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. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, this is a textbook example of the executive branch obstructing the oversight function of Congress.

The committees of jurisdiction here have clearly set forth the legal basis for compelling disclosure of President Biden's interviews with Special Counsel Hur. Now the administration has agreed with us inasmuch as they have produced the transcripts of those recordings. However, they have grasped wildly for some basis on which to withhold the recordings themselves. The most telling is that they have given contradictory reasons for doing so.

At first, they said they weren't going to hand over the recordings because they were cumulative of the transcripts, meaning they were so similar to the transcripts that we didn't need them. Later, they argued that, in fact, they are so different from the transcripts that one is privileged and the other is not.

When you have self-contradictory arguments being made, that is a sign that the true purpose here is obstruction.

Perhaps the most absurd argument we have heard is the supposed interest asserted by the administration for withholding the recordings, which is disclosing them might discourage witnesses from cooperating in future high-profile investigations.

In this case, the President is not merely a witness. He is the target of an investigation by his own administration. By the way, Special Counsel Hur testified before our committee that based on that investigation, a reasonable juror could have voted to convict President Biden.

What is the administration arguing the interest here is? It is that if somewhere down the line there might be another President who is subject to an investigation by his own administration, then the argument goes that if that President knows that the transcript will be released, then he will sit for the interview, but if he knows there is a chance that a recording might be released, then he won't cooperate.

This is an absurd proposition, Mr. Speaker, certainly not sufficient to override the legitimate oversight interests of the House of Representatives.

Frankly, this is not how we would like to be spending floor time, but the recalcitrance and obstruction of this administration has made it necessary.

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