Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is preparing to force a House vote to fine Attorney General Merrick Garland $10,000 a day for not complying with a congressional subpoena to turn over audio tapes on President Biden’s handling of classified documents.
The move to invoke the rarely-used inherent contempt power could impose a fine for every day Garland does not hand over tapes of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, instead of taking him into custody.
“What I will say is that for a lot of people, this is something that’s definitely going to hurt. I don’t think that Garland wants to take one for the team, if you will, in regards to continuing to fight, even though he knows that Biden is not cognitively there, so I think that it’ll serve two purposes.
ANNA PAULINA LUNA CALLS FOR $10,000 PER DAY FINE ON GARLAND FOR BIDEN-HUR AUDIO TAPE
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wants to force a vote on a resolution to hold Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress. (Getty Images)
“One, obviously, there shouldn’t be a double standard of justice in this country. We have people in jail for doing what he did, but also two, I do believe that it will force him to produce either the tapes or to step down,” the Florida congresswoman told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
Luna said she plans to bring the issue to a vote on Wednesday and, with Speaker Mike Johnson’s support, she expects it to pass.
Bartiromo, following up on Luna’s remarks, asked what the tapes contain that could prove to be crucial information for Republicans.
Luna replied, “I think that it’s very possible that Biden either forgot who he was or is so bad in the interview that he would have reason for his own Cabinet to basically invoke the 25th Amendment.
DOJ WON’T PROSECUTE AG GARLAND FOR CONTEMPT FOR REFUSAL TO TURN OVER AUDIO FROM BIDEN, HUR INTERVIEW
Speaker Mike Johnson led GOP leaders in a statement opposing the border deal (Getty Images)
“What’s scary is that there have been people like Garland who have been willing to break the law in trying to protect him [Biden]. So what I would say is for the American people, even Democrats that are concerned about Biden being the nominee, what is on these tapes that they would go to such great lengths to essentially basically protect him?” she continued.
“It is our job, a constitutional obligation that we have to ensure that the American people are being protected. We need to hear the tapes. They’re interfering with a congressional investigation.”
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Luna is expected to declare the measure “privileged” when the House is back in session on Monday. Doing so would force the House to take it up within two legislative days.
House Republicans voted last month to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for his refusal to turn over audio tapes of Hur’s interview with Biden on his handling of classified documents. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has refused to prosecute, citing Biden’s decision to call executive privilege over the tapes.
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Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
