Special Counsel Robert Hur’s explosive interview with President Joe Biden over his alleged mishandling of classified documents sparked a firestorm of controversy. Now there’s yet more, as the Department of Justice (DOJ) refused to forward audio of the meeting to House Republicans.
The Biden agency on Monday sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) with its reasoning.
House Republicans last month threatened to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress if the audio was not produced.
🚨 DOJ refuses to turn over audio of Robert Hur interview with Biden to House GOP
Why are they hiding the audio of President Biden’s answers from the American people?https://t.co/i82z5pelXI
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 9, 2024
The staunch refusal begs the obvious question of what the Biden administration is afraid of.
After all, Hur’s explanation of his decision to not prosecute the Democratic president was dismissed out of hand by the administration. He summarized his observation by noting that Biden is a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Not a ringing endorsement for the politician who wants to lead the most powerful nation on Earth until he is 86. Democrats recoiled in horror at the accurate description of their incumbent president and insisted that Hur was mistaken or had ulterior motives.
Hur was called before the Judiciary Committee last month in the aftermath of his findings.
It was just before that hearing when the DOJ presented the committee with a transcript of the approximately five-hour interview of Biden. That did not meet Comer and Jordan’s requests, which included audio and video files of the meeting along with records and notes.
Biden is still subject to an impeachment inquiry made up of three panels, which include the Judiciary and Oversight committees as well as the House Ways and Means Committee.
Leading Republicans believe that the classified document scandal is a key element in the inquiry. They note the aggressive way Democrats sought to prosecute former President Donald Trump for a similar infraction.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces 40 criminal counts over alleged mishandling of classified materials.
GOP lawmakers face deciding whether to make their own criminal referrals over Biden’s hoarding of documents in his home and an old office. Conservatives readily noted the obvious two-tiered system of justice faced by the incumbent as opposed to his challenger.
