DOJ under pressure to release Hur tapes even as Biden term nears its end
By
Ashley Oliver
November 16, 2024 6:00 am
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The Department of Justice is under legal pressure to release audio recordings of the interview between former special counsel Robert K. Hur and President Joe Biden, even as Biden’s term winds down.
After refusing to hand over the audio to Congress and outside groups, the DOJ remains caught up in several court battles, in which it has continued, as recently as this week, to ask judges to keep the audio and other material from Hur’s inquiry out of the public eye.
The legal fights stem from the House Judiciary Committee, two conservative groups, and a coalition of major media companies suing the DOJ in an effort to obtain the audio recordings from a two-day interview Hur conducted with Biden in October 2023 as part of the special counsel’s investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents.
The DOJ released a redacted transcript of the interview this year, but the department maintains that the audio is protected by executive privilege. Biden asserted the privilege in May, as soon as Congress threatened contempt proceedings over it.
During the special counsel investigation, Hur found that Biden mishandled top-secret material. However, Hur declined to prosecute the then-80-year-old president in part because of what he described as Biden’s lagging memory and “elderly” demeanor during their interview. Hur’s descriptions of Biden prompted outrage from Democrats and the White House, but Hur was later vindicated when Biden’s mental decline led to the president dropping his bid for reelection.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/3231587/doj-under-pressure-release-hur-tapes/
