saturdays on c-span o and find a full schedule on your program guide wch anytime at c-span.org/history. quick c-span is your unfiltered view of government. were funded by these television companies and more in comcast. >> you think this is just a community center customer it is way more than that. >> comcast's partner with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi enabled lists so students can get until they are eded for an thinker, suorts c-span as a public service along these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. by a vote of 260 to 207, house lawmakers■b maile along party

lines. ohio's david ross was the only republican to vote no. the attorney general to nd subpoena for audio files of president biden's interview with ecl counsel robert or. here is the debate that led to the contest of congress vote. >> on page one of this report, special counsel her said present biden quote willfully rained and disclosed classified marials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. joe biden not of the cap information he was allowed to keep, he shared with people who weren't allowed to get. page 231, the special counsel told ushe said present n motivations to ignore proper procedures for safeg■uarding the classified information in his notebook. he decided month before leaving

office to write a book. a book for which he got paid $8 million. so we have motive. an $8 million motive. keeping classified information, knowingly disclosing classified information. but despite all this, special counsel her decline to prosecute , recommend prosecution for present biden because joe biden is a sympathetic well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. on page 27 of his report, receipt -- appear to have significant limitations both at the time he spoke to the ghostwriter in 2017 as evidenced by their recorded conversations and today as evidenced by his recorded interview with our office. the committees need the audio recordings to determine whether the justice department appropriately carried out justice by not prosecuting the president. because mbdepartment said

we're going to operate independent of the white house. they said we will be impartial independent arbiters of fact. we think weled. actually we know we are entitled to all the evidence in the best evidence. the transcripts alone are not executive branch has a se history of changing transcripts. we saw this in late april. the transcript the white house put out didn't match the video and audio recording of president biden's speech. and only after the white house was caught did they change the transcript. and in that case and in this case, the audio recording is the best evidence of the words that president biden actually spoke. following the release of special counsel report, the judiciary committee and oversight committee issued subpoenas of merick garland to

turn over the recordings of special counsel hur's interviews of president biden and his ghost writer. today he failed to produce those recordings week he wasn't going to do it and that's why we're here. despite the committee's best efforts, the department has continued to withhold the audio recordings of those interviews without providing a constitutional legal basis to do so. hours before the committee was set to meet and consider the contempt resolution, the department notified the committee that president biden had asserted at the attorney general's urging executive privilege over the audio recordings. it's simple, attorney general garland holds information vital to the committee's legislative oversight and the house impeachment's inquiry. remember, this body voted december 13 of last year to enter that phase of our oversight duty and impeachment inquiry. the department has a legal obligation to turn over the requested material. attorney general's garland's

willful refusal constitutes contempt of congress and institutes its power to find the house finds attorney general merick garland in contempt of congress in failing to comply with the subpoena. oversight and impeachment responsibilities are too important to allow the attorney general to willful disregard this. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and we reserve the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio reserves. memberreo refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i yiely consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, the dishonesty that we have just heard is illustrated by what mr. his selective quote from mr. hur's repor said, our invesn uncovered evidence that president biden willfully

retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidentsy when he was a private citizen. the report does say that. but he neglects the sentence a paragraph later. however, for the reasons summarized below, we conclude that the evidence does not establish mr. biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. thaits deceptive -- that is deceptive. secondly, as the majority well knows, the president asserted executive privilege in this matter. maybe that was proper, maybe not. but the way to contest executive privilege is not by a content resolution. it's by going to court and letting the court decide whether the exercise of executive privilege is warranted or not. for that reason also this resolution fails. mr. speaker, the judiciary committee under republican control has spent the last 18 months and20yer dollars in a desperate search to find something, anything, damagt

biden and to protect donald trump. other committees have gotten into the act as well. spending untold taxpayer money not to benefit the american people, not to feed hungry children, not to address our housing crisis, and not to improve our health caret on a so follow every right-wing conspiracy theory in the vein hope that it might lead -- vain hope that it might lead to some evidence of wrongdoing. what exactly have they delivered to the american people on their vecht? nothing -- on their investment? nothing. no evidence that the con sphirsies are -- conspiracies are true, no indictments, no impeachment, noins of any significance. and the republican leadership knows if they don't come up with something to show for the millions of dollars they've spent, the maga political basey. so they're scrambling in a desperate attempt to look like they have accomplished something. they were fervently hoping that special counsel hur would indict president biden for mishandling classified documents so that they could attack president

biden and misdirect the american people away from donald trump's treacherous handling of classified information. but president biden was cleared of wrongdoing. so what do our republican friend dozen when an investigation turns up short? simply put, they engage in fantasy. that's what they are doing here today. unable to come up with any wrongdoing by the president, they have now trained their sights on the attorney general. they ac accuse him of withholdig key evidence but the attorney general has substantially complied with their every request. sometimes he's been too responsive in my opinion, given the obvious bad faith of the magaj.'s produced 92,000 pages of documents since the republicans took control of the house last year. and has made dozens of witnesses available for interviews, hearings and briefings. that's more documents

and more witnesses than the trump justice departmentongressr years. just last week the attorney general himself spent more than five hours testifying before the judiciaryttee. with respect to the subpoena issued in this contempt resolution, the department turned over all the information republicans asked for. there's been no obstruction, only cooperation. in reality, the attney general and d.o.j. have been fully responsive to congress in every way that might be material to their long■z-dead impeachment inquiry. all that remains are audio files for which the president has asserted executive privilege. in a letter to chairman jordan and comer, the department of justice noted that producing the audio recordings would, quote, raise an unacceptable risk of undermining the department's ability to conduct high profile criminal investigations. in particular, with investigatio voluntary cooperation of white house officials is exceedingly important. closed quote. the chairman claimed they need

those records to understand the pause, conversation. this is absurd and clearly pretextual. under any event, it does not outweigh the substantial concerns expressed by the president and the department. moreover, with respect to the recording at issue in this report, a complete certified transcript has already been provided to both committees. and no credible allegations have been made that these transcripts have been altered in any material way. the only has not been produced is the recording itself something that manipulated. that is not an idle concern. deepfakes and misleading videos and recordings have proliferated in recent years. last year a witness testifying in a closed-door deposition told us she was the victim of a manipulated video made by a third party but shared widely by the republicans on the judiciare down the video even after it was abundantly clear that it was

manipulated. that video contributed to a flood of death threats against the witness. this isn't really about a policy disagreement with the d.o.j. this is about feeding the maga base after 18 months of investigations that have produced failure after failure. like most of the bills house republicans have pushed on purely partisan lines, this contempt resolution will do very little. other than smear the reputation of merrick garland who will remain a good and decent public servant no matter what republicans say about him today. this resolution may boost donald trump's spirits before his sentencing, but it will almost certainly not convince the department of justice to produce the one remaining file in question. like the broader impeachment effort before it, this contempt resolution will have been a partisan stunt, destined to fail from the very start. an before, if they were really interested recordiny would contest the assertion of executive privilege in court,

not bring a contempt resolution against the attorney general. the american people actually need us to do important work. i'm tired of these games and so are the american people. i urge my colleagues to this measure and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman fromew reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. jordan: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the chairman of the house oversight committee, good friend from the great state of kentucky, mr. comer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. comer: thank you. ippreciate the gentleman from ohio for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the resolution. this is not a complicated matter. the oversight and committee's issued duly authorized legal subpoenas to attorney general garland for a certain set of documents, including the audio recordings of special counsel hur's interview with president biden. the attorney general has refused to produce these audio recordings. unlike what my democratic colleagues keep claiming, this is not just republicans who need these recordings for their oversight duties. media outlets, including the

p., cnn, nbc and "the washington post," among others, have filed suit to get these same audio recordings as media,e else, knows there's no substitute for a recording of an interview. not a transcript. not a summary. not the attorney general's judgment that congress doesn't need it. the oversight committee's investigation of these classified documents has already revealed that the white house's official timeline of events regarding these c materials left out very important details. fo instance, white house employees were entering the cent months before the discovery of the classifieden's personal attorneys in november, 2022. one of those employees was former white house counsel dana remis. we issued a speen for -- subpoena for her deposition but the whiteou blocked her from speaking to the oversight

committee. the white house has also blocked other white house employees whog to us. what is the biden administration trying to hide? attorney general merrick garland's refusal to produce this evidence establishes a clear pattern of obstruction by the d.o.j. to cover up president biden's wrongdoing. president biden has lied to the american people about his mishandling of classified documents. he's repeatedly denied not knowing about or being involved in his family's influence peddling schemes, which the oversight committee can now show has raked in $18 million from foreign individuals and entities for the biden family members, including president biden himself. he also met with nearly all his family's foreign associates. justice appears to be taking of every step to insulate him■rom the consequences, whether it's hiding these audio recordings or attempting to give hunter biden a sweepheart plea deal to shade

hunter biden from accountability. this is unacceptable. the house of representatives cannot serve as a necessary check on the presidency if the executive branch is free to ignore the house's subpoenas. i urge my colleagues to hold attorney general merrick garland in contempt of congress and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from ohio reserves. members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i now yield five minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the oversight and investigations committee, the gentleman from maryland, mr. raskin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. a mr. raskin: thank you kindly, mr. speaker. ournvite us today to become the first congress in the history of the united states to hold someone in contempt for complying with our demands. and their target is the attorney general of the united states. attorney general garland gave us the special couns on president biden in full.

he made the special counsel available to us in committee for hours of testimony where he answered all our questions and he provided the full transcript of the president's voluntary five-hour interview with the special counsel, all 250 pes it. the whole world can read president biden's interview and his answers unedited. but that's apparently not enough. now they want to hold the attorney general in contempt for not turning over the audio tape of the interview that we have the verbatim transcript of. and why is that important? well, in case you've lost the thread of this mad cap wild goose chase, america, remember this is an impeachment investigation. do they think that the holy grail, the 118th congress, evidence ofh crime and misdemeanor is lurking in the pauses or the background throat clearings and sneezes on the audio tape? we there's no high crime or misdemeanor to be found because they've spent the last 17 months and millions of our

taxpayer dollars looking for it and it simply does not exist. they literally don't even know what they're looking for anymore. so why do they want it? well, they're that in the five hours of president biden's testimony, they can find a mispronounced word or phrase or a brief stammer which they can then turn into an embarrassing political tv attack add. get it, -- ad. get it, america? that's what this is all about. and holding the attorney general of the united states in contempt is one more useless distraction from the devastating implosion of the biden impeachment probe which of course was the number■e one priority of these talented leaders. remember, they promised to revealntial high crime and misdemeanor in american history. an act of treasury and deceit that -- treachery and deceit that dwarfs even the incitement of a violent mob insurrection and an/& a political coup that took place right here

against our constitution, our congress, our vice president in this chamber. but after their truly prodigious investigation, pink waited -- punctuated by some unfortunate mishaps like chinese spies, faku evidence, pornographic displays in committee and their own witnesses testifying that there were no grounds for presidential impeachment, they have nothing show for their arduous work other than one more russian disinformation operation andne indicted g.o.p. informant and star witness. rath than admit defeat in this bumbling operation and look for some other way to actually aid the public good, they've decided to flail about in mock outrange against a series of phantom tyrants in the hopes of distracting everyone from this epic flop. thei distraction was to impeach secretary mayorkas as a paltry consolation prize. but that pathetic in their hand.

then the plan was to skip the mundane work of casting votes and actually doing committee business to travel on a collective spiritual pilgrimage on amtrak to new york city, to attend the criminal trial of an unmentionable american felon, one of 19 million in the country, but that strange journey to mec also blew up in their faces when this mystery political false prophet was convicted unanimously by a jury of his peers on dozens of felony criminal counts in a fair american trial. th tried to salvage the credibility of this bizarre expedition by blaming the american justice system for being weaponized against republicans, buthis political extremism quickly melted away when the son biden, the original target of their wrath, was also pcu convicted, like another disarmed felon whose nam spoken on the floor apparently, by a unanimous jury of his peers

on all counts against him. and that trial, unlike the trial whose very existence must be sent down the orwellian memory hole to save someone hurt feelings was actually tried in the federal system.to do now? well, let's hold the attorney general of the united states, merrick garland in contempt, of course. this will be sure to placate unrepent and and unanimous convicted felon from new york and distract everybody else for a day or two. i confess it's a bit rich, mr. speaker, to be. i confess it's a bit rich to hold the united states attorney general for contempt of congress for complying w the committee's demands for someone who voted against citations for steve bannon and mr. navorro wh- could i have one more? the spea mr. nadler: i grant him an additional minute. mr. raskin: and mr. navar rro

never turned over a piece of information. they've been sentenced to jail in true contempt. but mr. comer would hold the united states president no contempt for which i think is 100% compliance but they think it's 98% compliance. if you think a federal official has neotrendered proper appliance, you take them to court and don't hold thempt ande like a billionaire rich to hold the attorney general in contempt and others to testify before the january 6 committee whorenderede testimony of the january 6 committee. i urge congress to reject this absurd motion and i'm happy to yield back to the chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would remind members to refrain from engaging in personalities for the nomination

for president. >> i never did say no to that. mr. jordan: the speaker just said we don't know what we're looking for. we're looking for equal treatment under the law. special counsel knowingly kept d information and he disclosed classified information and told us on the first page of his report and told us why. he had strong motivation for ignoring classified procedures because he was writing a book he was paid $8 million. we have motive and we have him disclosing classifie information but he doesn't get charged. yet president trump does. president trump does by jack smith. jack smith, who had to file with the court a notice saying he actually altered the order ofra. he had to tell the court that. the physical documents don't match up with the scanned documents. you're not allowed to change the

sequence of the documents you seized. but jack smith did. jack smith mishandled the documents he's accusing president trump of mishandling. you can't make this stuff up. that's what we're focused on. by the way, we're in the midst of a impeachment inquiry and we're entitled to the best evidence and why we want the audio tape. withhat i yield three minutes to the chairman orom arizona, mr. biggs. mr. biggs: i thank the gentleman for yi■elding. during his testimony before the house judiciary committee special counsel, hur stated, quote, the evidence and the president himself put his memory squarely in question. special counsel hur president's memory was significantly limited. president biden contested that. the democrats contest that. but in reality, it's the fail

tower fully comply with the committee's subpoenas regarding the audio recordings of the biden and zwonizer's interview that has impeded the oversight of hur's findings and the president's retention and disclosure of classified materials and has impeded the committee's impeachment inquiry. so the committee must assess whether special counsel hur's decision which was based on president biden's poor mental state was consistent with the department's mission to impartial justice and whether special counsel investigations are required because they're not leading to impartial outcomes. quote, the audio recordings would offer unique information to inform the judiciary committee as to the need for legislative reforms to the operations of the department or the conduct of special counsel investigations.

those are for legislative purposes and constitutional■4 purposes, and they justify us getting the audio recordings. but they don't want the audio recordings to come forward. why is that? it's odd, isn't it? because the d.o.j. admitted in court filings two weeks ago they actually did alter the transcript. they claim, oh, it's just filler information, maybe they were duplicative of words. there were blank pauses not noted in the transcript. that's why an audio recording is importan because the transcripts do not reflect important verbal context such as tone or tenure or nonverbal context which is facial delivery. all of which went into the decision by mr. hur not to prosecute a crime that he said was committed. that prosecutorial discretion is

under review by our committee legitimately and constitutionally. we have the right to that audio recording. the department has said they're not going to give it to us. odd. because the cases that deal with requiring the audio recordings to be turned over, the long list of cases, they turn on various things like the audio recording is the best office. they say that. odd. they also say that if there's tampering or any kind of editing or altering of the written transcript, which we now know is true, then the is mandatory. that's why we should get it. this department won't give it to us. merick garland is in contempt of this congress, and he needs to be held in contempt and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to engage in personalities towards the president.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. >> i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the chair reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i yield one minute to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. chair. this is absurd. this is felini■. in the congres, comparing what joe biden did to what the other fellow that preceded him in office did in keeping documents in mar-a-lago in his bathroom and out in the chancy rooms where all of his billionaire friends go is like comparing somebody that writes a bad check by $2, an overdraft to somebody who is a bank robber with guns and weapons and machine guns going into banks and robbing money. biden was a sympathetic figure, said mr. hur, a republican who merrick garland gave the duty to

study that case. sympathetic fi. mr. hur found there could not be guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. what the other fellow did, refusing to comply with requests to give the classified documents up, refusing and refusing and having to have a search warrant and finding them, hundreds of documents, hundreds of documents. not for the purpose of writing a book, for somebody who can't even read a book, but for purposes that we don't know and what they were used for. but they were taken illegally and improperly. merrick garland is a honor man who should be in the college of cardinals and not be tried for contempt. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. nadler: i yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. mr. cohen: thank you, sir. i've not seen more diligent

and honor gentleman, merrick garland is a superb gentleman and this is just to throw things on the other fellow, trump, and put them on biden. it's like comparing a bank robber to a guy that wrote an overdraft. i yield back the balanf mr. nadler: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mcclintock: i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. bishop. the speaker pro tempore: before recognizing mr. bishop, the chair would remind members to refrain from engaging in personalities towards presumptive nominees for the office of president. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina. mr. bishop: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the gentleman from california. this matter is simple and in its simplicity is the chairity of its appropriate resolution. the audio recording of president biden's interview with special

counsel robert hur is demeanor evidence. demeanor is one's outward manner, a way of conducting one's self, some might say is bearing. and in some circumstances demeanor evidence is the most probative, powerful evidence that can be heard. better than words. it can■; evidence credibility or evasive necessary and/or avoidance and especially in this circumstance can witness an --z can be evidence to a witnessforn accurately. president biden shared classified information pursuancf pursuing his book advance. mr. hur complied with the department's for the facts that he's an elderly man with poor

memory. a raw transcript doesn't inform the judiciary committee sufficiently to evaluate the reasonableness of that determination. especially since president biden hotly contested special counsel hur's characterization. demeanor evidence could powerfully clarify whether that exercise of prosecutorial discretion was politically neutral or politically fraded. it's the power of the audio of s interview that garland inadvertently acknowledges in stubbornly withholding it. if it were nothing more than a duplicate of the transcript, it never would have been refused. the justice department, the attorney general have not a leg to standusal is the essence of contempt. garland's own words reflect it in the hearing before the

judiciary committee the other day. he said certainly members of this committee have marked up a contempt resolution. but as i pointed out to the attorney general, it was a majority of the members of the committee. and he retracted those words. y of the committee charged by a majority of this house with inquiring into the existence of grounds to exercise the awesome constitutional power of impeachment. the attorney general's reference to certain members reflects a political mindset that does not support withholding evidence that the committee seeks that is squarely relevant and essential to its inquiry. that defiance, the house cannot abide. therefore, this resolution for contempt must pass this house. i yield.

mr. mcclintock: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i recognize mr. schiff. schiff: contempt, to hod something beneath the dignity of consideration, something to be scorned, an attitude towards something that is inferior, worthless, open disrespect for something that is vial, despised, disgraced, inside lens in the presence of the law, an apt description not of the subject of this motion but those who bring it, not of an attorney general who has upheld our justice system and demonstrated aes those who mock the idea we're a nation of laws, not the individual. when republicans line up in front of a manhattan courthouse to denigrate the rule of law in the service of a now convicted felon, that is contemptuous. whendle the lie

joe biden is pulling the levers of trump's manhattan execution,. but when the republicans defeign dig nation when he complies witd that is beneath this body and is vial and disgraceful and -- may i have an additional 30 seconds. that is deserving of our scorn and beneath the of this body and vial and disgduationful. those who bring this motion bring contempt all right but only upon themselves. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mcclintock: i yield three minutes to myself. mr. speaker, for the first time in american history a

presidential administration is trying to jail its opponent. and not just any opponent, but a former president of the united states. to pursue this objective mr. biden's attorney general approved an unprecedented armed raid on a former president's home, despite treen with us objections by his career officials and the local field office that normally would have had jurisdiction. he then created a new position withoutnal requirement of congressional action or senatefirmation. he filled that position with one jack smith, despite the central role smith played in the i.r.s. scandal that targeted and harassed the tea party volunteers and despite a long history of pros cuetorily misconduct. theooked up charge was the mishandling of classified documents. shortly thereafte discovered as vice president joe biden had done the same thing.

yet as president mr. trump had y materials at will. as vice president joe biden did not. as president mr. trump had absolute authority to determine what records to keep upon leaving office. as vice president joe biden did not. yet the biden administration's appointed special counsel in the biden case concluded that although biden had, quote, willfully retained and disclos s a private citizen, criminal charges were not warranted because he's, quote, a sympathetic well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. the principle justification for this glaring double standard in the handling of these two cases was the interview with mr. biden. yet all we have is the unverified transcript to determine the validity of this otherwise inexplicable decision. mr. biden cannot claim executive privilege. this was not a policy

discussion. he's already released the transcript. but it is vital that ocommitteet is complete and whether it accurately portrays the circumstances under which that decision was made. two, trump officials have been sentenced to prison for their failure to honor congressional subpoenas. that case was far weaker than this one. at the time, congress was not exercising oversight or considering legislation. in this case the judiciary committee is doing both. once again we have this glaring legal double standard at play. i expect the attorney general to thumb his nose at the citation. we have come to expect that of him. but the house judiciary committee is charged with defendingnd rule of law and its fundamental principle of equal justice under law. if we are going to restore them, this resolution is an indispensable step we must take today. i reserve the balance of my t time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance

of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, thegenl counsel smith. this dangerous attempt to demonize anybody who would hold donald trump accountable for his actions is despicable and is a full out assault on the basic i remind my colleagues these types of actions have consequences. they affect the lives of many men and women who dedicated themselves to public service and upholding the rule of law. will i submit for the record, a june 11, 2024 article in "the washington post" by the honorable merrick garland, entitled unfounded attacks on the justice department must end. it is absurd and dangerous that public servants, many of whom risk their lives every day, are being threatened for simply doing their jobs and adhering to the principle that is have long guided the justice department's work. i would also remind my friends on the other side of the aisle that the conviction of mr. trump

was in a state court in new york. having nothing to do with the federal government. and to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. swalwell. the speaker pro tempore: before recognizes the gentleman, members are still reminded to refrain from engaging in president.ies toward the or toward the presumptive nominee. the gentleman is recnized. mr. swalwell: this is not about the contempt of the attorney general. it's about maga republicans contempt for the constitution, the rule of law, and democracy. and it's about who any of us came here to fight for. maga republicans are fighting for one person at the cost of what your constituents actuall care about. you are fighting for a felon. you are fighting for a felon. on this side we are fighting for working people. we are fighting for the kids and the teachers anti-soldiers and the cops and the -- and the

soldiers and cops and firefighters and bakers and butchers. people who go to work every day and count on us to do something for them. and you, you are working for a felon. a felon. 12 of his neighbors. people in the community where he committed crimes made 34 decisions. and 408 straight times they said, guilty. let me make it we will choose families over felons. verdicts over vengeance. and people over politics. and will the ranking member yield one more minute. mr. nadler: an additional mi mr. swalwell: can we talk about subpoenas for one second. two of you last speakers are 750-plus ds in defiance of a subpoena. so get real when mr. jordan and mr. biggs come to this floor and want to talk and get all righteous about subpoenas. you start honoring your

subpoenas and we can talk about anyone else's. i yield back. mr. nadler: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ne york reserves. the chair recognizes -- the chair remind members again to refrain from engagingn personalities toward presumptive nominees for office of president and direct their remarks to the chair. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. mcclintock: i'm pleased to yield four minutes to my colleague from california, mr. issa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: i thank the gentleman. i'm not going to refer to the current president or the presumptive nominee. i am going to refer for my colleagues, mr. speaker, i'm going to refer to the history of this body. bus i -- because i think the study of the history of this body should tell members on both sides of the aisle this is an appropriate contempt. it will lead eventually to compliance. and, again, to holding this body as a co-equal of government.

i might remind my colleagues, some here in the room, mr. behalf ofheat in 2007 this bodyn united states then, president bush,n how up before this very committee, judiciary. in 2012, this body held a previous attorney general in a very similar situation affecting the same two committees that have been speaking here, oversight and judiciary, held eric holder in contempt because he told us that if we would take that was left, and end our case, would he give them to us. otherwise he would withhold them. we held him in contempt. and judge amy jackson, an appointee of president obama,

held several things, inclu cleay falsely claimed an executive privilege, probably based on being misled by then ericderal. and, in fact, 10,000-plus documents were turned over to the united states congress. the then attorney general had lied. the then attorney general, eric holder, had lied to this body and the chairman of the committee and ultimately was held in contempt on a bipartisan basis with 12 members of the other party voting for that contempt. and after a long period of time, we managed to get the equilibrium this body deserves. i call, mr. speaker, on this body and all my colleagues today to live up toheat we learned in 2007 when a white house, then of a republican, refused to deliver a witness. then in 2012 the attorney general claimed that we were not entitled to the best documents

we sought we were entitled to the documents related to fast and furious he believed were appropriate. he failed. and he failed based on ajuga pointed by then president obama. why? because this body does have the obligation and the right to seek all of the evidence -- best evidence it believes, not the other side believes. it believes. there has been no call for in camera review, no call for compromise. once again we are to take the word of an attorney general working for the current president that there is nothing there. i watch a lot of television over the years. i am not not the detroits we are looking for -- droids we are looking for. this could be important evidence. whether it is or isn't isn't germane. what is important is this body live up to, in fact, its obligation. i call on every member, those on

the other side, who did or didn't join with me in 2012, but who voted in 2007 to hold the white house in contempt to consider whether once again we are balancing the power and the right of this body and many are arguing against the best interest of the united states house of representatives. for that, mr. speaker, shame on those who do. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. mcclintock: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i now yield one minute the distinguished gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. this contempt vote is republicans' desperate attempt to save face following their many failed investigations, including the one about hunter biden's laptop. you all remember that? they promised trump and the american people that they would

impeach president biden, but after spending more than $20 million investigating theories, maga republicans have nothing to show for this do-nothing congress can't pass legislation toelple, and at prove any wrongdoing by es they are running out of time and they are desperate. plus, their own presidential candidate, donald trump, just became a convicted felon, according to a jury of his peers. sooming why republicans are trying -- maga -- so maga republicans are trying to shift the blame to someone else. even though the justice department produced more than 92,000 pages of documents and made dozens of witnesses available, republicans have made attorney general garland their scapegoat. this is a farce and the american people can see right through it. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would remind members from refrain in engaging permanents

toward presumptive nominees for the office of president. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mcclintock: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to my colleague and neighbor from california, mr. kiley. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized mr. kiley: this is a textbook example of the executive branch obstructing the oversight function of congress. the committees of jurisdiction here have clearly set fnhorth te legal basis for compelling disclosure of president interviews with special counsel hour. the administration has agreed with us inasmuch as they have produced the transcripts of those recordings. however, they have grasped wildly for some basis on which to withhold the recordings themselves. and most telling is that they have particulartory reasons for doing so -- contradictory reasons for doing so. first they wouldn't hand over the recordings because they were cumulative of the transcripts. so similar to the transcripts. later they argued that they are so different from the transcripts that one is

privileged and the other is not. when you have self-contradictory arguments being made, that is a sign that the true purpose here is obstruction. perhaps the most absurd argument we have heard is the supposed interest asserted by the administration for withholding the recordings. the disclosing them might discourage witness from cooperating in future high profile investigations. in this case the president is not merely a witness. he is the target of an investigation by his own administration. and by the way, special counsel hur testified before our committee that based on that investigation a reasonable juror could have voted to convict president biden. so what is the administration arguing the interest here is? somewhere down the line there might be another president who is subject to an investigation by his own administration, and the argument goes that if that president knows that the transcript will be released, he'll sit for the interview. if he knows there is a chance the recording might be rrate. this is an absurd proposition, mr. speaker.

certainly not sufficient to override the legitimate oversight interests of the house of representatives. frankly, this is not how we would like to be spending floor time, but the recaltrans and obstruction of this administration has made it necessary. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain fromitid the president. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california reser. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. .. mr. nadler: i yield two minutes to ms. deep. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. dean: i thank the speaker from new york. mr. speaker, this contempt resolution is the latest attempt to tear down our democracy. the department has complied with republicans after every turn. after 92,000 pages of documents, more than a dozen transcribed interviews, and a-ptranscript ty

colleagues still aren't satisfied. they are doing this in service man, the former president, to distract from his crimes. on may 20th, a jury of citizens found felony charges. it's beyond disheartening a former president and now potential presidential candidate againas convicted of coordinating a, quote, unlawful conspiracy to win in the 2016 election and falsifying records to cover his tryst with an adult porn star. i'm concerned our democratic institutions are under threat. some of these attacks coming from within. judiciary chairman jim jordan said a kangaroo court convicted former president trump. speaker johnson called the trial a purely political exercise.

mr. trump apparently pities himself as a so-called political prisoner. all this to tear down our americans' faith in t law. contrary to his complaints, mr. trump was tried and treated fairly. justice was served in a courtroom that was open and filled with reporters and a jury that was chosen by the prosecution and the defense. this is the rule of law at work. political rhetoric and deliberate misinformation. the likes o many dangerous others erode faith in our institutions and threaten the safety of the american people. these attacks undermine the rule of law which stands to protect the rights of all people. when attorney general merrick garland was before the judiciary committee -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mr. nadler: i yield the gentlelady an additional ms. dean: when he was before the judiciary committee he described upholding the law and in his words it meant ensuring we treat

like cases alike, that we do not have enemies or friends, that we do not pay attention to the political parties or the wealth or the power or the influence of the people we are investigating, that we follow the facts and the law. this is what distinguishes america from our adversaries. i yield back. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, how much time do i have left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york has 8 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from california has 6 1/2 minutes. mr. nadler: thank you, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the chair again will remind members from engaging in personalities to the nomination for president. mr. mr. mcclintock: i yield four minutes to mr. roy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. roy: i thank the gentleman from california speaker.

listening to my colleagues discuss the rule of law find it shocking. the average americans are listening, worrying what happened to the rule of law. when i watch my fellow texans getting destroyed by dangerous ca individuals being allowed in the united states, terrorists and those moving fentanyl into the country that killed kids in the school district which i live. when i watch a 75-year-old woman being put in prison by a politically motivated judge in the district of columbia because they protested in front of an abortion clinic -- i want to say it-7 again, this department of justice is putting a 75-year-old woman in jail for two years who is dealing with physical informatives because she was praying in front -- infirmities because she was pying in front of an abortion clinic. people watching while statues are defaced in the name of being pro-palestinian.

people exercising their so-called free speech rights advancing the cause of terrorism happening against our friends in israel and happening feet from the white house. the american people are wondering how this world got turned upside down. here we sit and■p8s debating ths issue and the attorney general of the united states, merrick garland, came before the house judiciary committee just a little over a week ago. and in that hearing, a number of questions were asked and i engaged with the attorney general and i asked the attorney did he claim privilege with respect to the transcripts of the audio tal counsel hur looking into the allegations of the abuse of classified materials by the president of the united states before he was president. an i asked him and he said no, no. we did not claim executive

privilege with respect to the transcripts. in a separate exchange regarding the best evidence rule, the attorn@t gague, a friend on the judiciary committee, about the best evidence rule, and in doing so articulated and explained how the transcript was admissible under the best evidence rule, which is correct, but in doing so, he kind of gave up the game in which he described and said they're the same. he said to the committee, he said they're the same. now, he just told me they did not claim executive privilege with respect to the transcript. then he said to all of us, they're the same. the audio recording and the transcript are the same. and then he proceeds to say he must, in defending the rule of law, claim executive privilege on the actual audio, and then deny the members of congress the ability in the middle of an impeachmenttituted and voted ons body on the house floor, an impeachment inquiry then to deny

us the ability to listen to the audio. the fact of is, there's only one reason why the attorney general would do that. he doesn't want us to hear it. that's why. and there's really only two reasons why that would be the case. either the transcript doesn't match the audio or the audio is so bad that he doesn't want us to hear it because special counsel hur the entirety of his decision not to prosecute, not to pursue, not to go after the president of the united states for abuse of classified materials, he did it entirely on the basis of what we perceive as the demeanor of the president, which only the audio can allow congress the ability to determine the validity -- the validity of that determination by the special counsel. i yield back.

mr. mcclintock: i reserve. shae: the gentleman reserves. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i now yield one minute to the distinguished member of vermont, ms. balint. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. balint: we're here today because of the republican party's unrelenting effort to get donald trump back into office. no matter the facts, no matter the law. for over a year, the judiciary committee republican colleagues have desperately sought evidence for wrongdoing by president biden. and what have they found? nothing. nothing. i'm sure it was disappointing for my republican colleagues when special counsel hur cleared the president instead of indicting him. but it is time to move on. wehould be on the floor moving gun violence legislation, protecting the right to abortion, probablying the lbgtq+ americans across the country who are attacked relentlessly by my

colleagues on the other side. this is a colossal waste of time but more importantly, it is dangerous. what they are doing is dangerous. when this congress is over the only achievements, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be able to point to will be the things that we as democrats helped them to pass. 30 seconds? mr. nadler: i yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. balint: it is all of our jobs to represent the constituents. i thought that's what we were all here for. i implore my republican colleagues to stop putting the interests of one man, one man above the interests of american peoples. the truth will come out and history will not look kindly on what you have here. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: i ask you to direct the remarks to the

chair. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. mcclintock: i'm ready to close when the gentleman from new york has exhausted his speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reservesa, the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, mr. conl the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. conley: mr. speaker, if you gave truth serum to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, i'm pretty sure they'd admit they'd rather not be here today doing this. mr. connolly: to admit attorney general merrick garland is collateral damage for his failed effort to impeach the president of the united states. there's no honor in this. and my colleagues are, for the most part, i think honorable people. so this is not something they want to do, but it's demanded of them nonetheless. former president trump has repeatedly threatened the house republican conference that they

must impeach president quote, or else, unquote. so here we are. finding the attorney general in contempt for providing a transcript, a full transcript, but not an audio recording of an interview from an investigation that ended up finding nothing. oh, and by the way, the recording in question is now subject to executive privilege. so the fight's not even with the attorney general of the united states, it's with the white house. i take some solace in the fact that many of my republican friendsnd colleagues are here doing the dirty work of one individual against their will and better judgment. i know deep down, very deep down, that they'd rather do the honorable thing and give up this miscarriage of justice today. i yield back. mr. nadler the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. mcclintock: i'm ready to close when the gentleman is finished. mr. nadler: i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, the house republicans have spent the last 18 months in a futile effort to dig up dirt on president biden which culminated in their epic failure of an impeachment inquiry. this resolution is nothing more face with the magassphere.o save they seek to hold the attorney general in contempt though he's turned over all the information they requested in their subpoena. this resolution will not change that fact. but facts never have been the force behind their investigations. it is a show and apparently the show must go on. even though the script hasn't turned out the way they wanted. but the reviews are in, and it's a flop. so i urge my colleagues to vote no on this resolution and to put an end to this farce.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. mcclintock: thank you. mr. speaker, the american justice system is the pride of our the envy of the world. and its central principle is the equal application of justice under law. this is why justice is depicted as blindfolded. doesn't matter who comes before it, all are to be treated equally. it is this central principle that gives the law its legitimacy. without it, the law becomes devoid of legitimacy. the respect for the law gives way to the law of the jungle. this is the before us have taken to despotism and ruin. it's the responsibility of the protect the rule of law and its

equal application. our responsio guard our nation against the convulsions that commonly afflict banana republics whenever a ruling party tries to jail its opponents. the radically different handling of the documents cases involving mr. trump and mr. biden should ring alarm bells in every corner of the land. the the principal justification of this radical application of law is the interview the judiciary committee seeks through ancient constitutional prerogatives. it is vital we understand the whole context of this decision to verify the accuracy of the transcript and to determine the extent that this conversation informed a decision that strikes at the heart, not only of our rule of law but the right of the american people to guide their own destiny through fair, free, and unfettered elections. congress has a constitutional ay to seek this information and the

attorney general has a legal obligation to provide it, annor. this congress has enforced this prerogative in past cases under a far less demanding circumstance than these. in order to assure that we have discharged our responsibilit:1s, we have to compel the attorney general to discharge his, and that's whateeks to do.o. -- it is a set of challenges.

it's not what i intend to ask of them. >> ted kennedy's 1980 convention speech after his loss to president jimmy carter in the primary. >> the cause indoors. the hope still lives. the dream shall never die. [applause] >> watch historic convention speeches, saturdays at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span2 to get on this summer, watch these bas live puican national convention and the democratic national convention august 19 through the 22nd. ♪ look tv. every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, cory

deangelis with the american federation for childre argues that parents need to get more involved in their children's education and regain control from the teachers unions. at 10:00 p.m. eastern, the new rkimes author looks at the use of psychedelics in mental health treatment and describes his own exrice with them. interviewed by■ politico health care reporter. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program line. tune into c-span's live coverage of the 2024 national political convention starting with the republican four-day event in milwaukee on july 15. next up, catch the democrats as they convene in chicago, kicking off on august 19.

stay connected to c-span for an uninterrupted and unfiltered limbs of democracy at work. watch the republican and democratic national convention live this summer on c-span, c-span now, and online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. powered by cable. ♪ c-span has been delivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. here's a highlight from a key moment. >> the distinguished gentleman from california. >> thank you very much. i think my colleague for yielding. today, my firstborn is to be married at 5:00. again i find myself standing in the chamber praying that this is not one more time when i miss

one more event of young children that i love and that love me. to get married in 1990 is an act of love, faith, hope, idealism. the veto is an act of cynicism. i ask you to cut off this debate. we know how we are going to vote. let's override the veto and let me love my son. >> c-span, powered by cable. ♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded these television companies and more including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers and we are just getting started. building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications supports c-span as a publi