McCarthy Floats Garland Impeachment Over 'Weaponization'; White House: Biden 'Respects the Rule of Law' (June 26, 2023)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., floated an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Merrick Garland over what he called the weaponization of the Justice Department. The Biden White House answered with a familiar line. “The President respects the Department of Justice’s independence,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “He respects the rule of law” [1].

The video above shows that exchange from the June 26, 2023, White House briefing. Quotes are from the official transcript published by The American Presidency Project.

”He Respects the Rule of Law”

A reporter put McCarthy’s idea to Jean-Pierre directly. “Over the weekend, Speaker McCarthy floated this idea of launching an impeachment inquiry targeting Attorney General Merrick Garland. And the focus here, according to the Speaker, would be Merrick Garland’s weaponization of the DOJ. What’s your reaction to that idea?” [1]

“So, as you’ve heard me say repeatedly, over and over again at this podium, is that the President respects the Department of Justice’s independence. He respects the rule of law. And that is what you’re going to see under this administration,” Jean-Pierre said. “So I’m not going to speak to any — any — anything that is related to that piece” [1].

Then she pivoted to the White House’s new economic slogan. “We talked about Bidenomics,” she said, before adding: “it’s unfortunate that congressional Republicans want to continue to focus on an issue that Americans are — that’s not their priority” [1].

The reporter followed up, noting that the House had the votes to impeach Garland but the Senate did not have the votes to convict. Was it a waste of time? “It’s just — this is not the main priority of American families,” Jean-Pierre said [1].

What Set Off McCarthy

The fight started with two IRS whistleblowers. In congressional testimony released Thursday, June 22, they alleged that the Justice Department had given the president’s son, Hunter Biden, preferential treatment, CNN reported. Among their claims: the IRS had recommended far more serious charges, and U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware was blocked from bringing charges in other states [2].

McCarthy went on Fox News that Monday, the day of the briefing. “If it comes true what the IRS whistleblower is saying, we’re going to start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general,” he said, adding that the agents “watched the abuse of power in how Hunter Biden was treated” [2].

Garland denied it at a Friday news conference. He said Weiss was “permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to.” “I don’t know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution, given that he has this authority,” Garland said [2].

Weiss, a Trump appointee, backed Garland up in a letter: “I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges” [2].

The Record: ‘Independence’ and the Rule of Law

Jean-Pierre’s answer rested on the claim that the president keeps his hands off the Justice Department. The record is mixed.

October 2021: Asked whether people who defy subpoenas from the House Jan. 6 committee should be prosecuted by the Justice Department, Biden answered, “I do, yes,” after saying, “I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally” [3]. The Justice Department fired back the same day. “The Department of Justice will make its own independent decisions in all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law. Period. Full stop,” spokesman Anthony Coley said [4].
December 2024: When Biden pardoned his son, he wrote that he had kept his word not to interfere “even as I have watched my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted,” and that “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice” [5]. That was the president’s own verdict on a case brought by his own Justice Department.

By the Numbers

7 weeks: the time between Garland’s June 23 defense of Weiss’s authority and his Aug. 11, 2023, decision to make Weiss a special counsel [2][6].
216-207: the June 12, 2024, House vote holding Garland in contempt of Congress [7].
214-213: the Feb. 13, 2024, vote that made Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas the first sitting Cabinet secretary ever impeached [8].
Nearly 150 years: the gap since the House last impeached a Cabinet official, Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned first [8].
0: prosecutions of Garland for contempt. The Justice Department said his conduct “did not constitute a crime” [9].

What Happened Next

A special counsel after all. On Aug. 11, 2023, Garland named Weiss a special counsel in the Hunter Biden case. Garland said Weiss had told him the investigation had reached a stage where it should continue that way, and that the appointment was “in the public interest” given the “extraordinary circumstances” [6].

No Garland impeachment. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., had filed articles to impeach Garland “for facilitating the weaponization and politicization of the United States justice system against the American people” on May 17, 2023 [10]. The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and never reached a floor vote [11]. The House did impeach a different Cabinet secretary, Mayorkas, in February 2024 [8].

Contempt instead. On June 12, 2024, the House voted 216-207 to hold Garland in contempt for refusing to hand over audio of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents case. Rep. David Joyce of Ohio was the only Republican to vote no [7]. Two days later, the Justice Department said it would not prosecute. Citing its “longstanding position and uniform practice” of not prosecuting officials who withhold information because of a president’s claim of executive privilege, it said Garland’s conduct “did not constitute a crime” [9].

The son’s case. Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges in June 2024 and pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges that September [12][13]. Then his father pardoned him, in the statement quoted above [5].

The ‘weaponization’ fight changes hands. On Feb. 5, 2025, her first day as attorney general, Pam Bondi moved to set up a “Weaponization Working Group” to review the activities of all law enforcement agencies over the past four years and identify instances of “politicized justice,” Fox News reported. Its first reviews were to include Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of Trump [14].

Jean-Pierre also told reporters for months that a pardon was off the table. That item and others are collected on our Karine Jean-Pierre record page.

”He Respects the Rule of Law”

What Set Off McCarthy

The Record: ‘Independence’ and the Rule of Law

By the Numbers

What Happened Next

Sources

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