WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday criticized what he called “unfounded attacks” on the Justice Department by congressional Republicans as he rejected their request for audio recordings of a special counsel interview with President Joe Biden.
In a letter to the chairmen of the House of Representatives Judiciary and Oversight committees, the Justice Department said the Biden administration was asserting executive privilege, a legal doctrine that shields certain executive branch records from disclosure, over the audio recordings of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur over his retention of classified records.
Garland criticized the series of political attacks House Republicans have launched on the DOJ and the justice system more broadly as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faces two federal and two state criminal prosecutions.
“There have been a series of unprecedented and, frankly, unfounded attacks on the Justice Department,” Garland told reporters in a hallway outside his office. “We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one.”
The House Judiciary Committee later advanced a measure that would hold Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over the recordings. The full House would need to approve the measure before it would take effect.
Hardline House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in particular has called for Congress to cut funding to the DOJ’s prosecutions of Trump for trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and for retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.
The contempt votes could set up an awkward situation, with the Republican-controlled House calling on the Justice Department to act against the attorney general.
“The Attorney General must draw a line that safeguards the department from improper political influence,” wrote Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general.
The president is also claiming executive privilege over an audio recording of an interview with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.