President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged on Monday, the day after Biden abandoned his reelection bid, that it had in its possession a recording of Biden’s interview with his biographer after denying for months that the recording existed.
The Justice Department told a federal judge on Monday that the recordings of Biden’s conversations with biographer Mark Zwonitzer were discovered months after they attracted national attention. report POLITICO.
Special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed to investigate Biden’s secret document archives, sought scrutiny of the hearings after making it clear in a March 2024 report that he would not prosecute Biden because he is a “well-intentioned, but elderly man with a frail memory.” Republicans have asked for transcripts of Biden’s conversations with Zwonitzer, as well as audio recordings of special counsel Hur’s questioning of Biden.
Biden’s Justice Department has resisted efforts to turn over the recordings, but Republicans have argued they could reveal more about Biden’s mental state than the transcripts.
Republican and Democratic concerns about Biden’s ability to win were heightened by his disastrous debate with Donald Trump on June 27. After three weeks of intense pressure from Democrats who worried about his ability to beat Trump in the post-debate campaign, Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday.
President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The Justice Department also denied at a June 18 congressional hearing that it had approved any records of the Złonitzer tapes.
according to POLITICO:
“There is no record that the special counsel has produced that can be verified as accurate,” Justice Department lawyer Cameron Silverberg told Friedrich during a June 18 hearing on a lawsuit brought by the conservative group Heritage Foundation.
but, [DOJ lawyer Cameron] Silverberg said: Court filings On Monday night, the Justice Department confirmed that “over the past few days” Heo’s office had recorded some of the conversations Biden had with Zwonitzer while they were working together on his memoir, which was published in 2007 and 2017. Prosecutors determined that some of the conversations contained classified information but said they did not pursue charges anyway because Justice Department policy prohibits them from prosecuting a sitting president and because of inaccuracies in Biden’s recollection.
The timing, coming the day after Biden ended his campaign rally, angered Republicans and conservative groups who had long sought the documents.
“It’s astonishing how the Justice Department is able to leak so much information now that Biden is not running,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) wrote.
It will be surprising how much information the Justice Department can provide now that Biden is not running. https://t.co/ClTb0YjDqB
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 23, 2024
House Republicans in June held Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of court for refusing to comply with subpoenas for audio recordings and other documents.
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translation:.
