GOP-led House votes to pass resolution holding Garland in contempt of Congress

The GOP-led House voted to pass a resolution holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Wednesday. 

The vote to advance the measure earlier in the day was 208-207.

The final vote was 216–207 to pass the resolution. 

The contempt resolution is focused on Garland's refusal to turn over an audio recording of President Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents. 

Biden has invoked executive privilege to prevent the recording from being released. 

Democrats argued on the House floor that the transcript of the interview in the special counsel's report is sufficient and a public release of the recording isn't needed.

Republicans argued that the recording should be released for the sake of transparency. 

GOP lawmakers who support the release of the recording have said portions of Hur's report raised concerns, particularly the part about Biden's memory.

"We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote.

"Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness," he added.