George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley appeared Friday on Fox News and applauded the Republican Party’s push to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, slamming his “absurd” holding of President Joe Biden’s audio tapes.
Turley appeared on “Hannity” to discuss Congress’ recent resolution to hold Garland in contempt after failing to provide the lawmakers with Biden’s audio recording from his interview with special counsel Robert Hur. Fox guest host Kayleigh McEnany questioned the law professor on the situation with Garland, noting the lack of “surprise” from the American people. (RELATED: Jake Tapper Tells Dan Goldman There’s ‘No Basis’ For Biden DOJ To Withhold Hur Tapes)
“Well unfortunately they’re not surprised. This is a record of Merrick Garland, not just his department — he has a record now of running interference on potential cases or investigations that might embarrass the White House. This latest fight with Congress is particularly telling. The position of Merrick Garland and withholding these audiotapes is not just unsupportable, it’s comprehensible as a matter of constitutional law. It’s absurd,” Turley said.
“He’s going to go into a federal court and make an argument that I think most trial lawyers would blush in front of a judge. He’s arguing that we didn’t view the transcript as privileged but we do believe the audiotape of the same transcript to be privileged, as if this is the president who shall not be heard. No court has ever extended the privilege like that, they made it even more absurd by saying that they have a type of deep fake privilege.”
“That if we release the tape, AI will start to make fake audiotapes of the president’s voice. Well, here’s a flash for you Gordon, they already have the president’s voice and you’ve already given the transcript. A high school student could re-create a fake tape like that. If anything you make it more likely that would be accepted as true because you won’t release the actual audiotape,” Turley continued.
“So I commend Speaker Johnson in saying we’ll go to court. I represented the House of Representatives in prior litigation and it actually has a very good record, including in our case of prevailing in the federal courts to fight for Article 1 powers — and this is it. This is the hill that you need to fight on.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has since declined to press any further charges against Garland, however, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson stated Friday that he will be pushing the issue to the federal courts in order to obtain the tapes.
“I will be certifying the contempt reports to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia,” Johnson wrote in a post online. “We will also move to enforce the subpoena of Attorney General Garland in federal court.”
