Recommending That the House of Representatives Find United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in Contempt of Congress for Refusal to Comply with A Subpoena Duly Issued By the Committee on the Judiciary

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, contempt: to hold something as beneath the dignity of consideration; something to be scorned; an attitude toward something that is inferior, worthless; open disrespect for something that is vile, despised, disgraced; insolence in the presence of the law.

An apt description not of the subject of this motion but of those who bring it, not of an Attorney General who has upheld our justice system, who has demonstrated a respect for institutions, but of those who mock the idea that we are a nation of laws, not the individual.

When Republicans line up in front of a Manhattan courthouse to denigrate the rule of law in the service of a now-convicted felon, that is contemptuous.

When Republicans peddle the lie that Joe Biden is pulling the levers of Trump's Manhattan prosecution, that is contemptuous.

When Republican committee chairmen ignore their own subpoena but feign indignation when the Attorney General complies with his, that is contemptuous. That is deserving of our scorn. That is beneath the dignity of this body. That is vile, disgraceful, and worthy of derision.

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, those who bring this motion bring contempt, all right, but only upon themselves.

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