GOP Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna explained on Fox News during a Sunday interview with host Maria Bartiromo that lawmakers are planning to take further action to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable after the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to prosecute him for withholding Biden’s audiotapes and being held in contempt of Congress.
Luna discussed on “Sunday Morning Futures” the recent congressional resolution to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to release audiotapes from special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden concerning his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Host Maria Bartiromo opened the segment by inquiring about Congress’ next steps. GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he plans to escalate the issue to the federal courts after the Department of Justice declined to prosecute.
“Yeah, so actually, several months ago, I introduced a resolution for something called ‘inherent contempt of Congress.’ This is something that Congress has the authority to do, and it hasn’t been done since the early 1900s,” Luna explained. “Essentially what that does is — I anticipated that the Department of Justice would not do their job, so I had this teed up and ready to go.
“I brought this to Speaker Johnson’s attention, and what that allows Congress to do is really be the punitive arm and really hold Garland accountable by using the sergeant-at-arms to essentially go and get him as well as the tapes, bring them to the well of the House and really be a check and balance on the Department of Justice,” Luna went on.
“Again, this hasn’t been done since the early 1900s, but that vote will be coming to the floor, and hopefully, we will be able to bring some accountability. I know that if this goes to [the] courts, as Johnson has stated, that’s really going to get stuck there. It’s not going to do anything,” she continued. “The American people deserve more than strongly worded letters; I think we’re all frustrated, and so again, we’re hoping to bring that accountability.”
Bartiromo kept asking Luna about the Republicans’ efforts to obtain the audiotapes from Garland despite already having transcripts of the conversation. The Fox host inquired whether Luna thinks the tapes might be altered in any way, given that filler words like ‘um’ and ‘ah’s’ have reportedly been removed.
“I believe that it’s possible that it’s been doctored, but I also think it’s going to show the American people whether or not Biden is capable of making those decisions. Remember, we have a foreign policy debacle right now. We have Russian warships off of our coast, and if he is not able to stand fit as president — I don’t think that he’s going to be the nominee this November. I think that’s why Democrats are trying to protect him and the DOJ,” Luna said.
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