US Department of Justice declines to press charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has declined to press charges against Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress after the House of Representatives narrowly voted to punish him for his refusal to hand over audio tapes from an investigation into President Joe Biden.
The Republican-controlled House voted 216-207 on Wednesday to recommend that the DoJ, the department that Mr Garland oversees, file criminal charges against America’s top law enforcement officer.
The move stems from Mr Garland’s refusal to turn over to Republican lawmakers recorded interviews from a justice department probe of Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents.
In a letter sent to Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on Friday, a top DoJ official said the department found that Mr Garland’s actions do not constitute a crime. Mr Johnson called the move sadly predictable.
Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, said it was a longstanding position of the department not to bring charges in cases where the president has made the decision to conceal the requested material using his power of executive privilege.
Executive privilege is legal doctrine that grants presidents the right to withhold executive branch information from the other two branches of US government.
The House Speaker said he would go to federal court to force the attorney general to hand over the audio.