House Panels Clear Contempt Resolutions Against AG Garland; IDF Finds Bodies of 3 Hostages in Gaza

The Israeli military said on May 17 that its troops in Gaza had found the bodies of three Israeli hostages taken by the Hamas terrorist organization during its Oct. 7 attack, including 22-year-old German-Israeli Shani Louk. The military identified the other two bodies as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter. All three were killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party held near the Gaza border on Oct. 6 and into Oct. 7, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press conference.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Thursday night despite President Joe Biden’s intervention to block them from obtaining his recorded interviews with special counsel Robert Hur. The measures would need to pass the full House before a referral is made to the Justice Department, but whether House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will bring the resolutions to the floor remains unclear.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has pardoned former U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting an armed Black Lives Matter protester who wielded an AK-47. Abbott issued a May 16 proclamation indicating that Perry has been granted a full pardon and the restoration of full civil rights of citizenship, while taking aim at Travis County District Attorney José Garza for allegedly directing the lead investigator to withhold exculpatory evidence and demonstrating “unethical and biased misuse” of his office in prosecuting Perry.