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. COMER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Ohio for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution. This is not a complicated matter. The Oversight and Judiciary Committees issued duly authorized legal subpoenas to Attorney General Garland for a certain set of documents, including the audio recordings of Special Counsel Hur's interview with President Biden.

The Attorney General has refused to produce these audio recordings. Unlike what my Democratic colleagues keep claiming, this is not just Republicans who need these recordings for their oversight duties. Media outlets, including the AP, CBS, CNN, NBC, and The Washington Post, among others, have filed suit to get these same audio recordings as well because the media, like everyone else, knows there is no substitute for a recording of an interview. Not a transcript, not a summary, not the Attorney General's judgment that Congress doesn't need it.

The Oversight Committee's investigation of these classified documents has already revealed that the White House's official timeline of events regarding these classified materials left out very important details.

For instance, White House employees were entering the Penn Biden Center and moving documents months before the discovery of the classified materials by President Biden's personal attorneys in November 2022. One of those employees was former White House counsel Dana Remus. We issued a subpoena for Ms. Remus' deposition, but the White House has blocked Ms. Remus from speaking to the Oversight Committee. The White House has also blocked other White House employees who visited the Penn Biden Center before November 2022 from speaking to us.

What is the Biden administration trying to hide?

Attorney General Merrick Garland's refusal to produce this evidence establishes a clear pattern of obstruction by the DOJ to cover up President Biden's wrongdoing. President Biden has lied to the American people about his mishandling of classified documents.

He has repeatedly denied not knowing about or being involved in his family's influence-peddling schemes, which the Oversight Committee can now show has raked in $18 million from foreign individuals and entities for the Biden family members, including President Biden himself. He also met with nearly all his family's foreign associates.

President Biden's Department of Justice appears to be taking every step to insulate him from the consequences, whether it is hiding these audio recordings or attempting to give Hunter Biden a sweetheart plea deal to shield Joe Biden from facing accountability for his role in his family's influence-peddling schemes. This is unacceptable.

The House of Representatives cannot serve as a necessary check on the Presidency if the executive branch is free to ignore the House's subpoenas. I urge my colleagues to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.

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