Posted on 06/14/2024 8:54:04 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
If the mountain won't come to Mohammed...
On Friday, the Department of Justice advised House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that it would not pursue prosecution of its own head honcho, Attorney General Merrick Garland, despite the House holding him in contempt for ignoring its subpoena and refusing to turn over the audio of Special Counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Joe Biden.
In a sharply worded letter, the Department of Justice informed Speaker Mike Johnson that it would not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over an audio file of President Joe Biden's deposition in his classified documents case.
"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 Justice Department said.
In response, Johnson announced the House's next move: They'll see them in court.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that the House will go to court to enforce the subpoena against Attorney General Merrick Garland for access to President Joe Biden’s special counsel audio interview, hours after the Justice Department refused to prosecute Republicans’ contempt of Congress charge.
“It is sadly predictable that the Biden Administration’s Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for defying congressional subpoenas even though the department aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for the same thing,” Johnson said in a statement. “This is yet another example of the two-tiered system of justice brought to us by the Biden Administration.”
Johnson raises a point that several have noted: The DOJ sure seems comfortable declining to prosecute the AG, while it was more than eager to prosecute former President Donald Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro over essentially the same thing. For what it's worth, there may be a bit of nuance there.
The Justice Department noted that it also declined to prosecute Attorney General Bill Barr, who was held in contempt in 2019. The Democratically controlled House voted to issue a referral against Barr after he refused to turn over documents related to a special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department similarly declined to prosecute former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after he was held in contempt of Congress for ceasing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Years before that, then-Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt related to the gun-running operation known as Operation Fast and Furious. The Justice Department also took no action against Holder.
The key to the DOJ declination appears to be executive privilege. The reason that might not be a lifeline for Bannon is that it's not at all clear that Trump formally asserted executive privilege as to the matters on which he was called to testify — or at least not as to all of them. With Navarro, it appears to be a closer call, and that issue is still being litigated, even while Navarro sits in prison over it.
One other distinction — at least as to Holder, Barr, and Garland — is the noted conundrum of the DOJ essentially prosecuting itself.
Apparent prosecutorial dead-end notwithstanding, Johnson's vowing to push forward.
“I will be certifying the contempt reports to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,” the Louisiana Republican said. “We will also move to enforce the subpoena of Attorney General Garland in federal court.”
I'm sure Matt Graves is anxiously awaiting the referral...
In any case, watching this all unfold should be interesting.
I’m thinking a strongly worded letter is in order !
No NO -
Mike Johnson, order the capitol police to arrest Garland and put him in the Capitol prison until he appears in front of congress.’
This BS has to stop!
This will tied up in court for so long that there is no chance of the audio being released before the election. In fact if the republicans don’t retain power it will just be dropped all together. And maybe even if they do.
If it is going to court then it needs to go on the fast track to the USSC. Among other things this really is more election interference that needs to be resolved before the election.
After all the special prosecutor admitted that Biden broke the law. And yet he was not going to be prosecuted for reasons that are not in accordance with the law. So the special prosecutor also broke the law IMO.
So they...
- Wouldn’t put Mayorkas on trial after being impeached
- Won’t prosecute Garfinkel after he was held in contempt
Both times a majority of the House of Representatives of the United States of America voted in favor.
Are they from a special class of people who are immune to all process of law?
We all know the answer...
Congress has plenary powers of arrest. Send the Sgt At Arms to the DOJ and drag Garland to the DC jail. Do the same to any of his underlings who refuse to cooperate.
Enough screwing around.
L
I wonder if the Sgt of Arms has ever arrested an executive branch appointed official?
“Oopsie daisy. It seems all recordings, and all backups, have been corrupted. Wiped, like with a cloth.”
Recap of a couple of salient points ...
Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon worked directly for Pres. Trump in the White House
but they are not allowed to claim Executive Privilege for conversations with the President.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is supposedly independent of the White House as head of the DoJ, gets to claim Executive Privilege.
Apparently riding on the precedent set by AG Eric Holder who was withholding documents about Fast and Furious, an operation that then Pres. 0bama allegedly knew nothing about.
Clearly “Executive Privilege” is a fluid thing that only Democrats can define in any given case.
They are from a special class of people who are oblivious to all process of law. The Marxist class hell bent on taking over America.
Didn’t this investigation begin in the House of Representatives? Why are these recordings not their property?
Joe s now a dictator. Who needs Congress or the courts?
quote “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”
there are Trump appointees sitting in jail for that exact thing!!!!
I HATE these people!
So - are they serious or just pulling the same, pre-election feints the Dems are?
N-i-c-e deconstruction.
I remember when public officials stepped down after they had made a serious misstep. Democrats went after Dubya’s AG Alberto Gonzales hammer and tongs, and he resigned. Then there was the one before Gonzales—AG John Ashcroft—who had nude statues in the capitol covered up; one of the proponents of the Patriot Act. Resigned when Bush won a second term. Oh, right. They were Republicans.
I thought Merry was the DOJ!
Who gives a crap really? Everyone on the planet knows Biden is a vegetable at this point and we’re being dictated to by a shadowy cabal bent on destroying western civilization. This is just more theater.
Republican House members are amateur wussies.
Just shut the whole damn thing down until the media caves.
Thank you! Coming from you that is high praise indeed. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.