Republicans on Monday threatened to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress if he does not turn over more material in the Robert Hur investigation into President Biden’s classified documents.
Oversight Chairman James Comer and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan alleged Garland had turned over an “inadequate production” of materials and warned they could move forward in contempt if he did not provide the rest of the documents by April 8.
Along with Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., they have subpoenaed transcripts, notes, audio and video files largely related to Hur’s interviews with Biden, in which he concluded the president has a “poor memory.”
Republicans on Monday threatened to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress if he does not turn over more material in the Robert Hur investigation into President Biden’s classified documents
The GOP chairmen say they are still waiting for recordings of the Biden interview — although they have received transcripts — and the transcript and audio recordings of an interview with Biden’s ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, with whom he is said to have shared classified files.
“The February 27 subpoenas create a legal obligation for you to produce this material,” they wrote. “If you fail to do so, the committees will consider taking further action, such as invoking contempt of congressional proceedings.”
The Justice Department has said it is conducting an “interagency review” of classified and confidential information in the material.
Hur said he discovered that Biden had “intentionally” withheld classified material, but stopped short of filing charges, believing a jury would not convict the president.
He drew opposition from all sides: Republicans who wondered why he wouldn’t indict the president, and Democrats who objected to his description of Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, older man with a bad memory.”
He explained his decision to make the assessment at the hearing: ‘I knew that to make my position credible. I couldn’t just announce that no charges would be filed; I had to explain why. I had to show my work.’
“We found evidence that the president deliberately withheld classified material after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen,” Hur said during a high-stakes hearing earlier this month.
In interviews with investigators, Biden became confused about the dates he served as vice president and could not even remember the year his son Beau died, according to the transcript reviewed by DailyMail.com.
Biden forgot the year Beau died, when Trump was elected, saying “I don’t remember,” “I don’t remember,” and “I have no fucking idea” more than a hundred times while joking and making car noises with the researchers.
And it said his cavalier attitude toward classified documents, such as his habit of reading sensitive files to a ghostwriter, posed a significant risk to national security.
Hur said he discovered that Biden had “intentionally” withheld classified material, but stopped short of filing charges, believing a jury would not convict the president.
Special counsel Robert Hur spent a year investigating files found in President Joe Biden’s home and former office. He said Biden’s status as president meant he could not be prosecuted
The box circled in the foreground contained documents about Afghanistan. The photo was taken in Biden’s garage in December 2022, along with other household items
The report is chock full of photos of documents recovered from Biden’s home or an office he used when he was vice president
One of the reasons they decided not to press charges was because “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury at trial, as he did during our interview with him, as a likable, well-meaning, older man with a poor memory . .’
Hur said during testimony that he described Biden this way because of his “inability to remember certain things” and that he had to be pressed by his lawyers to remember certain dates.
According to transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden on October 8 and 9, 2023, Biden’s lawyer had to tell him the year his son Beau died of brain cancer and the president joked about the special counsel finding photos of his wife Jill in a swimsuit.
I just hope you didn’t find any risqué photos of my wife in a swimsuit. Which you probably did. She is beautiful,” Biden said.
“What month did Beau die?” Biden mused at one point, adding, “Oh God, May 30.”
‘He didn’t even remember within a few years that his son Beau died. And his memory seemed hazy as he described the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him,” Hur said.
A White House lawyer subsequently agreed to the year 2015.
“Was it in 2015 that he died?” Biden asked.