House Republican lawmakers are demanding the Justice Department provide the full transcript of Joe Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur related to his investigation into the Democratic president's mishandling of classified documents.
Last week, Hur released his final report after months of investigation, recommending the DOJ not press charges against Biden even though it determined that the Democratic president purposely withheld and transmitted classified documents.
🚨BREAKING🚨
We are giving the Justice Department until February 19 at 5p to produce the transcript of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur and other documents included in the report that relate to our impeachment inquiry.
Americans deserve transparency… pic.twitter.com/JtVZ2LY3nz
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) February 12, 2024
According to Hur, Biden would be seen by a jury as a "well-intentioned old man with a bad memory" after his interview. For this reason, he recommended that charges not be filed.
Now, House Republicans, relying on their impeachment investigation against Biden, are demanding the full interview from the DOJ, with a deadline of February 19.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Republicans said they want "unrestricted access to these documents to determine whether President Biden's withholding of sensitive materials was used to aid the Bidens' influence peddling ."
The letter was signed by the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer ; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan ; and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith ; who are leading the impeachment investigation against the president.
In the letter, the lawmakers raised concerns about whether Biden withheld “confidential documents related to specific countries involving his family's overseas businesses.”
"In addition, we seek to understand whether the White House or President Biden's personal lawyers imposed some limitation or scope restriction during the interview that would have impeded a line of investigation regarding evidence (emails, text messages, or witness statements) directly linking the president to problematic foreign payments," the Republican leaders wrote.
Additionally, the representatives questioned special counsel Hur's recommendation not to file charges despite clear evidence that the president “withheld and voluntarily transmitted classified materials.”
“Although Mr. Hur reasoned that the presentation of President Biden 'as a nice, well-meaning, elderly man with a bad memory' who 'didn't remember when he was vice president' or 'when his son Beau died' posed challenges to proving the president's guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt, the report concluded that the Department's prosecutorial principles weighed against prosecution because the Department has not prosecuted 'a former president or vice president for mishandling his own administration's classified documents,'” they ruled.
