Rep. Greg Pence
WASHINGTON — Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., voted in favor of a failed effort to fine Attorney General Merrick Garland $10,000 a day until he turns over audio of President Joe Biden’s interview in his classified documents case.
Even if the resolution, titled inherent contempt, had passed, it was unclear how the fine would be enforced as the dispute over the tape of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur is now playing out in court, The Associated Press reported.
The House voted 204-210, with four Republicans joining all Democrats, to halt a Republican resolution that would have imposed the fine, effectively rebuffing the latest effort by GOP lawmakers to assert its enforcement powers — weeks after Biden asserted executive privilege to block the release of the recording, according to wire reports.
House Republican leaders were caught off guard by the failed vote, telling The Associated Press that they expected the effort to pass but that, regardless, they would continue using other tools to obtain the audio recording.
“We expected it to pass, but we’ve been very aggressive on enforcing the subpoena against Merrick Garland and seeking to hold him accountable,” Speaker Mike Johnson said after the vote. “We are using every tool in the arsenal to ensure that he follows the law and that we can complete our constitutional responsibility.”
A spokesperson for Garland said the attorney general was leading a cross-border crime forum and was unavailable for comment, according to wire reports.
The House earlier this year made Garland the third attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress. Pence voted in favor of holding Garland in contempt.
Democrats blasted the GOP effort as another political stunt. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said that the resolution is unjustified in the case of Garland because he has complied with subpoena, according to the AP.
“Their frustration is that they can’t get their hands on an audio recording that they think they could turn into an RNC attack ad,” McGovern said in reference to the Republican National Committee. “When you start making a mockery of things like inherent contempt you diminish this institution.”
Garland himself has defended the Justice Department, saying officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide information to the committees about Hur’s classified documents investigation, including a transcript of Biden’s interview. However, Garland has said releasing the audio could jeopardize future sensitive investigations because witnesses might be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews might become public.
Pence, for his part, has been inconsistent in his support for holding people in contempt for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas, voting in favor for holding a Democratic administration official in contempt, while voting against holding Republican administration officials in contempt.
In April 2022, Pence voted against holding former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt of Congress for their refusal to comply with subpoenas rendered by the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In December 2023, Pence voted against holding former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after he stopped cooperating with the Jan. 6 Committee.
In October 2023, Pence was the lone member of the House to not cast a vote on a resolution to hold Steve Bannon, a longtime ally and aid to Trump, in contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena from a committee investigating the insurrection.
However, Hannah Osantowski, a spokeswoman for Pence at the time, said at the time that the congressman “had a family medical emergency that he had to attend to, but he would have voted no.”
