The Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to delay a request from House Republicans regarding the interview between Joe Biden and special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated the case of classified documents found in the president's private residences. The date to deliver the requested material was Feb. 19, but the Merrick Garland DOJ alleges that they are still "working to gather and process" the documents in question.
The request was made by Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer and Jason Smith, chairmen of the Judiciary Committee, the House Oversight Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, respectively. They clearly requested all documents and communications, including audio and video recordings, related to Hur's interview with Biden, as well as those from the interview conducted with the president's speechwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.
In a letter signed jointly by the three congressmen, which was accessed by Fox News, they clarified that the requested documents could be important for an eventual impeachment trial against the president. "The Committees are concerned that President Biden may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings," they wrote.
Americans deserve to see the transcript and other materials from Robert Hur’s investigation of President Biden.
We subpoenaed them today. pic.twitter.com/qKuGhSk4Gc
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 27, 2024
"Additionally, the Judiciary Committee requires these materials for its ongoing oversight of the Department’s commitment to impartial justice and its handling of the investigation and prosecution of President Biden’s presumptive opponent, President Donald J. Trump, in the November 2024 presidential election. The documents requested are directly relevant to both the impeachment inquiry and the Judiciary Committee’s legislative oversight of the Department," the letter continues.
Before the Feb. 19 deadline, the DOJ had anticipated that the requested documents required "review for classification and protection of national defense information," as well as that such review was necessary given that they could contain confidential information.
In turn, House Republicans are gathering information about "whether the White House or President Biden’s personal attorneys placed any limitations or scoping restrictions during the interviews with Special Counsel Hur or Mr. Mark Zwonitzer precluding or addressing any potential statements directly linking President Biden to troublesome foreign payments.”
I just issued a subpoena with @Jim_Jordan for Special Counsel Hur’s Joe Biden interview records, including transcripts, video, and audio files.
Americans deserve transparency. https://t.co/gxPY8iHjdk
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) February 27, 2024
Hur's report on Biden
After a little more than a year of interviews and investigation, the special counsel released his 379-page report in which he wrote that Biden "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen." However, he clarified that it was not enough to file charges.
The report also included detailed photographs of documents in the president's garage, which included "top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information" related to foreign policy in Afghanistan.
Hur dedicated one of the sections of the letter to the president's memory, which, he wrote, "appeared to have significant limitations." He came to this conclusion citing an interview and recorded conversations with Biden's speechwriter.
"(Biden) did not remember when he was vice president. He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him," the report states.
"We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," Hur added.
