the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. jordan: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. on page of his report, special

counsel hur said president biden, quote, willful and disclosed materials after his vice-presidency when he was a private citizen. joe biden kept information he wasn't allowed to keep but shared it with people who weren't allowed to get it. on page 231, the special counsel told us why president biden did this. he said, quote, presidentidtrone proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his notebooks. he had decided months before leaving office to write a book. a book for which he got paid $8 million. so we have motive, an $8 milon motive, and we have the element also of the crime, knowingly keeping classified information, knowingly disclosing classified information. despite this representative

didn't pursue charges because he is an elderly man with poor hearing. mr. hur said mr. biden's memory had specific limitations at the time he spoke to the ghost writer in 2017 as evidd by their recorded conversations, and today is evidenced by his recorded interview with our office. committees need the audo recordings to determine whether the just department appropriately carried out justice by not prosecuting the president. because remember what they told us, the justice department said we'll operate independent to the white house and said we'll be independent arbiters of the facts. ok. maybe so. but what we do know is this, one former president is being charged, joe biden is not being, and we think we're entitled -- actually, we know we're entitled to all the evidence and the best evidence and the transcripts alone are not sufficient evidence of the state of the president's memory especially since the executive branch has a

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's 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 and told us last week he wasn't going to do it and that's why we're committee's bet 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 contempt resolution, the the

department notified the committee that president biden had asserted at the attorney general's urging executive recordingsover the audio 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 re constitutes contempt of congress and institutes its power to find the house finds attorney general rick 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. members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. nadler: mr. speaker,■ myself such time as i may 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 report. he said, our investigation uncovered evidence that president biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials 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 it's by going to court and letting the court decide whether th 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 and $20 million taxpayer dollars in a desperate search to find something,ey can use to dat 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 care system, but on a single-minded quest to follow every 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 nothing -- on their investment? nothing. no evidence that the -- conspirs are true, no indictments, no impeachment, no wins of any significance. and the republican leadership knows if up with something to show for the millions of dollars they've spent, the maga political base may stay home next november. 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 attorneyeneral. 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 maga majority. d.o.j.'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 pages of documents and more witnesses than the trump justice department produced to congress in four years. just last week the attorney general himself spent more than five hours testifying before the judiciary committee. 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 attorney general and d.o.j. have been fully responsive to congress in every way that might be material to their long-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 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 investigations where the voluntary cooperation of white house officials is exceedingly important. closed quote. the chairman claimed they need those records to understand the pause, pace and tone of the conversation. this is absurd and clearly pretextual. under any event, it doe 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. thing that has non produced is the recording itself something that in the wrong hands can be easily 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 judiciary committee who refused to take 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 ctempt resolution will have been a partisan stunt, destined to fail from the very start. and as i said before, if they were really interested in getting this recording, they 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 oppose this measure and i reserve the balance of my time. the spea gentleman from new york 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. i appreciate the gentleman from ohio for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the complicated matter. the oversight and judiciary committee's issued duly authorized legal subpoenas to attorney general garnd certain set of documents, including the audio recordings special counsel hur's interview with president biden. the attorney general has to produce these audio recordings. unlike what my democratic this is not just republicans who need these recordings for their oversight duties. media outlets, including the a.p., cbs, cnn, nbc and "the washington post," among others, have filed suit to get these same audio recordings as well. because the media, like everyone else, knows there's no recordinn 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 classified materials left out very important details. for documents months before the discovery of the by president biden'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 white house has blocked her from speaking to the oversight committee. the white house has also blocked other white house employees who visited the center from speaking 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 oflassified■ documents. he's repeatedly denied not knowing about or being involved in his 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. president biden's department of justice appears to be taking every step to insulate him from the consequences, whether it's hiding these audio recordings or attempting to give hunter biden a sweepheart plea■i deal to shae 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 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.aker. our colleagues invite 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 counsel's report on president biden in full. he made the 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 pages of 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 capild goose chase, america, remember this is an impeachment investigation. do they think that the holy grail, the 118th congress, evidence of a presidential high crime and misdemeanor is lurking in the pauses or the background throat clearings and sneezes on the audio tape? well, of course not. they know there's no high crime or misancause they've spent thet 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 hoping that in the five hours of president biden'sa 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 one priority of these talented leaders. remember, they promised to reveal the greatest presidential 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 anticipated political coup that took place right here against our constitution, our congress, our vice president in this chamber. waited --their truly prodigious punctuated by some unfortunate mishaps like chinese spies, fake evidence, pornographic displays in committee and their own witnesses testifying that there were no grounds for presidential impeachment, they have nothing to show for their arduous work

other than one more debunked russian disinformation operation and one more indicted g.o.p. informant and star witness. rather than admit defeat in this bu 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. their first distraction was to impeach secretary mayorkas as a paltry consolation prize. but that pathetic decoy action blew up in their hands. 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 mecca 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. they tried to salvage the credibility of this bizarre expedition by blaming the american justice system for being weaponized against politil extremism quickly melted away when the son of president biden, the original target of their wrath, was■ also prosecuted and convicted, like another disarmed felon whose name may now not be spoken on the floor apparently, by a unanimous jury of his peers on all counts against him. and that trial, unlikewhose vere sent down the orwellian memory hole to save someone hurt feelings was actually tried in the federal system. so what's left to do now? well, let's hold the attorney general of the uted states, merrick garland in contempt, of course. this will be sure to placate an 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 with the committee's demands for someone who voted againstit for steve bannon and mr. navorro who never spent a single minute -- could i have one more? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. nadler: i grant him an additional minute. mr. raskin: and mr. navar rro never turne 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 has neotrendered proper appliance, you take them to

court and don't hold them in contempt and rich beyond measure like a billionaire rich to hold the attorney general in contempt and others to testify before the january 6 committee who never rendered a single minute to the 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 hur found joe biden knowingly kept classified 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 classified 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 of the documents he seized on the raid of the president's home. 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. with that i yield three minutes to the chairman of the crime

subcommittee, the gentleman from arizona, mr. biggs. mr. biggs: i thank the gentleman 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 notified the president's memory was 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 rtial 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 instigations. purposes and constitutional 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 weref w. there were blank pauses not noted in the transcript. that's why an audio recording is important because the transcripts do not reflect pot 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 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 audio recording is mandatory. that's why we should get it. this department won't give it to us. merick garland is in contempt of this 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 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 congress,

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 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. he was a sympathetic figure. mr. hu f 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,or 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.ou, sir. i've not seen a 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 backhe time. mr. nadler: reserve. the ea 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. chanhe 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 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 -- can be evidence to a witness to recall and relate information accurately. president biden shared classified information his pursuing his book advance.of mr. hur complied wi department's for the facts that he's an elderly man with poor memory. a raw transcript doesn'tc: infom 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 prosecutorial

discretion was politically neutral or politically fraded. it's the power of the demeanor evidence in the audio of biden'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 stand 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. a majority 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 resolutionwl for contempt must pass this house. i yield.tock: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i recognize mr. schiff. mr. schiff: contempt, to hold 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 a respect for institutions but those who mock the idea we're a nation of laws, not the individual. when republicans line up in front of a manhattan courtenigrn the service of a now convicted felon, contemptuous. when biden is pulling the levers of trump's manhattan execution, that's contemptuous. but when the republicans defeign dig nation when he complies with his, that's condemn chewous and 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 dignity of this body and vial and disgraduationful. 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. bideoved an unprecedented ad raid on a former despite treen s objections by his career officials and the local field

office that normally would have had jurisdiction. he then created a new position without the constitutional requirement of congressional action or senate confirmation. 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 oy misconduct. the cooked up charge was the mishandling of classified documents. shortly thereafter we discovered as vice president joe biden had done the same thing. yet as president mr. trump had absolute authority to declassify materials at will. as vice president joe biden did not. as president mr. trump had abte 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 disclosed classified materials when he was 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 our committee know if the transcript 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 defending and upholding the rule of law and its fundamental principle of equal justice under law. if we are going to restore themn indispensable step we must take today. i reserve the balance of my t time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves t';óhe balane of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. thettacked specl 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 tenets of our democracy. 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 i now yield one minute 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 personalities toward the president. nominee.d the presumptive

the gentleman is recognized. 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 actually care about. you are fighting for a felon. you are fighting 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. and you, you are working 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 itlear where we stand. 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 minute. mr. swalwell: can we talk about subpoenas for one second. two of your last speakers are 750-plus days 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 new york reserves. the chair recognizes members ago refrain from engaging in 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. 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 of government. i might remind my colleagues, some here in the room, mr. speaker, that in 2007 this body held the white house counsel on behalf of the president of the united states then, president bush, in contempt for refusing to show 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 200-some documents, that was all 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 amyac appointee of president obama, held several things, including that president obama had clearly falsely claimed an executive privilege, probably based on being misled by then eric ho holder, the attorney general. and, in fact, 10,000-plus documents were turned over to the united states congress. the then attorney general had lied. the then attorney

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 votingt 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 to the standard that we learned in 2007 when a white house, then of a republican, refused to deliver a witness. then in 2012 when 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 the obligation and the right to seek all of the evidence -- best evidence it believes, not■o 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 going to believe these are not the detroits we are looking for -- droids we are looking for. this could be importa is or isnt 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 the uns house of representatives. those who do.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlen 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 tman from georgia, mr. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. this contempt vote is maga 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 conspiracy theories, maga republicans have nothing to show for it. this do-nothing congress can't pass legislation to help the american people, and also can't president biden.oing by they are running out of time and they are desperate.

plus, their own presidential candidate, donald trump, just becamew- 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 t yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would r 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 forth the

legal basis for compelling disclosure of president biden's 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 given contra 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 mhtating inh profile investigations. in ts 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 thehat 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 released he won't cooperate. this is an absurd proposition, mr. speaker. certainly not sufficient to override the legitimate 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. i the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california mr. mcclintock: i reserve. 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 250-page trscript that was verified, my colleagues still aren't satisfied. they are doing this in service ofhe former president, to distract from his crimes. on may 20th, a jury of citizens found mr. trump guilty of 34 felony charges. it's beyond disheartening a former president and now potential presidential candidate

again was of coordinating a, quote, unlawful conspiracy to win in the 2016 election and falsifying records to cov his tryst with an adult porn star. i'm concerned our democratic institutions are under threat. some of these attacks coming from within. juci 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 the rule of law. contrary to his complaints, mr. trump was tried and treated fairly. justice was served in a courtroom that was on 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 these and many dangerous others erode faith in our institutions and threaten the people. these attacks undermine the rule of law which stands to protect the rights of all people. when attorney general merrick garland■k was before the judiciy committee -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mr. nadler: i yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds. 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 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 and the 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 cartels and 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 again, ts 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 praying 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 this world got turned upside down. here we sit and debating this issue and the attorney general of the united sta merrick garland, came before the house judiciary committee just a

little over a week ago. and in that hearing, a n questions were asked and i engaged with the attorney general and i asked the attorney general, did he o did he claim privilege with respect to the transcripts of the audio recording in question when we were talking about special counsel hur looking into the allegations of the abuse of classified materials by the president of the united states before he was president. and 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 attorney general is engaging with another colleague, a friend on the judiciary committee, about the best evidence rule, and in doingg÷ so articulated ad explained how the transcript was admissible under the best evidence rule, which is correct, but in doi so, he kind of gave up the game in which he described and said they're the

same.he said to the committee, e said they're the same. now, he just told me they did not claim executive privilege with respect to the transcri 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 impeachment inquiry, duly cons■etuted and voted on by this body on the house floor, an impeachment inquiry then to deny us the ability to listen to the audio. the fact of 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 put 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. we should b 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 colleaguee 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 done here. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: i ask you to direct the remarks to the chair. the gentleman from new york reserves. recognized.an from california is mr. mcclintock: i'm ready to close when theen exhausted his speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, mr. conley. 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 or else,. 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 that many of my republican friends and 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: i reserve. 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 tempor the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, the house republicans have spent the last 18onhb in a futile effort to dig up dirt on president biden which culminated in their epic failure of an impeachment nothing more

than a desperate attempt to save face with the magassphere. they seek to hold the attorney general in contempt though he's 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 nation. it's 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. it doe'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■i gives way to the law of the jungle. this is the well-tropical depressionen path many nations before us have taken to despotism and ruin. it's the responsibility of the house judiciary committee to protect the rule of law and its equal application. it is our responsibility to 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 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 right and a constitutional duty to seek this information the attorney general has a legal obligation to provide it, an obligation he refuses to honor. 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 responsibilities, we have to compel the attorney

general to discharge his, and that's what this citation seeks to do. >> the c-span bookshelf podcast feed makes it easy to get to all of c-span's podcasts that feature books in one place. there are multiple episodes with critically acclaimed authors.

listen to c-span's bookshelf podcast feed today. you can find ion free c-span now mobile video app or wherever you get your podcasts, and on our website. c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by 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. 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications supports c-span as a plic service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> coming up on "washington

journal," we will take your calls and comments live. then a look at the latest inflation report the biden administr's economic policies with vance ginn, economist and formee house associate budget director under the trump administration. and jared huffman discuss its rmation of a new task forceimed at providing a blueprint for a second trump presidency. also, a preview mer president trump's upcoming meeting wise and senate gop members wit congressional reporter at axiosnd emily benson with the center for strategic and international studies previews this week's g7 summit. "washington journal" is. -- is next. >> the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.