President Joe Biden has decided to assert executive privilege in order to prevent the release of an audio recording of his interview with then-Special Counsel Robert Hur. This move comes as House Republicans are considering holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to provide them with the recording. According to The Associated Press, Garland informed Biden in a letter that the audio is protected under executive privilege.
Garland told the Democratic president that the “committee’s needs are plainly insufficient to outweigh the deleterious effects that the production of the recordings would have on the integrity and effectiveness of similar law enforcement investigations in the future.”
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte deemed the possible choice to cite Garland for contempt as “unnecessary and unwarranted conflict.”
“It is the longstanding 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 held in contempt of Congress,” he said in a letter to lawmakers.
White House Counsel Ed Siske contended that Republicans lack a valid justification for requesting the audio of the interview, asserting that their true intention is to manipulate and exploit the recordings for partisan gain. The AP explains the move “is a tacit admission that there are moments from the interview it fears portray Biden in a negative light in an election year — and that could be exacerbated by the release, or selective release, of the audio.”
In the report that outlines Hur’s inquiry into Biden’s management of classified documents, the special counsel opted not to press charges against the president. However, the report does present a number of astonishing assertions regarding the president’s recollection, such as his failure to recall significant events like the passing of his son Beau, even within several years.
Biden responded by saying , “There is even reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that?” He added, “Frankly, when I was asked the question I thought to myself, it wasn’t any of their damn business.”
Nevertheless, the interview transcript reveals that it was Biden who mentioned the passing of his son. CBS News notes throughout the interview, “[Biden] also misstates the year former President Donald Trump was elected and questions which year his own vice presidency ended. Mr. Biden is quickly corrected by attorneys in the room. Throughout the interview, Mr. Biden appears to be reaching for words he cannot find. Twice, the phrase ‘fax machine’ eludes him, and he confuses Iraq and Afghanistan for Iran.”
