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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Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this contempt resolution is the latest attempt to tear down our democracy. The Department of Justice has cooperated with congressional Republicans at every turn, but after 92,000 pages of documents, more than a dozen transcribed interviews, and a 250-page transcript that was verified, my colleagues still aren't satisfied.

They are doing this in service of one man, the disgraced former President, in a misguided attempt to distract from his crimes. On May 30, a jury of stranger-citizens found Mr. Trump guilty of 34 felony charges.

It is beyond disheartening that a former President and now potential Presidential candidate, again, was convicted of coordinating ``an unlawful conspiracy'' to win the 2016 election and falsifying records to cover his tryst with an adult porn star.

I am grateful that the rule of law prevailed, yet I am deeply concerned that our democratic institutions are under threat. Some of these attacks come from within.

Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has said that a kangaroo court convicted President Trump, and Speaker Johnson called the trial a purely political exercise. Mr. Trump apparently pities himself as a so- called political prisoner.

All this is to tear down Americans' faith in the rule of law.

Contrary to his complaints, Mr. Trump was tried and treated fairly. Justice was served in a courtroom that was open and filled with reporters and a jury that was chosen by the prosecution and defense. This is the rule of law at work.

Political rhetoric and deliberate misinformation, the likes of these and a dangerous many others, erode faith in our institutions and threaten the safety of the American people. These attacks undermine the rule of law, which stands to protect the rights of all people.

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Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, when Attorney General Garland was before the Judiciary Committee, he described his career upholding the rule of law. In his own words, that means ensuring that ``we treat like cases alike: that we do not have enemies or friends, that we do not pay attention to the political parties or the wealth or the power or the influence of the people that we are investigating, that we follow the facts and the law. This is what distinguishes this country from our adversaries.''

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