President Joe Biden has invoked executive privilege on Thursday to protect his interview with special counsel Robert Hur from being accessed by Congress through audio recordings. The House Oversight Committee set a markup on Thursday to initiate the procedure of citing Attorney General Merrick Garland for contempt of Congress due to his refusal to provide the recordings.
Despite receiving a last warning in April, Garland remained defiant and did not comply with a subpoena requesting the audio of Biden’s interview with the special counsel. Throughout the interview between the president and Hur, Biden, aged 81, encountered mental lapses and exhibited “poor memory” on at least seven occasions.
“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 declined to provide a statement regarding President Biden’s executive order on Thursday in response to inquiries from journalists.
“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.”
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Author: RJ_Patriot
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