Ranking Member Raskin’s Statement on GOP Led Congress Voting to Hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in Contempt

Washington, D.C. (June 12, 2024)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, issued the following statement after the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt:

“Attorney General Garland gave Congress the complete Special Counsel’s report on President Biden.  He made Special Counsel Hur available for hours of testimony before the Judiciary Committee where he answered all our questions.  Garland gave us all the correspondence and documents we requested.  He gave us the transcript of the President's ghost writer, Mr. Zwonitzer.  And, of course, he provided us the full transcript of President Biden’s voluntary five-hour interview with the Special Counsel, all 250-plus pages of it.  The whole world can read President Biden’s interview and his answers, unedited and unexpurgated.

“Yet today, Congressional Republicans reward this extraordinary cooperation with contempt because they want to pore over five hours of President Biden’s taped interview for the holy grail of an impeachable offense that simply doesn’t exist or to look for a verbal mistake like a mispronounced name they can turn into a political tv ad in the presidential campaign.  And if they can’t get the tape, they’ll settle for tearing down yet another critical institution of American government.

“As I said before, Republicans’ desperation to blame someone—anyone—for their bumbling failure of an impeachment inquiry won’t placate their cult leader.  So today’s vote, contrived on an allegation that Attorney General Merrick Garland has impeded their impeachment inquiry by preventing them from hearing President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Hur, which they can already read, is nothing but more chaos and disinformation.”