White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried to defend the White House’s decision to prevent the release of President Joe Biden’s recorded interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur who conducted a criminal investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
House leaders were informed on Thursday that Biden asserted executive privilege over the audio recordings from the investigation in which prosecutors decided to not press charges against the president partly due to cognitive issues.
Asked about the decision to stop the release of the tapes for political reasons, Jean-Pierre said, “Yeah. Well, one — for one, the transcript, as you all know, is already out there. I think the second piece of this, too, to note is that the attorney general made it clear that law enforcement files like these need to be protected. And so, the president made his determination at the request of the Attorney General. So, just want to make that second point that I made really clear.”
She went further, “The Department of Justice and the White House counsel’s office have provided extensive written letters, as you all know. I’m sure some of you have read this on this issue. And like I said, that you have seen and so — so, when it comes to anything further or any specifics, obviously, I would — I would — I would refer you to my colleagues at the White House counsel’s office. But those are the — just to make that — that second point again very clear, this was taken by determination — presidential determination at the request of the — of the attorney general and wanted to make sure the attorney general wanted to make sure that — that law enforcement files like these must be protected.”
Jean-Pierre was asked whether the administration blocked the tapes because they felt they could be “politically harmful.” However, she refused to give a clear response, saying, “I can’t — I don’t want to get into — dive into the specific point that you’re making about the politics. I would have to ser- — refer you to our Counsel’s Office on that. But there were determinations that the president took very seriously on behalf of the — obviously, at the request of the attorney general. And that’s how this decision was made.”
AP’s @SeungMinKim: “But does the White House feel that the recording — the audio could be politically harmful since that point was also raised in the letter?”
KJP: “So, I can’t — I don't want to get into — dive into the specific — uh — uh — point that you're making about the… pic.twitter.com/d0Xytoy13i
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 16, 2024
House leaders were told that Biden had blocked the release of the recordings as a pair of GOP-led committees prepared to charge Attorney General Merric Garland with contempt of Congress over a refusal to fully comply with subpoenas sent in February demanding tapes of Hur’s interview with Biden and his interview with Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.”
Per the New York Post, Biden blocked Congress from hearing his five hours of audio tapes and tapes of Zwonitzer reportedly confessing to investigators that he deleted incriminating recordings of Biden after he learned of Hur’s investigation.
