President Biden Uses Executive Privilege to Block Release of Special Counsel Interview
Joe Biden has asserted executive privilege to block the release of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur.
May 16 2024, Published 6:15 p.m. ET
President Joe Biden has asserted executive privilege to block the release of audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur from the recent investigation into his handling of classified documents, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The move effectively shields Attorney General Merrick Garland. ABC News reports Republicans are moving forward with an effort to hold him in contempt of Congress for denying the House Judiciary and Oversight committees' subpoenas and refusing to turn over the tapes.
Republicans are moving forward with an effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the tapes.
"It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts the President’s claim of executive privilege cannot be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress," Justice Department official Carlos Felipe Uriarte wrote in a letter announcing Biden's decision.
"With the information you now have, the Committees ought not to proceed with contempt and should instead avoid unnecessary and unwarranted conflict," he continued.
The Justice Department has released transcripts but not audio of Biden’s interview with Hur.
The Justice Department released transcripts but not audio of Biden’s interview with Hur, who declined to bring any criminal charges against the president — in part because he could appeal to a jury as an "elderly man with a poor memory."
In a letter to Biden, Garland recommended he assert executive privilege, arguing that giving the recordings to Congress "would raise an unacceptable risk of undermining the Department’s ability to conduct similar high-profile criminal investigations — in particular, investigations where the voluntary cooperation of White House officials is exceedingly important."
Hur's report claimed the president presented himself as an "elderly man with a poor memory."
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In comments to the press on Thursday morning, Garland said the Justice Department had "gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one."
He argued that the request was just the "most recent" in a "series of unprecedented and frankly, unfounded attacks" on the Justice Department.
"The effort to threaten to defund our investigations and the way in which there are contributions to an atmosphere that puts our agents and our prosecutors at risk, these are wrong. Look, the only thing I can do is continue to do the right thing. I will protect this building and its people."
Insiders claim the president 'snaps at everyone for anything these days.'
White House Counsel Ed Siskel also wrote a letter to Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairs of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, explaining that Biden has a responsibility to protect the executive branch's law enforcement agencies from "undue partisan interference."
"The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them and use them for partisan political purposes," Siskel wrote.
"Clearly President Biden and his advisors fear releasing the audio recordings of his interview because it will again reaffirm to the American people that President Biden’s mental state is in decline," James Comer said.
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Jordan argued the release of the recordings is "necessary" because the transcripts “alone are not sufficient evidence of the state of the president's memory."
"Clearly, President Biden and his advisors fear releasing the audio recordings of his interview because it will again reaffirm to the American people that President Biden’s mental state is in decline," Comer said in a statement obtained by ABC News.
House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed Biden is "using his authority to defend himself politically," adding, "President Biden is apparently afraid for the citizens of this country and everyone to hear those tapes. They obviously confirm what the Special Counsel has found, and would likely cause I suppose, in his estimation, such alarm with the American people that the President is using all of his power to suppress their release."
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