Justice Department won’t prosecute Garland for contempt, says refusal to provide audio wasn’t crime – NewsNation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland will not be held in contempt of Congress because his refusal to turn over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case “did not constitute a crime,” the Justice Department said in Friday.

The department’s decision was revealed in a letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, citing the agency’s “longstanding position and uniform practice” of not prosecuting employees who fail to comply with subpoenas due to the president’s claim of executive privilege.

The Democratic president last month asserted executive privilege to block the release of the audio, which the White House says Republicans want only for political purposes. Either way, Republicans moved forward with the contempt effort, voting Wednesday to punish Garland for refusing to provide the recording.

Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte noted that the Justice Department, under presidents of both political parities, has declined to prosecute in similar circumstances when the president has claimed executive privilege.

Consequently, the department “will not present the congressional contempt citation to a grand jury nor take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General,” Uriarte said in the letter to Johnson. The letter does not specify who at the Justice Department made the decision.

Republicans were furious when special counsel Robert Hur refused to prosecute Biden over his handling of classified documents and quickly opened an investigation.

GOP lawmakers — led by Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer — sent a subpoena for the audio of Hur’s interviews with Biden, but the Justice Department only turned over some of the records, omitting the audio of the interview with the president.

Republicans have accused the White House of suppressing the tape because they say the president is afraid voters will hear it during an election year.

A transcript of Hur’s interview showed Biden struggling to remember some dates and occasionally confusing details — something longtime aides say he has done for years, both in public and private — but otherwise showing deep recollection in other areas. Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age. At 81, he is the oldest president ever and is seeking another four-year term.

The attorney general said the Justice Department went to great lengths to provide lawmakers with information about the Hur investigation. However, Garland said releasing the audio could compromise sensitive future investigations because witnesses may be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews could become public.

In a letter last month detailing Biden’s decision to assert executive privilege, White House counsel Ed Siskel accused Republicans of seeking the recordings so they can “cut” and distort them to attack the president. Executive privilege gives presidents the right to withhold information from the courts, Congress, and the public to protect the confidentiality of decision-making, although it can be challenged in court.

The Justice Department noted that it also declined to prosecute Attorney General Bill Barr, who was held in contempt in 2019. The Democratic-controlled House voted to issue a referral against Barr after he refused to turn over documents related to a A special counsel’s investigation into former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department also declined to prosecute Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, after he was charged with contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with the January 6 Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. from the USA.

Years before that, then-Attorney General Eric Holder was charged with contempt in connection with the gun trafficking operation known as Operation Fast and Furious. The Justice Department also took no action against Holder.

Two former Trump White House officials, Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, were sued for contempt of Congress for defying committee subpoenas on January 6. Both were found guilty at trial and sentenced to four months in prison. Navarro has been behind bars since March and Bannon was ordered to report to prison by July 1.

The special counsel in Biden’s case, Hur, spent a year investigating the president’s improper retention of classified documents from his time as a senator and as vice president. Hur said he found insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a case in court.

Hur cited limitations on Biden’s memory and the president’s cooperation with investigators that “could convince some jurors that he made an innocent mistake.” Hur’s report also described the president as “someone for whom jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.”