GOP Rep. Luna to force vote requiring detention of AG Garland

Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Monday informed lawmakers that she would bring a resolution to require the House sergeant at arms to detain Attorney General Merrick Garland and bring him before the lower chamber.

The House this month held Garland in contempt of Congress in a 216-207 vote over his refusal to turn over the audio tapes of special counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Joe Biden. The Department of Justice has indicated it will not prosecute Garland.

Luna's resolution would hold Garland in "inherent contempt" over the matter, according to The Hill. The House has not done so in just under 100 years.

"Under inherent contempt, the individual is brought before the bar of the House by the Sergeant at Arms, tried by the body, and can then be detained either in the Capitol or in D.C.," Luna wrote. "This process demonstrates the seriousness with which Congress views non-compliance and the potential consequences for those who refuse to cooperate."

"The only option to ensure compliance with our subpoena is to use our constitutional authority of inherent contempt," she added. "In the next few days, I will call up my resolution holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in inherent contempt of Congress, and I look forward to each of you voting in favor of it."

Hur interviewed Biden as part of his investigation into the president's handling of classified materials. Garland has already turned over the transcript of the interview, though Republicans have demanded the audio recording itself. The attorney general refused to provide the tape after Biden claimed executive privilege over the recording.

Prior to the contempt vote, a memo from the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) highlighted that "no U.S. Attorney has pursued criminal contempt charges against an Executive Branch official asserting the President’s claim of executive privilege."