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 risk being held in contempt of Congress.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, threatened to hold Garland in contempt of Congress over the Justice Department’s failure to produce the records. Last month, they set Monday, April 8, as the deadline for Garland to comply.
“The Department continues to declassify 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 recording 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.”
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US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a meeting with US Attorney Damian Williams, not pictured, as well as federal, state and local law enforcement leaders, in New York City on Nov. 27, 2023. (EDUARDO MUNOZ/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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Comer and Jordan said they expect Garland to “release all responsive materials no later than 12:00 pm on April 8, 2024.”
“If you fail to do so, the Committees will consider taking further action, such as invoking contempt of Congress proceedings,” they wrote.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., left, and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. (Getty Images)
Comer and Jordan subpoenaed the Justice Department for a transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden and audio recordings.
Just hours before Hur was scheduled to testify publicly earlier this month, the DOJ produced to the committees two redacted transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden.
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However, the Justice Department did not produce the audio recordings of the interviews. Comer and Jordan said the committees “particularly prioritized” the production of those audio recordings.
Meanwhile, Comer and Jordan subpoenaed Mark Zwonitzer last month. The subpoena compels Zwonitzer to turn over all documents and communications with Biden or his staff related to his ghostwriting work on Biden’s memoirs “Promise Me, Dad” and “Promises to Keep,” including emails, call logs and more.
The subpoena also compels Zwonitzer to turn over all contracts and agreements related to his employment, along with audio recordings of interviews and conversations with Biden and transcripts of those conversations and interviews.
Special counsel Robert Hur, left, testifies to Congress about his investigation into President Biden’s classified documents scandal. (Getty Images)
The president claimed he did not share classified information with Zwonitzer, but Hur’s report, released last month, stated that Biden “would read from his notebooks almost verbatim, sometimes for an hour or more at an opportunity,” and “at least three times President Biden read classified notes from national security meetings” to Zwonitzer “almost verbatim.”
Hur testified earlier this month that Zwonitzer “slid” audio recording files and transcripts of conversations with Biden “into his recycle bin on his computer” after learning that a special counsel was appointed to investigate the matter.
Jordan, during Hur’s public hearing earlier this month, questioned whether the ghostwriter had tried to “destroy evidence.”
“Right,” Hur testified.
Hur, who? released his report publicly in February after months of investigation, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and maintaining classified documents — and said he would not file charges against Biden even without him in the Oval Office.
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Those records include classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said involve “sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”
Hur, in his report, described Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning old man with a poor memory” — a description that raised significant concerns for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the DOJ for comment.
