Garland’s deadline to produce recordings of Biden interview in Hur case looms, risking contempt of Congress

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Monday is the deadline for Attorney General Merrick Garland to produce subpoenaed audio recordings of former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Biden to House Republicans or danger being held in contempt of Congress. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, have threatened to maintain Garland in contempt of Congress over the Justice Department’s failure to produce the data. Last month, they set Monday, April 8, because the deadline for Garland to comply. 

“The Department continues to withhold additional material responsive to the Committees’ subpoenas – specifically the audio recordings of Special Counsel Hur’s interviews with President Biden and the transcript and audio recordings of Special Counsel Hur’s interviews with Mr. Zwonitzer,” Comer and Jordan wrote. “The February 27 subpoenas create a legal obligation on you to produce this material.” 

HUR TESTIFIES BIDEN ‘WILLFULLY RETAINED CLASSIFIED MATERIALS,’ BUT PROSECUTORS ‘HAD TO CONSIDER’ MENTAL STATE

Merrick Garland sitting

US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks throughout a gathering with US Attorney Damian Williams, not pictured, in addition to federal, state, and native legislation enforcement leaders, in New York City on November 27, 2023. (EDUARDO MUNOZ/POOL/AFP through Getty Images)

HUR TESTIFIES HE ‘DID IDENTIFY EVIDENCE’ THAT ‘PRIDE AND MONEY’ MOTIVATED BIDEN TO RETAIN CLASSIFIED RECORDS

Comer and Jordan stated they anticipate Garland “to produce all responsive materials no later than 12:00 p.m. on April 8, 2024.” 

“If you fail to do so, the Committees will consider taking further action, such as the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings,” they wrote. 

James Comer, Jim Jordan

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., left, and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, proper. (Getty Images)

Comer and Jordan subpoenaed the Justice Department for a transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden and audio recordings. 

Just hours earlier than Hur was scheduled to testify publicly earlier this month, the DOJ produced to the committees two redacted transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden. 

BIDEN GHOSTWRITER ESCAPES SPECIAL COUNSEL CHARGES DESPITE DELETING EVIDENCE

The Justice Department didn’t, nevertheless, produce the audio recordings of the interviews. Comer and Jordan stated the committees “specifically prioritized” the manufacturing of these audio recordings. 

Meanwhile, Comer and Jordan subpoenaed Mark Zwonitzer final month. The subpoena compels Zwonitzer to flip over all paperwork and communications with Biden or his workers associated to his ghostwriting work on Biden’s memoirs “Promise Me, Dad” and “Promises to Keep,” together with emails, name logs and extra. 

The subpoena additionally compels Zwonitzer to flip over all contracts and agreements associated to his work, together with audio recordings of interviews and conversations with Biden and transcripts of these conversations and interviews. 

Robert Hur, Joe Biden

Special Counsel Robert Hur testified to Congress about his investigation into President Joe Biden’s labeled paperwork scandal. (Getty Images)

The president has claimed that he didn’t share labeled info with Zwonitzer, however Hur’s report, launched final month, states that Biden would “read from his notebooks nearly verbatim, sometimes for an hour or more at a time,” and “at least three times President Biden read classified notes from national security meetings” to Zwonitzer “nearly verbatim.” 

Hur testified earlier this month that Zwonitzer “slid” recordsdata of audio recordings and transcripts of conversations with Biden “into his recycle bin on his computer” upon studying {that a} particular counsel had been appointed to examine the matter.

Jordan, throughout Hur’s public listening to earlier this month, requested whether or not the ghostwriter tried to “destroy the evidence.” 

“Correct,” Hur testified. 

Hur, who launched his report to the general public in February after months of investigating, didn’t suggest felony fees towards Biden for mishandling and retaining labeled paperwork — and acknowledged that he would not convey fees towards Biden even when he weren’t in the Oval Office. 

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Those data included labeled paperwork about navy and international coverage in Afghanistan and different international locations, amongst different data associated to nationwide safety and international coverage, which Hur stated implicated “sensitive intelligence sources and methods.” 

Hur, in his report, described Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” – an outline that has raised vital issues for Biden’s 2024 reelection marketing campaign.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for remark.

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