Washington – House Republicans filed a lawsuit Monday against Attorney General Merrick Garland as they seek audio recordings of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur as part of their impeachment inquiry.
The House Judiciary Committee’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington is the latest escalation in the fight over audiotapes of Hur’s interview with the president and his book’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. Hur interviewed both men while investigating Mr. Biden’s handling of classified documents.
The committee says it needs the audiotapes “because they provide unique and invaluable insights into information that cannot be captured in a transcript, such as voice tone, tempo, intonations, verbal nuances and other idiosyncrasies,” the lawsuit says. Lawmakers asked the court to order the Justice Department to turn over the material.
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Hur declined to bring criminal charges against Mr. Biden for his handling of classified materials he kept after serving as vice president, saying the evidence did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Biden broke the law. The special counsel made a series of comments about the president’s memory that infuriated the White House and provided political ammunition to Republicans.
“Audio recordings are stronger evidence than transcripts of what occurred during the Special Counsel’s interviews with President Biden and Mr. Zwonitzer,” the lawsuit says. “For example, they provide verbal and nonverbal context that is absent from a cold transcript. That verbal and nonverbal context is quite important here because the Special Counsel relied on the way President Biden presented himself during their interview — ‘as a likable, well — meaning, older man with a bad memory’ — in ultimately recommending that President Biden not be prosecuted for unlawful retention and disclosure of classified information.”
The Republican-led House voted last month to hold Garland in contempt of Congress after the White House asserted executive privilege and blocked him from releasing the recordings to lawmakers.
But the Ministry of Justice turned down to take up the contempt charge, citing its longstanding policy of not prosecuting officials for refusing to turn over subpoenaed information while invoking executive privilege.
The lawsuit argued that there is “no legal basis” for Garland’s refusal to turn over the audiotapes.
“Garland has violated and continues to violate his legal obligation by refusing to provide the Committee with the audio recordings of the Special Counsel’s interviews with President Biden and Mark Zwonitzer, when those recordings are not subject to executive privilege, and even if that were the case. Executive privilege has been waived,” the lawsuit said.
Republicans have argued that the president waived his privilege when the Justice Department released transcripts of the interviews.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are also considering other options to obtain the tapes, including detaining Garland in “inherent contempt‘, an instrument rarely used in modern times. An inherent contempt vote, pushed by MP Anna Paulina Luna, could lead to the attorney general being taken into custody, but most observers consider that outcome highly unlikely.
