Johnson says House will take Garland subpoena to court after DOJ's response to contempt vote | 14 June 2024 | House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed disappointment Friday in the Justice Department's (DOJ) decision not to prosecute Attorney General Merrick Garland after the House voted to hold him in contempt for not fulfilling a subpoena, but said he plans to move forward by taking the subpoena to federal court and certifying the contempt reports. The DOJ said Garland's refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena does not "constitute a crime." The subpoena instructed Garland to turn over an audio recording of Joe Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents. The House voted to hold Garland in contempt on Wednesday. "The House disagrees with the assertions in the letter from the Department of Justice, and as Speaker, I will be certifying the contempt reports to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia," Johnson said in a post to X. "It is sadly predictable that the Biden Administration’s Justice Department will not prosecute Garland for defying congressional subpoenas even though the department aggressively prosecuted Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro for the same thing."