(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department is scrambling to fight multiple parties seeking to obtain the audio recording of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden.
Hur’s interview underpinned the special counsel’s infamous February report, in which he explained that he declined to prosecute the sitting President due to his failing cognitive abilities. “Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023,” Hur said in his report.
Following Hur’s report, Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the audio of Hur’s interview with Biden last month, along with the written transcript.
Transparency organization Judicial Watch and multiple media organizations have also sued the DOJ for the audio.
However, the DOJ is working to keep the footage secret.
In response to the GOP subpoena, the DOJ wrote an 11-page letter last week explaining its decision to keep it sequestered.
“We are not ‘withholding records for partisan purposes,’ as the Committees suggest in your April 15 letter. Rather, we are taking our standard approach,” the DOJ said in response.
“The Committees’ inability to identify a need for these audio files grounded in legislative or impeachment purposes raises concerns about what other purposes they might serve.”
The DOJ is also dragging its feet in response to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit. Prosecutors filed a request for at least one more month (May 27 or later) to state its position on whether it is going to release any recordings.
Judicial Watch said last week that it opposes any further delays.
“The Biden Justice Department is trying to help Joe Biden politically by hiding the recordings of his special counsel interviews,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The recordings of the Biden interview are essential to the public interest in obtaining information about any presidential misconduct, crimes, and cognitive challenges.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
