Garland to fight contempt effort as 'only the most recent' attack on DOJ

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday will push back against lawmakers who have vowed to hold him in contempt, casting the effort as “only the most recent in a long line of attacks” on the Justice Department.

Garland is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday after it, along with the House Oversight Committee, voted last month to hold him in contempt — an effort left in limbo over recess as it’s unclear whether the GOP will be able to secure enough votes to pass the measure on the floor.

It’s a busy time for Garland to appear before some of the House’s biggest bomb throwers, though a spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the attorney general plans to “forcefully push back on false narratives regarding the Department’s employees and their work.”

Numerous Republicans have vented frustration at the DOJ over former President Trump’s conviction by a New York jury despite the fact that the agency has no control over the state-level prosecution. Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Monday called for eliminating federal funding for state prosecutors engaged in “abusive ‘lawfare’ tactics to target political opponents.”

Garland on Tuesday will call such claims a “conspiracy theory [that] is an attack on the judicial process itself.”

And though Republicans already have a transcript of President Biden’s conversation with special counsel Robert Hur, lawmakers are sure to ask questions about the interview as well as the decision not to turn over audio recordings of the conversation. They are also likely to ask him about DOJ investigations into Hunter Biden, who faces trial this week.

“Certain members of this Committee and the Oversight Committee are seeking contempt as a means of obtaining -- for no legitimate purpose -- sensitive law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations,” Garland will say, according to prepared remarks obtained by The Hill.

“I view contempt as a serious matter. But I will not jeopardize the ability of our prosecutors and agents to do their jobs effectively in future investigations. I will not be intimidated. And the Justice Department will not be intimidated. We will continue to do our jobs free from political influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.”

President Biden claimed executive privilege over the audio on the eve of the committees’ meetings to vote over whether to hold Garland in contempt – a detail that provides the attorney general cover from having to turn over the files. 

The GOP’s interest in holding Garland in contempt comes, they say, as an offshoot of their impeachment investigation.

Both Judiciary and the House Oversight Committee sent subpoenas to Garland asking a series of questions seeking to tie the conversation about President Biden’s classified documents probe back to their own investigation about influence peddling.

Republicans argue they need the audio for a broader investigation into whether Biden was involved in his family’s business dealings. They say it may shed light on whether Biden took action to limit prosecution of his son, or whether he sought to limit the scope of questions asked of him. 

But the suggestions are far afield of Hur’s work, and the transcript of both day’s interviews makes clear these topics were not discussed.

“Nothing in the interview transcripts the department has already produced speaks to or supports the committees’ speculation on this point, and nothing in the audio file of the same conversations would do so either,” Carlos Uriarte, head of the DOJ’s office of legislative affairs, wrote to the two committee chairs repeatedly in an 11-page letter in April.

Democrats have accused Republicans of wanting the audio to use for campaign commercials.

Republicans’ linking of Hur’s investigation with their own follows the arrest of a former FBI informant who accused Biden of accepting a bribe, an allegation underlying the GOP probe. The informant has since been charged in relation with fabricating the claim.

When lawmakers met last month to vote on the Garland contempt resolution, the House Oversight hearing was overshadowed by conflicts between members, after by being rescheduled in order to allow Republicans to go to the Trump trial. Lawmakers instead traded insults over one another’s appearance after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) mocked another lawmaker’s false eyelashes.

Garland on Tuesday also plans to address “threats to defund particular Department investigations” – a group he notes includes special counsel Jack Smith.

Without naming names or nodding to committee investigations into line agents, Garland also notes a rise in individual career agents being singled out “just for doing their jobs”

“It comes as baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods are being spread about the FBI’s law enforcement operations. And it comes at a time when we are seeing heinous threats of violence being directed at the Justice Department’s career public servants,” he says in the remarks.

“These repeated attacks on the Justice Department are unprecedented and unfounded. These attacks have not, and they will not, influence our decision making.”