White House refuses GOP request for Biden’s interview recordings.
In a recent development, President Joe Biden has blocked Republicans’ request to access audio recordings of his interviews with former special counsel Robert Hur. White House counsel Edward Siskel sent a letter to the Republicans leading an impeachment inquiry against Biden, stating that the president has asserted executive privilege over the recordings. Siskel argued that Republicans already have a full transcript of the interviews and that there is no legitimate need for the audio recordings.
Siskel accused Republicans of likely intending to manipulate the audio recordings for partisan political purposes. Hur chose not to prosecute Biden for retaining classified documents from his time as vice president, partly due to Biden appearing forgetful during the interviews. Hur’s final report suggested that Biden would come off as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory to a jury.
Republicans have been pursuing unrelated corruption allegations against Biden in a formal impeachment inquiry since last year but have failed to produce credible evidence of wrongdoing by the president. Instead of pursuing impeachment articles, they have shifted their focus towards contempt proceedings against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to hand over the audio recordings from the interviews.
The transcript of the interviews revealed Biden’s struggles in recalling key events during and after his vice presidency, with aides frequently assisting him. Republicans believe that the audio recordings would help them in portraying the president as senile.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer criticized the White House for not releasing the audio recordings, stating, “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.”
The Justice Department has previously provided Republicans with the transcript of the interviews and dismissed the contempt proceedings against Garland as baseless. Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte highlighted the executive branch’s longstanding position that an official asserting the President’s claim of executive privilege cannot be prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress.
The House committees led by Comer and Jordan are moving forward with the contempt citation against Garland, with a full House vote expected next week. Republicans argue that since they already have the transcript, the White House should hand over the audio recordings to provide additional evidence of Biden’s demeanor.
Representative Dan Bishop commented on the significance of the administration asserting executive privilege over the tape, implying that it must contain crucial information. On the other hand, Rep. Jerry Nadler accused Republicans of avoiding the mounting evidence that former President Trump is mentally incompetent to hold office.
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