Joe Biden looks out the window of the Oval Office to the Rose Garden of the White House Monday, July 26, 2021. (Official White House photo by Adam Schultz)
Just as Congress was preparing a contempt citation for Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, for refusing to comply with a subpoena for the audio tapes of special counsel Robert Hur’s grilling of the president, the White House is insisting they are protected by executive privilege.
That, of course, is the same authority that Democrats have set aside in their multiple cases that they have developed against President Donald Trump during their lawfare campaign against him, trying to prevent his success in his 2024 bid for the Oval Office.
Biden’s attempt to use the precedent was outlined in a report in the Washington Examiner.
The Hur interviews with Biden have proven catastrophic for Democrats, as he found that Biden probably broke federal law in taking and keeping classified documents as a senator and then vice president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he not have authority to do that, he then stored them in unsecure locations like a garage at his home, and even shared them with a ghostwriter.
Hur, however, recommended against prosecution for Biden because of his “diminished” capacity, and how he likely would be seen by a jury as an old man with significant memory problems.
The report said now Biden “undercut” House Republican efforts to pursue a contempt charge against Garland over his refusal to release the tapes, which members of Congress say can provide a lot more information than just a transcript of the statements.
The report said it was the White House that told the House Oversight and Judiciary Committee Chairmen James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, of Biden’s claim.
White House counsel Edward Siskel claimed in a letter obtained by the Examiner, “Because of the president’s longstanding commitment to protecting the integrity, effectiveness, and independence of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement investigations, he has decided to assert executive privilege over the recordings.”
Siskel pointed out Biden did not try to censor Hur’s actual report, although it is known that the White House did try to get the special counsel to edit it so that it would not reference Biden’s declining mental status.
Hur said that needed to be included because it was part of his reasoning for recommending against charges.
Siskel continued, “As you know, the attorney general has warned that the disclosure of materials like these audio recordings risks harming future law enforcement investigations by making it less likely that witnesses in high-profile investigations will voluntarily cooperate. In fact, even a past president and attorney general from your own party recognized the need to protect this type of law enforcement material from disclosure.”
Siskel claimed there was an “absence of a legitimate need” for the recordings.
Siskel also claimed members of Congress were going after prosecutors they dislike and witnesses in cases of which they disapprove.
In fact, it is Democrat prosecutors and the Department of Justice under Joe Biden who have weaponized the federal justice system to bring multiple questionable cases against President Donald Trump just as he is in a campaign for re-election to the Oval Office.
Some of the cases have been identified by experts as a reach, and in one situation those experts have said there’s simply no case there. But Democrats still insist on the prosecutions going forward.
Siskel even, stunningly, demanded that that the norm is for “these law enforcement processes” to be played out “free from such political interference.”
The report said Garland and told Biden to launch the executive privilege claim.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Biden now “is apparently afraid for the citizens of this country and everyone to hear those tapes.”
“They obviously confirm what the special counsel has found, and would likely cause I suppose, in his estimation, such alarm with the American people that the president is using all of his power to suppress their release and rather than defend our closest ally at war, President Biden is using his authority to defend himself politically.”
It was reported only days ago that House members were moving forward on plans to cite Garland with contempt, a charge that on conviction could have put him behind prison bars.
Congress needs the actual tapes to assess Biden’s behavior as part of its investigation into a possible impeachment case.
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