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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan announced on Wednesday that the full chamber would be voting to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over sought-after materials to President Joe Biden.
Jordan said the GOP-led House has been requesting an audio recording of an interview former special counsel Robert Hur conducted with Biden during his investigation into the former vice president’s illegal retention and disclosure of classified information.
Hur said his probe discovered that Biden had indeed broken laws governing such information but that he did not believe a jury would find the aged and declining president guilty, so he chose not to file charges.
In a statement to reporters, Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said that the House had given Garland every opportunity to comply with congressional requests for the audio file as the House continues its impeachment inquiry into Biden but that he refused to turn it over, citing executive privilege.
“The attorney general’s been clear — he’s not gonna give that information to us, so that’s why we have the contempt resolution,” Jordan said. “We assume this is gonna wind up in court, but we think our case is strong.”
WATCH:
🚨 Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan says the resolution to hold AG Merrick Garland in contempt will be on the House floor today
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 12, 2024
Earlier this month, Jordan proposed “defunding” the various prosecutions of former President Donald Trump. These prosecutors include Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Jordan requested last week that Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo provide testimony regarding what he has called a “kangaroo court” that resulted in Trump’s unprecedented criminal conviction. The former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Jordan’s office said in a statement that he also proposes “reining in abusive federal law enforcement agencies, including zeroing out Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office political witch hunt.”
In a letter to House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, Jordan said the House Judiciary Committee has “conducted oversight of the troubling rise in politicized prosecutions and the use of abusive ‘lawfare’ tactics to target political opponents.”
Jordan said “rogue prosecutors” have abused “the rules of professional conduct and their duty to do justice in service of politicized ends.”
“He recommended that the Appropriations Committee adopt language to eliminate federal funding for state prosecutors or state attorneys general involved in such activity and ‘to zero out federal funding for federal prosecutors engaged in such abuse,’” Axios reported.
Legal experts say Bragg’s case against Trump will have “reversible problems” if it is appealed following the guilty verdict on all 34 counts. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of four years. In total, Trump faces a maximum sentence of 136 years behind bars.
“I believe that the case will be reversed eventually either in the state or federal systems,” Jonathan Turley, constitutional law attorney and Fox News contributor, told the network hours after Trump’s conviction.
“However, this was the worst expectation for a trial in Manhattan,” he said. “I had hoped that the jurors might redeem the integrity of a system that has been used for political purposes.”
“The trial is a target-rich environment for appeal. However, that appeal will stretch beyond the election. In the meantime, Democrats and President Biden can add ‘convicted felon’ to the political mantra,” he said.
John Malcolm, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that he firmly believes the jury’s verdict clearly demonstrates their conviction based on the testimony of Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen.
“The jury obviously ended up believing Michael Cohen, which is something I have a hard time conceiving since Michael Cohen has lied every time he has been under oath in the past and admitted that he hates Donald Trump, blaming him for all his problems, stole from him, and will profit from this conviction,” Malcolm said.
