House Republicans will vote to hold attorney general Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after he snubbed a subpoena for the audio recording of Joe Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. 

The Special Counsel found that Biden "willfully retained" classified secrets that he shared with a ghostwriter, but Hur declined to press charges.

The Republican chairs of the House Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committee, James Comer (KY) and Jim Jordan (OH) are drawing up contempt resolutions to be voted on Thursday.

Garland ignores subpoena

The Justice Department ignored an April deadline to provide recordings of Hur's interviews with Biden and his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.

"There must be consequences for refusing to comply with lawful congressional subpoenas and we will move to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress," Comer said in a statement to the Daily Mail.

Robert Hur was accused by Democrats of orchestrating a political hit job with his report's description of Biden as an "elderly man with a poor memory." Republicans cited the absence of charges as evidence of unfairness and partisan politics corrupting justice.

The contents of the transcript - which showed Biden's struggles with recalling key events in his own life - are damaging on their own.

The transcript showed that Biden struggled to recall when his son Beau died and that he was the first to mention the tragic event, although Biden, at an emergency press conference, angrily accused Hur of dredging it up.

"Was it 2015 he died?" Biden asked, according to the transcript.

"In 2009, am I still vice president?" Biden asked at one point.

Republicans prepare contempt vote

Republicans say the transcript lacks important context that can only be provided by the audio.

The Justice Department has dismissed the request as gratuitous and harmful to law enforcement.

"The Committees have already received the extraordinary accommodation of the transcripts," Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote in a letter.

"To go further by producing the audio files would compound the likelihood that future prosecutors will be unable to secure this level of cooperation. They might have a harder time obtaining consent to an interview at all."

House Oversight chairman James Comer told the Daily Mail that the recordings are "important to our investigation of President Biden’s willful retention of classified documents and his fitness to be President of the United States."