House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., announced Monday that the panel will meet later this week for a markup session on a resolution to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt.
Thursday's session is in response to Garland's refusal to turn over audio tapes of President Joe Biden's interviews during the investigation of special counsel Robert Hur into Biden's mishandling of classified documents.
"The House Oversight and Judiciary Committees issued lawful subpoenas to Attorney General Garland for the audio recordings of President Biden's interview with Special Counsel Hur, yet he continues to defy our subpoenas," Comer said in a press release.
"These audio recordings are important to our investigation of President Biden's willful retention of classified documents and his fitness to be President of the United States. There must be consequences for refusing to comply with lawful congressional subpoenas and we will move to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress."
It was reported last week that the House Judiciary Committee will hold its vote on Thursday, too. Each committee will convene in the morning to consider the resolutions.
Garland twice has snubbed a subpoena to turn over the recordings. The most recent incident came April 25, when the Justice Department in a letter cited concerns about their potential misuse and the lack of a legitimate legislative or impeachment purpose for their release.
Republicans want to hear for themselves how Hur reached the conclusion not to prosecute Biden for mishandling classified documents, based on his determination that Biden would be characterized in any legal proceedings as a "sympathetic, well-intentioned elderly man with a faulty memory."
A contempt charge voted on by the full House would generate a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., which then would weigh whether to prosecute Garland, the Justice Department chief.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.