Anna Paulina Luna to Force Vote Holding AG Garland in Inherent Contempt: ‘DOJ Is Not Above the Law’Bradley Jaye 25 Jun 2024
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) will force a vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress in a rarely used maneuver which she says will require a House vote Friday.
Luna says Garland forced her hand after he brushed aside a previous contempt vote by the House after President Joe Biden’s loyal lieutenant refused to surrender evidence Republicans say would reveal Biden’s lack of fitness for office.
“For Congress to legislate effectively, we must have access to the information that will enable us to make informed decisions,” Luna wrote in a letter to her colleagues Monday. “When Congress is denied this crucial information, we are left to navigate complex issues in the dark.”
The House of Representatives voted June 12 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with Congressional subpoenas for records related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation of President Joe Biden’s willful mishandling of classified information.
Garland had provided written transcripts of Biden’s interview, but Republicans said those were insufficient due to Hur’s revelations that Biden experienced mental lapses and “poor memory” during his interview.
After Garland defied subpoenas specifically requesting audio recordings of the interview, an initial contempt vote easily cleared the House in a 216 to 207 vote.
But on the day of that vote, the Department of Justice argued in a memo that Garland would be protected from prosecution for contempt of Congress because Biden had strategically asserted executive privilege over the recordings on May 16, 2024, before the Judiciary and Oversight Committees marked up their contempt resolutions.
After Garland’s DOJ made clear it would ignore the House’s contempt vote, Luna vowed to explore alternatives, including an inherent contempt vote.
Inherent contempt was established by Congress in 1957 by law to enable the House Sergeant-at-Arms to detain anyone defying a congressional subpoena, bypassing the executive brand and DOJ.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/06/25/anna-paulina-luna-to-force-vote-holding-ag-garland-in-inherent-contempt-doj-is-not-above-the-law/
