Weeks after President Joe Biden was interviewed by special counsel Robert Hur in a probe about the Democrat’s possession of classified documents, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has rejected a request from House Republicans to release audio tapes of the conversation.
The federal agency refused to present the GOP with unredacted audio recordings of Hur’s lengthy inquiry into the sitting president. In 2023, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur—who served as Maryland’s district attorney during the second half of the Trump administration—to investigate Biden for unauthorized actions surrounding classified documents.
🚨 DOJ refuses to turn over audio of Robert Hur interview with Biden to House GOP
Why are they hiding the audio of President Biden’s answers from the American people?https://t.co/i82z5pelXI
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 9, 2024
Certain materials were found at the president’s private residence in Wilmington, Delaware, that sparked the investigation. Hur is authorized to federally prosecute in his investigation.
The DOJ sent their rejection via a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, on Monday, April 8. In the letter, the agency said that it “has met [the] stated information needs” that meet “the Committees’ own measure” of satisfaction.
The DOJ previously shared “two classified documents” requested by the committees, transcripts of interviews with Biden and his memoir ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer and communication about Hur’s report, according to Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte.
He further stated that the House committees failed to demonstrate a need for the audio tapes. Uriarte said that he is also concerned that giving them the recordings could prevent other key witnesses from cooperating in future investigations.
The report provided to the committees included mention of Hur’s decision not to charge Biden, as the special counsel described him as an “elderly man with poor memory.”
According to the report, the commander-in-chief “couldn’t recall” details about which he was questioned nearly 150 times during the conversation. He reportedly forgot information once every two minutes.
The DOJ and Garland were subpoenaed in February 2024 by Comer and Jordan, who sent an additional letter on March 25 with the request to be given unredacted transcripts and audio files from the Biden and Hur interview. The agency and officials were threatened that if they failed to provide the requested materials, they would be subjected to contempt of Congress.
House Republicans are seeking the unedited versions of the documents to capture the full picture of Biden’s responses—including any filler words and the rate at which he spoke—that are not reflected in written transcripts.
