposition in his categorized paperwork case.
“In line with this long-standing place and uniform apply, the Division has decided that Legal professional Basic Garland’s responses to subpoenas issued by the committees don’t represent against the law, and accordingly the Division won’t carry a congressional contempt quotation earlier than a grand jury or different prosecution of the Legal professional Basic. Take any motion,” the Justice Division stated.
In response, Johnson introduced the Home’s subsequent transfer: They’d see them in court docket.
Speaker Mike Johnson stated Friday he would go to court docket to implement a subpoena in opposition to Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland for entry to audio interviews of President Joe Biden’s particular counsel, hours after the Justice Division declined to prosecute Republicans. Contempt of Congress cost
“It’s sadly predictable that the Biden administration’s Justice Division won’t prosecute Garland for defying congressional subpoenas although the division has aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for a similar factor,” Johnson stated in a press release. “That is one other instance of the two-tiered justice system dropped at us by the Biden administration.”
Johnson raises a degree that many have famous: The DOJ is actually snug declining to prosecute the AG, when it was wanting to prosecute former President Donald Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro over primarily the identical matter. For what it is value, there might be a little bit of nuance.
The Justice Division famous that it declined to prosecute Legal professional Basic Invoice Barr, Which was denigrated in 2019. The Democratic-controlled Home voted to concern a referral in opposition to Barr after she refused to show over paperwork associated to a particular counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump.
Likewise the Judiciary Refused to guage Former Trump White Home Chief of Employees Mark Meadows After Contempt of Congress to Cease Cooperating Committee on January 6 investigation Assault on the US Capitol. A number of years earlier than that, then-Legal professional Basic Eric Holder was held in contempt for a gun-running marketing campaign. Operation Quick and Livid. The judiciary additionally didn’t take any motion in opposition to the holder.
Key to the DOJ rejection seems to be govt privilege. The explanation there might not be a lifeline for Bannon is that it is in no way clear that Trump formally asserted govt privilege on the issues he was known as to testify about — or no less than not all of them. With Navarro, it seems to be an in depth name, and that concern continues to be being litigated, at the same time as Navarro sits in jail for it.
One other distinction—no less than within the case of Holder, Barr, and Garland—is the conundrum the DOJ primarily referred to in judging itself.
Regardless of the obvious prosecutorial dead-end, Johnson has vowed to press on.
“I’ll certify the contempt studies to the U.S. Legal professional for the District of Columbia,” the Louisiana Republican stated. “We may also transfer to implement Legal professional Basic Garland’s subpoena in federal court docket.”
I am certain Matt Graves is anxiously awaiting the referral…
Regardless, it must be fascinating to observe this all unfold.
