The White House argued on Thursday that Republicans in Congress just wanted the audio” to chop them up” and use them for political reasons, and that the White House has blocked the transfer of music from President Joe Biden’s meeting with a special guidance regarding his handling of classified documents.
A Republican efforts to enlist Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress and, more widely, to impede the Democrat government’s reelection campaign in the last weeks of the fiercely contested battle is at the heart of the controversy over exposure to the audio.
In a withering letter to House Republicans sent forward of scheduled votes by two House committees to fervently refer Garland to the Justice Department for contempt charges stemming from the department’s refusal to hand over the audio, White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote in a blatant statement,” the absence of a genuine need for the stereo recordings lays out your possible goal- to chop them up, distort them, and use them for political political purposes.”
It is inappropriate to demand the Executive Branch release such sensitive and constitutionally protected law enforcement materials because you want to manipulate them for political gain, Siskel said.
In a separate letter released on Thursday, Garland informed Biden that the audio falls under the purview of executive privilege, which safeguards a president’s right to seek out independent counsel from his advisers without fear of public revelations, and safeguards confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.
Garland told reporters that” the Justice Department has been the target of numerous unprecedented and blatantly unfounded attacks.” This request, this attempt to use contempt as a way to obtain our sensitive law enforcement files is only the most recent.
Garland claimed in a letter to Biden that lawmakers ‘ efforts “are plain 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.”
The Justice Department also warned Congress that a” conduct that would result in unnecessary and unwarranted conflict” was issued, with Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte stating that “administratives of both parties have long held that an official who asserts the president’s claim of executive privilege cannot be held in contempt of Congress.”
Following the outcry from Biden’s aides and allies over special counsel Robert Hur’s remarks about Biden’s age and mental acuity, Siskel’s letter to lawmakers highlights concerns about how the release, or selective release, of the audio might make some potentially embarrassing moments from the lengthy interview worse.
The transcript of the Hur interview showed Biden having trouble recalling some dates and occasionally misinterpreting some details, which longtime supporters claim he has done for years in both public and private, but also showing deep recall in other areas. Biden and his associates are particularly sensitive to enquiring about his ages. At 81, he’s the oldest ever president, and he’s seeking another four- year term.
Following the discovery of classified documents in numerous locations relating to Biden, Hur, a former senior official in the Justice Department of the Trump administration, was appointed as a special counsel in January 2023.
According to Hur’s report, many of the documents found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in portions of Biden’s Delaware residence, and in his Senate documents at the University of Delaware were retained by “inaccuracy.”
But investigators did find evidence of willful retention and disclosure related a subset of records found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, house, including in a garage, an office and a basement den.
The documents relate to a troop increase during the Obama administration that Biden had vigorously opposed. During the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday, Biden kept records that captured his position, including a classified letter to Obama. In 2007 and 2017, he published memoirs with a ghostwriter who shared some of that information with him.
