PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: May 14, 2024
Washington, D.C. – Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released their latest political stunt today – a report calling for United States Attorney General Merrick Garland to be held in contempt. James Comer’s House Oversight Committee and Jim Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee will hold markups on contempt resolutions on Thursday. They are proceeding with this stunt despite the Biden administration and the Department of Justice being exceedingly cooperative with their baseless investigation.
This is not their only stunt this week – House Speaker Mike Johnson attended Trump’s trial in New York City today and the MAGA House Administration Committee, which has spent nearly two years promoting the big lie and continuing to deny the outcome of the 2020 election, is holding a hearing about non-citizen voting in federal elections (which is already illegal in this country) so they can spread more conspiracy theories and election denialism.
In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director, Kyle Herrig, issued the following statement:
“This week, MAGA House Republicans are engaged in a three-ring circus of political stunts to shield Donald Trump from his crimes, harm President Biden politically, and distract from their abysmal failure to address the priorities of the American people. James Comer and his fellow MAGA House Republicans have spent over a year investigating President Biden and have found no evidence of wrongdoing so they are grasping at straws. It’s breathtaking the lengths to which Mike Johnson and House will go to shield Trump from his own criminality and to serve as an arm of his political operation.”
The Facts: The Biden Administration Has Had Historic Cooperation with MAGA GOP Oversight
After over a year of investigations, Jim Jordan and James Comer have found no evidence of wrongdoing by the President or Biden administration. Yet, their fishing expedition continues. Thursday’s contempt markups are just the latest example of Comer and Jordan weaponizing their committees to smear the President and his administration and help Trump.
The Biden Administration has gone to great lengths to comply with Congressional requests for information and documents, including providing:
- Department of Justice: DOJ has provided over 150 hours of testimony, more than 92,000 pages of documents, and other information in response to Judiciary Committee requests including:
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- Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report and public testimony and transcripts of the Special Counsel Office interviews of President Biden and Mark Zwonitzer
- Appearances at 13 hearings before both Committees by senior DOJ officials, including the Attorney General, the FBI Director, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and the heads of the Department’s Civil Rights and Antitrust Divisions, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
- 24 transcribed interviews by current DOJ officials before the Judiciary Committee, including making Special Counsel David Weiss available to address questions about ongoing investigations and prosecutions. Additional interviews with DOJ personnel have already been scheduled.
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- Federal Bureau of Investigation: The FBI provided the full House Oversight Committee with the FBI FD-1023 form, as well as multiple briefings to discuss it.
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- Nearly six hours of testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray on the 1023 form and other topics.
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- Department of Treasury: The Department of Treasury has provided more than 2,000 pages of suspicious activity reports (SARs)
- National Archives: The Archives has publicly released over 20,000 pages of emails related to Hunter Biden and the Biden family and turned over 75,000 more pages of records to the House GOP in accordance with the law and standard practice.
- Dozens of hours of interviews with at least 25 witnesses – 12 witnesses in 2024 alone, including the President’s own brother and son.
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- 14 Biden family members, family contacts, and business connections
- 6 federal investigators
- 3 U.S. attorneys
- 2 IRS “whistleblowers”
- DOJ, FBI, IRS, and National Archives have made 9 witnesses available to discuss ongoing investigations.
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More Facts: House Republicans Have Repeatedly Weaponized Congress Against Our Justice System To Defend Former President Trump From His Criminal Indictments, and Appease the MAGA Base, At All Costs
MAGA Republicans like James Comer and Jim Jordan have spent over a year attacking the law enforcement officials bringing charges against Donald Trump, threatening to haul them in front of Congress, holding politically motivated hearings targeting them for unrelated issues, and harassing them on right-wing media. It’s not their job to protect Donald Trump – but instead of addressing issues that matter to the American people, they are attacking those working to bring Donald Trump to justice.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has spent his time as Judiciary chairman railing against law enforcement, denying the violence and chaos of January 6th, and conducting an evidence-free impeachment investigation of President Joe Biden, all to help Donald Trump. In addition, he has used his chairmanship to interfere in every criminal case Trump is charged in including the Bragg case, Jack Smith’s federal prosecutions related to the January 6th insurrection, Trump’s theft of classified documents and subsequent obstruction, and the Georgia Fulton County prosecution for conspiring to illegally overturn the 2020 election results there.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has also spent his chairmanship weaponizing the government to help Donald Trump. Along with Jim Jordan he interfered with every one of Donald Trump’s criminal cases. He has repeatedly used his appearances on right-wing television to attack prosecutors and threaten retaliation.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz are once again trying to defund special counsel Jack Smith’s office. Smith is investigating Trump’s actions surrounding the January 6th insurrection and his theft of classified documents and subsequent obstruction.