
The House , on Tuesday voted mostly along party lines to keep Attorney General , Merrick Garland , in hatred of , Congress , for refusing to turn over the sound of conversations between President , Joe Biden , and a unique attorney, as , Republicans , have significantly agitated against the , Justice Department.
After Garland declined to move over the music recording of an interview between Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was looking into the president’s mishandling of classified documents from when he served as vice president between 2008 and 2016, Garland declined to provide the transcript.
All of the , Republicans , from , Kansas , and , Missouri , voted to maintain Garland in contempt, while the three , Democrats , voted against the estimate. Just one Republican crossed group lines to oppose the measure, Rep.  , Dave Joyce , of , Ohio.
” I think we have a duty to voting for him to remain in contempt because he’s immediately violating the analysis of Congress”, said Rep.  , Eric Burlison, a , Springfield- place Republican. They are denying us exposure to the information because we are fully the subject of an impeachment investigation.
Garland is not the first lawyer standard to be held in contempt — both Attorneys General , Eric Holder , and , William Barr , were held in contempt in 2012 and 2019 both. The , Justice Department , did not pursue claims in either case.
The House , is conducting an impeachment examination investigating whether Biden poorly benefited from his mother’s business dealings.  , Republicans , have been unable to reveal enough evidence of a strong relationship for the House to voting to impeach.
The investigation began with Biden’s handling of classified records, not his position in his son Hunter’s global business dealings, which were the subject of the tapes in question.
The , Justice Department , turned over the text of the meeting to , Congress , after Hur announced he would never send charges against Biden, saying the evidence did not indicate grief beyond a reasonable question. It even reignited , the democratic debate , about the 81- yr- old Biden’s time in the process.
But , Republicans , have been , extremely critical , of the , Justice Department , over the past four years, specifically special lawyers Jack Smith’s decision to , take charges , against previous President , Donald Trump , over his handling of classified documents and his part in attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Rep.  , Emanuel Cleaver, a , Kansas City  , Democrat, said he believed the House vote on whether to hold Garland in contempt is “political retribution”, adding that there are Republican lawmakers who have refused to participate in investigations.
” It’s sick and sad and maybe being done for the pleasure of only one person”, Cleaver said.
Garland, in an , op- ed published Tuesday, pushed back on Republican criticism of his Department, tying the rhetoric to increased threats of violence. He said the department would not be intimidated.
According to Garland,” The Justice Department makes decisions about criminal investigations based solely on the facts and the law.” ” We do not investigate people because of their last name, their political affiliation, the size of their bank account, where they come from or what they look like. Nothing more, nothing less, is investigated and prosecuted for violations of federal law.
Still,  , Republicans , like Burlison insist they have lost faith in the justice system. Burlison said he hopes if Trump wins the November election, he will” clean house” at the , Justice Department.
” I think that the justice system has n’t earned my respect and has n’t earned the respect of the American people”, Burlison said.
How they voted
Here’s how the members voted on whether to hold Attorney General , Merrick Garland , in contempt of , Congress. A yes vote indicates that the judge favored a contempt sentence for Garland.
Kansas
Rep.  , Sharice Davids , ( D)— No
Rep.  , Ron Estes , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Jake LaTurner , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Tracey Mann , ( R )— Yes
Missouri
Rep.  , Mark Alford , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Eric Burlison , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Cori Bush , ( D)— No
Rep.  , Emanuel Cleaver , ( D)— No
Rep.  , Sam Graves , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Blaine Luetkemeyer , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Jason Smith , ( R )— Yes
Rep.  , Ann Wagner , ( R )— Yes
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