On Friday, the Department of Justice advised House Speaker Mike Johnson 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.
Department of Justice to Speaker Johnson: No Prosecution of Merrick Garland for Contempt of Congress 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.
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.
The Justice Department noted that it also declined to prosecute Attorney General Bill Barr, who was held in contempt in 2019.
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.
The Justice Department also took no action against Holder.
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