DOJ refuses to hand over audio of Biden interview citing fear GOP plans to exploit it
The Justice Department has turned down the House Republicans' demand for the audio of special counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Joe Biden.
While Hur answered questions before the House Judiciary Committee in March, his report sent conservative lawmakers into a celebration when the special counsel claimed Biden would never be convicted because he comes across as a grandfatherly old man who doesn't remember anything.
But, according to the letter the Justice Department sent to the House Republicans Monday, officials believe the committee wants the recording for "political purposes" rather than "legitimate oversight."
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"The Committees’ interests may not be in receiving information in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions, but to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files," it says, according to CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane.
The oversight committee that wants the recording is under the leadership of Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who has promised he would find something untoward that the Biden family did so the GOP House could impeach the president.
National security expert Marcy Wheeler expects Comer along with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to sue for the recording, but it will likely be held up in court "for maybe several years."
ABC News' Alex Mallin said the Justice Department's other arguments include the claim that handing over the recording "could chill witnesses from providing such cooperation in [the] future."
The DOJ related it to how things unfolded at the end of the Mueller investigation under Attorney General Bill Barr's leadership.
"For example, after the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference, the Department produced only summaries of only certain witness interviews, many in redacted form, and many only for review in camera," the letter says.
"Moreover, at the conclusion of the 2008 investigation by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into the disclosure of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame Wilson, the Department declined to produce to Congress summaries of the President's and the Vice President's interviews with the Special Counsel's Office, citing concerns for potential chilling effects such disclosure would create for future administration officials to submit to voluntary interviews in future law enforcement investigations."