House Republicans failed Thursday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in "inherent contempt" of Congress over his refusal to provide audio tapes of President Joe Biden.
Rep. Anna Luna, R-Fla., announced Monday she was forcing a vote on her fellow legislators to fine Garland $10,000 per day if he did not comply with a congressional subpoena.
The House voted 210-204 against the measure. The vote happened despite efforts from both parties. Democrats had tried to table or kill the measure and Republicans had urged Luna behind closed doors not to proceed with her efforts.
According to Politico, some GOP members privately complained to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., that he hasn’t done enough to push back against the more conservative members of House. The outlet also noted that while many Republicans didn’t support the measure, dealing with the fallout of not supporting Luna wasn’t worth it. Former President Donald Trump through his significant weight into the mix by encouraging Luna’s efforts which likely moved some fence-sitters on the GOP side to support the measure.
Every Democrat voted against the measure along with four Republicans, Rep. Mike Turner and Rep. Dave Joyce, both from Ohio, as well as California Reps. John Duarte and Tom McClintock.
Luna told reporters after it failed that she had "already refiled" it. "We had members that were here yesterday that flew out due to family emergencies," Luna said. "We feel very confident that it will pass," she added, teasing that one of the four "no" votes may be willing to flip.
The Republicans efforts to hold Garland in contempt stem from Special Counsel Robert’s Hur’s audio tapes of an interview with President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents. Hur concluded that Biden should not be charge even though the president "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials" following his vice presidency because Hur assumed a jury would deem Biden a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Although Garland had already provided the transcripts, Republicans were convinced the audio tapes would provide a clearer, unedited version of Biden’s cognitive decline.