Biden uses executive privilege to block release of interview recordings with special counsel
Biden holds a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combatant Commanders in the Cabinet Room.
US President Joe Biden asserted executive privilege and blocked the audio tapes of his interview with special counsel RobertHur,over his mishandling of classifiedfiles,from releasing.
In February, special counsel Robert Hurhad questioned the age and memory of the US president.
The Republicanfederal prosecutorhad refused to recommend charges against PresidentBiden in the case of handling of classified documents.
The decision was notified to Republicans JamesComer and Jim Jordanin a letter by White House counsel Ed Siskel on Thursday (May 16).
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The decisionwas takenafterthe USpresident was recommendedto assert executive privilege by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who assertsthePresident’sclaim of executive privilege cannot be prosecutedfor criminal contempt of Congress,"wrote Justice Department official Carlos Felipe Uriartein aletterto the two Republicans.
In this report, Hur wrote that one reason for not bringing a case against Biden is that the president can portray himself as an"elderly man with a poor memory"and be sympathetic to a jury.
Garlandlikely to be held in contempt of Congress
Republicans have demanded the release of the recordings ofHur'sinterviews with the president, an actionwhich waspushed back by US Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland will most probably be held in contempt of Congress over the step.
In another letter to Biden, Garland wrote that the audio recordings of the interview"fall within the scope of executiveprivilege."
Giving therecordingsto Congress"would raise an unacceptable risk of undermining theDepartment’sability to conduct similar high-profile criminal investigations — in particular, investigations where the voluntary co-operation of White House officials is exceedingly important,” he said.
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Garland further said to the Democratic president that the“committee’sneeds areplainlyinsufficient 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.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte appealed to the lawmakers not to go ahead with the contempt effort to avoid“unnecessary and unwarranted conflict.”
“It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts thepresident’sclaim of executive privilege cannot be held in contempt of Congress,”wrote Uriarte.
(With inputs from agencies)