White House blocks Biden audio release amid Republican push for Garland contempt charge

The White House on Thursday (May 16) prevented the release of audio of President Joe Biden’s interview to a special counsel regarding his handling of classified documents. They argued that Congressional Republicans sought the recordings primarily to manipulate and exploit them for political gain.

The House Judiciary Committee voted to continue to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not turning over the records.

“The department has a legal responsibility to turn over the requested materials pursuant to the subpoena,” Rep. Jim Jordan, the GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said during the hearing.

“Attorney General Garland’s willful refusal to comply with our subpoena constitutes contempt of Congress,” he added.

The series of events on Thursday escalated tensions between House Republicans and the Justice Department, making the way for another round of intense conflict between the two branches of government that is likely to end up in court.

If House Republicans’ efforts against Garland are successful, he will become the third attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress.

The White House condemned Republicans in a letter, dismissing their efforts to obtain the audio as purely political.

White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote a letter to House Republicans saying, “The absence of a lawful need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes."

“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,” Siskel added.

In a letter made public on Thursday, Garland informed Biden that the audio is covered by executive privilege. It safeguards a president’s ability to receive candid advice from advisers without the risk of immediate public disclosure and protects confidential communications related to official duties.

The attorney general told reporters that the Justice Department has gone to extraordinary lengths to provide information to the committees about special counsel Robert Hur's investigation, including a transcript of Biden's interview with Hur.

But, Garland said, releasing the audio could risk future sensitive and high-profile investigations. Officials have suggested handing over the tape could make future witnesses concerned about cooperating with investigators.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson criticised the White House’s move, accusing Biden of suppressing the tape because he's afraid to have voters hear it during an election year.

“The Americans will not be able to hear why prosecutors felt the US President was, in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s own words, an ‘elderly man with a poor memory,’ and thus shouldn’t be charged,” Johnson saidduring a press conference on the House steps.

Hur, a former senior official in the Trump administration Justice Department, was appointed as a special counsel in January 2023 following the discovery of classified documents in multiple locations tied to Biden.

Hur’s report said many of the documents recovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in parts of Biden’s Delaware home, and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by mistake.

(With inputs from agencies)