President Biden invoked executive privilege to block House Republicans from obtaining audio recordings of his interviews with special counsel Robert Hur about his handling of confidential documents.
The move comes just hours before House Republicans meet to consider resolutions to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland liable for contempt of Congress for failing to turn over files that were subpoenaed by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.
“Because of the President’s long-standing commitment to protecting the integrity, effectiveness, and independence of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement investigations, he has decided to assert executive privilege over the recordings,” White House lawyer Ed Siskel wrote in a letter obtained by A hill.
Siskel also questioned the motives of Republicans seeking the recordings.
“The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings reveals their likely purpose – to cut, distort and use them for partisan political purposes,” Siskel wrote. “Requiring the executive branch of such sensitive and constitutionally protected law enforcement materials because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate.”
The transcript of Biden’s interview with Hur, which took place over two days last October, was also released to House Republicans ahead of the special counsel’s public testimony on Capitol Hill in March.
The content makes clear that the interview has little to do with the Republican Party’s supposed interest in obtaining the audio files, which they argue could offer clues to the impeachment investigation.
Although Hur’s 345-page report concluded that no charges should be brought against the president, his descriptions of Biden’s memory lapses and description of the president as an elderly, well-intentioned man set off a political firestorm.
Among other instances, Hur cited Biden’s 2017 conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, which the special counsel described as “painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and sometimes struggling to read and relay your own notes in your notebook.”
The White House strongly resisted Hur’s inclusion of these details, calling them gratuitous and highlighting Biden’s willingness to voluntarily sit down for an interview. But Hur emphasized that he needed to explain in his report how he came to the conclusion not to recommend charges.
Siskel noted in his letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) that Biden did not claim privilege over any part of the extensive report of Hur.
The transcript of Biden’s interview with Hur, which took place over two days last October, was also released ahead of the special counsel’s public testimony on Capitol Hill in March.
But Garland, in a letter to Biden dated Wednesday, warned that releasing the audio recordings risked harming future investigations by making witness cooperation less likely.
The attorney general also argued that with Biden’s claim of executive privilege, Republicans should stop their plans to hold him in contempt.
“It is a long-standing 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,” he wrote.
“With the information you now have, committees should not proceed with disregard and should instead avoid unnecessary and unwarranted conflict.”
Garden was probably never at risk, even if the committees proceeded in contempt, which must then be considered by the full House. The vote acts as a referral to the Department of Justice, which must determine whether to press charges.
The effort to bypass the Republican Party comes on a scattered morning for members of both panels.
Although the contempt hearings were initially scheduled to begin Thursday morning, the House Oversight Committee postponed its hearing until 8 p.m. so that some of its members could attend former President Trump’s secret trial in New York.
Updated at 9:32 am
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
