WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans filed a lawsuit Monday against the attorney general Merrick Garland for the audio recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with a special prosecutor, in which he asks the courts to enforce their subpoena and reject the White House’s attempt to withhold the material from Congress.
The lawsuit, filed by the House Judiciary Committee, marks the latest Republican assault on the Justice Department as partisan conflict over the rule of law fuels the 2024 presidential campaign. It comes weeks after the White House blocked Garland from releasing the audio recording to Congress by invoking executive privilege.
House Republicans responded by voting to make Garland the third attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress. But the Justice Department declined to take up the contempt referral, citing the agency’s “long-standing position and uniform practice” of not prosecuting officials who fail to comply with subpoenas over a president’s claim to executive privilege.
