Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee (D-MD), accused House Republicans that they were pursuing a resolution against Attorney General Merrick G. Garland for contempt of Congress because of “political expediency.”

The House will vote on Wednesday about the contempt charges. This would refer Garland to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for criminal prosecution over allegations that he hindered Republicans’ investigation into impeachment by refusing to allow access to audio recordings of former special counsel Roberthur’s interview with President Joe Biden. The Department of Justice published the transcripts of the interviews. Raskin wrote in a memo of 18 pages to Democratic Committee members on Tuesday, that listening to these recordings would not alter the content of the interviews.

Raskin wrote: “Desperate for someone to blame — anyone –for the failure of this impeachment investigation, Republicans have concocted an allegation that Merrick Garland obstructed their impeachment enquiry by preventing Republicans from hearing President Biden’s interview with Special Attorney Hur by withholding audio recordings.” “Listening to the President rather than reading his words… will not reveal new evidence of an impeachable offense,” Raskin wrote.

Republicans in the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees who advanced the contempt resolutions last month against Garland insist that the audio is needed to determine Biden’s memory and whether Hur was “appropriately carrying out justice” when he investigated the President’s handling classified documents.

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Hur ruled out charging Biden in February, in part because of his belief that a jury might find him an “old man with a bad memory.”

Raskin’s memorandum echoes that of the White House, which argues the materials and documents subpoenaed in February by House Republicans, including audio tapes, were unnecessary, because “they already know everything the president said in the interview.”

Raskin called this idea “absolutely ridiculous.” Republicans, however, argue that the recordings may reveal “verbal nuance” in Biden’s answers which could help determine if he “abused his position of public trust to his family’s benefit.”

Raskin wrote that “Committee Republicans seem to be claiming that (1) the transcripts and the audio recordings both contain the same information such that, by producing either, the White House waives privilege for both.” “And (2) they are different, so that, despite having the transcript already, the audio recording contains ‘evidence that is important to the Committee inquiry’ that is somehow not captured by the transcription,” Raskin wrote.

The White House’s contempt campaign comes after it cited executive privilege to decide to block the release of audio of Hur’s interviews with Biden, at Garland’s request. It called the decision “a commitment to protect the integrity, effectiveness and independence of Department of Justice and its investigations”

The White House has been accused by Republicans of blocking the release of their documents because they could be politically damaging during an election year.

Then, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, told reporters that “the American people won’t be able hear why the prosecutors believed the president was an elderly man with a bad memory,” as Robert Hur, the special counsel, put it.

Raskin also accused Republicans of advancing the contempt resolution to distract attention from the impeachment investigation into the Biden Family, which has been stalled for months due to some centrist GOP legislators’ reluctance to impeach President Obama.

The ranking member said that they were looking to use Garland in the event of no articles being impeached.

Raskin wrote: “Republicans desperately want to suggest that there is still evidence against President Obama that has yet to be discovered and claim that they failed in their 17-month effort to impeach him because someone withheld this evidence.” “As a result, Republicans have created the accusation that Attorney-General Garland obstructed the impeachment investigation by withholding President Biden’s interview with Special counsel Hur.”

Tuesday is the day that the House Rules Committee will consider the contempt resolutions, almost a month after they were first brought to the House Floor. The full House could vote as early as Wednesday.