The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday handed over transcripts of an interview with President Biden’s ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, to whom the president gave classified documents, but declined to release audio of Biden’s interview with the former special prosecutor Robert Hur.
While the Justice Department provided transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden that led him to conclude that the president is “older” and “well-intentioned” but has a “bad memory,” Republicans are dissatisfied. They insist that they also need the audio of the interview.
They cited transcripts, notes, audio and video files largely related to Hur’s interview, giving Attorney General Merrick Garland until noon Monday and threatening him with contempt if he did not comply.
The Justice Department said in a new letter to Republican committee chairmen that the department had already been “extraordinarily” accommodating in turning over Biden’s transcript.
Republicans threatened Monday to charge Attorney General Merrick Garland with contempt of Congress if he does not turn over more materials in Robert Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s classified documents.
They said releasing audio could also make it difficult for prosecutors to obtain recorded interviews in the future, since witnesses know they could be released to the public.
‘The Committees have already received the extraordinary accommodation of the transcripts, which provides them with the information they say they need,’ reads the letter, written by Deputy Attorney General Carlos Uriarte.
‘Going further and presenting the audio files would increase the likelihood that future prosecutors will be unable to secure this level of cooperation. They may find it more difficult to obtain consent for an interview. It is clearly not in the public interest to make such cooperation with prosecutors and investigators less likely in the future.’
The letter said the Oversight and Judiciary committees have not identified any valid reasoning for needing audio of the interview in addition to the transcripts.
He said the Justice Department had “met or exceeded the committees’ information needs” indicated in the subpoenas.
“Our cooperative efforts demonstrate that we are, and continue to be, willing to do our part to show the American people that officials who serve them can work together productively in the public interest while avoiding unnecessary conflict,” he continued. Uriarte.
Oversight Chairman James Comer responded in a statement: “The Biden administration cannot determine what Congress needs and does not need to oversee the executive branch.”
‘It is curious that the Biden Administration refuses to release the audio of President Biden’s interview with the special counsel after releasing the transcript. Why shouldn’t the American people be able to hear the actual audio of your answers? “The American people demand transparency from their leaders, not obstruction.”
Hur said he discovered that Biden had “intentionally” withheld classified material, but stopped short of pressing charges, believing a jury would not convict the president.
‘However, the Committees have responded with escalation and threats of criminal contempt. The reaction of the Committees is difficult to explain in terms of lack of information or frustration of any informational or investigative imperative, given the actual conduct of the Department. Therefore, we are concerned that committees will be disappointed not because you did not receive information, but because you did. We urge the Committees to avoid conflict rather than seek it.’
Hur, who had interviewed Biden on October 8 and 9, 2023, resigned as special counsel and left the Justice Department shortly before testifying in Congress last month.
Hur said he discovered that Biden had “intentionally” withheld classified material, but stopped short of pressing charges, believing a jury would not convict the president.
He provoked opposition from all sides: Republicans who questioned why he wouldn’t impeach the president and Democrats who took issue with his description of Biden as a “sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a bad memory.”
He explained his decision to make the assessment at the hearing: ‘I knew it so that my position would be credible. He couldn’t just announce that there would be no charges, he needed to explain why. I needed to show my work.’
“We identified evidence that the president intentionally withheld classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen,” Hur said during a high-stakes hearing earlier this month.
In interviews with investigators, Biden was confused about the dates he was vice president and couldn’t even remember the year his son Beau died, according to the transcript reviewed by DailyMail.com.
The circled box in the foreground contained documents about Afghanistan. The photograph was taken in December 2022 in Biden’s garage, with other household items.
Special prosecutor Robert Hur spent a year investigating files found in President Joe Biden’s home and former office. He said Biden’s status as president meant he could not be prosecuted.
Biden forgot the year Beau died, when Trump was elected, and said ‘I don’t remember,’ ‘I don’t remember,’ and ‘I have no idea’ more than 100 times while cracking jokes and making car noises with investigators. .
And he said his cavalier attitude toward classified documents, such as his habit of reading confidential files to a ghostwriter, posed a significant risk to national security.
One of the reasons they decided not to press charges was because “at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview, as a sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a bad memory.” .’
Hur said during his testimony that he described Biden this way because of his “inability to remember certain things” and that his lawyers had to ask him to remember certain dates.
According to transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden on October 8 and 9, 2023, Biden’s lawyer had to tell him what year his son Beau died of brain cancer and the president joked that the special counsel found photographs of his wife Jill in swimsuit.
I just hope you haven’t found any racy photos of my wife in a swimsuit. Which you probably did. She’s beautiful,” Biden said.
—What month did Beau die? Biden reflected at one point and added, “Oh God, May 30.”
‘He couldn’t remember, even after several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory seemed hazy as he described the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him,” Hur said.
A White House lawyer then weighed in with the year 2015.
‘Was it 2015 when he died?’ -Biden asked.