Washington — The Justice Department said Friday that it will not prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.
Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, told House Speaker Mike Johnson in a letter that it is the Justice Department’s longstanding policy not to bring contempt of Congress charges against an official who declined to turn over subpoenaed information subject to a president’s assertion of executive privilege.
Mr. Biden invoked executive privilege over the audiotapes of his interviews with Hur, as well as an interview by his ghostwriter.
“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,” Uriarte wrote.