The Justice Department said Friday that it would not act on the House’s contempt referral of Attorney General Merrick Garland.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, DOJ pointed to its “longstanding” position of not prosecuting executive branch officials who withhold information subject to executive privilege from from Congress.
The announcement was anticipated after the House, in a mostly party-line vote, held Garland in contempt for not turning over audio from President Joe Biden’s interview in special counsel Robert Hur’s classified documents investigation.
“Consistent with this longstanding position and uniform practice, the Department has determined that the responses by Attorney General Garland to the subpoenas issued by the Committees did not constitute a crime, and accordingly the Department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General,” the letter, from the department’s top congressional liaison, said.
GOP lawmaker on vote to hold AG Garland in contempt
