Republicans advance contempt charges against Biden’s ghostwriter for refusing to turn over records
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Thursday passed a resolution that would extend Joe Biden’s presidential term. GhostWriter in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to the special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to recommend contempt of court charges against Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on his two memoirs and was exposed through him to material considered confidential. The committee’s action clears the way for a possible vote in the House to cite Zwonitzer for criminal contempt of court.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, issued Zwonitzer a subpoena in March after he refused to voluntarily hand over documents including audio, video and transcripts of his interviews with Biden for the 2007 book “Promises to Keep” and ” Promise Me, Dad’ from 2017.
“Zwonitzer continues to withhold all documents and materials in his possession that respond to the Committee’s subpoena,” the resolution said. “The materials requested from Zwonitzer are critical to the Committee’s understanding of the manner and extent of President Biden’s mishandling and unlawful disclosure of classified materials, as well as Zwonitzer’s use, storage and disposal of classified materials on his computer.”
The contempt proceedings are Republicans’ latest legal salvo against Biden and his family. Earlier this month, Republicans voted to confirm Attorney General Merrick Garland contempt for his refusal to turn over audio of the special counsel’s interview with Biden. The White House had blocked the release of the audio weeks earlier by invoking executive privilege, saying that Republicans in Congress wanted the recordings only “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.
In a letter to Jordan on Tuesday, White House counsel Ed Siskel accused Republicans of failing to engage with officials to meet their request before publicly targeting Zwonitzer.
“The Committee’s actions are a clear example of the weaponization of the government for political purposes that you claim to condemn,” Siskel said in the letter obtained by The Associated Press. “Putting a private citizen in your political crosshairs and threatening him with criminal charges just because you refuse to engage with the executive branch is taboo.”
Republicans opened their investigation into Biden after special counsel Robert Hur’s February report said Biden was careless in his handling of confidential material found in his home and former office. Hur said Biden shared classified information with Zwonitzer while the two were working on Biden’s second book.
Hur’s report concluded that no criminal charges were filed were justified against Biden. Prosecutors have considered charging Zwonitzer with obstruction of justice, saying the ghostwriter destroyed recordings of interviews he conducted with Biden while they were working on his second memoir after learning of the document investigation.
But Hur said Zwonitzer provided “plausible, innocent reasons” for deleting the recordings and cooperated with investigators, meaning the evidence against him was likely “insufficient to secure a conviction.” Researchers were also able to recover most of the deleted recordings from Zwonitzer’s laptop.
But Republicans argue that further investigation into Zwonitzer’s access to classified materials is warranted to determine whether legislative reforms should be made to the storage, processing and disclosure of sensitive documents by members of the executive branch. Extending the investigation also keeps focus on parts of Hur’s report that were politically damaging to Biden as he seeks re-election against former President Donald Trump in November.
In addition to the scathingly critical assessment of Biden’s handling of sensitive government documents, Hur’s report provided unflattering descriptions of the president’s memory, prompting new questions about his competence and age This addressed deep-seated concerns among voters about Biden’s ambition for a second term.
“We need the audio recordings and the transcripts,” Jordan said during the hearing on Thursday. “They are, quite simply, the best evidence of the president’s mental state.”
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee called the contempt proceedings “an abuse of the committee’s oversight authority,” and the latest ploy by Republicans to defend Trump as he faces his own federal investigation for withholding classified documents from his club in Florida after he left the White House.
“We are here today because there is a presidential debate tonight and MAGA Republicans have decided that the best way they can help President Trump is to bully and intimidate a private citizen into obtaining information about his very sensitive and very personal conversations with President Biden,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the committee, said in his opening statement.
He added: “We are here today because, in short, Republicans are desperate.”
While both Biden and Trump have been investigated for their handling of classified material, there are stark differences.
After Biden’s team found the documents, he returned them. The president cooperated with the investigation by voluntarily appearing for an interview and consenting to searches.
Trump, on the other hand, is facing criminal charges related to classified materials, accusing him of enlisting the help of aides and lawyers to hide the documents from the government and attempting to potentially incriminating evidence destroyed.