President Joe Biden asserted executive privilege on Thursday over his interview with special counsel Robert Hur to prevent Congress from obtaining his audio recordings.
The House Oversight Committee scheduled a markup on Thursday to begin the process of holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for his refusal to hand over the recording.
Garland defied a final warning in April to comply with a subpoena for the audio of Biden’s interview with the special counsel.
During the president’s interview with Hur, Biden, 81, experienced mental lapses and “poor memory” at least seven times, according to a transcript obtained by Breitbart News.
“I write to inform you that the President has asserted executive privilege over the requested audio recordings and is making a protective assertion of privilege over any remaining materials responsive to the subpoenas that have not already been produced,” Associate Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote to House Judiciary and Oversight Committee chairs Jim Jordan (R-OH) and James Comer (R-KY).
“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 prosecuted for criminal contempt of Congress,” the added.
Garland refused to comment on Biden’s executive action Thursday when reporters asked about it.
“The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes,” White House counsel Ed Siskel told House Republicans. “Demanding such sensitive and constitutionally-protected law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate.”
Conservative think tanks and CNN have filed FOIA requests to unlock the audio records.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.