Hey everybody! Let’s dive into a recent development that’s causing quite a stir: the Justice Department has “found” transcripts of President Joe Biden’s talks with a biographer, which they previously denied having. These conversations played a significant role in the criminal investigation into Biden’s handling of classified material before he became president.
So, what’s going on? Special counsel Robert Hur’s report in February described Biden as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” which led to a flood of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and lawsuits. These came from news outlets and conservative groups aiming to dig up information that could cast doubt on Biden’s mental acuity and suitability for the presidency. This scrutiny, especially after a tough debate performance against Donald Trump, contributed to Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection.
But there’s more. The Justice Department has resisted releasing the audio of Biden’s interviews with Hur. They argue that releasing these recordings could violate Biden’s privacy, lead to potential misuse such as creating deepfakes, and discourage other witnesses from agreeing to recorded interviews. Biden has claimed executive privilege over these recordings to prevent House Republicans from holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not releasing them.
NEW: Justice Department discovers transcripts it previously said it did not have of Biden's chats with biographer discussed in Hur report. Also, DOJ relents and asks Hur for help in responding to flurry of #FOIA suits for his records
w/@kyledcheneyhttps://t.co/Tg5G90X4ti— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) July 23, 2024
Last month, during a hearing, DOJ lawyers told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that reviewing Biden’s audio interviews with writer Mark Zwonitzer would be extremely time-consuming. These recordings, spanning 70 hours, contain discussions Biden had while working on memoirs published in 2007 and 2017. The lawyers said that checking audio for classified material is much more challenging than reviewing written content.
Justice Department lawyer Cameron Silverberg stated that there was no transcript made by the special counsel that could be verified for accuracy. However, on Monday night, Silverberg filed a statement saying that Hur’s office had indeed made transcripts of some of Biden’s conversations with Zwonitzer. These discussions reportedly contained classified information, but prosecutors were barred from pursuing charges against a sitting president and decided against it due to Biden’s memory issues and other factors.
Now, miraculously, the Justice Department “found” six electronic files, totaling 117 pages, that appeared to be verbatim transcripts of a small subset of the Biden-Zwonitzer audio recordings. These transcripts were created by a court-reporting service for the special counsel’s office.
In another twist, the Justice Department reversed its stance on a separate issue. They initially resisted requests from the conservative Heritage Foundation to contact Hur about the materials he used for key parts of his report. However, due to the confusion over the transcripts, they reached out to another person involved in Hur’s probe. When that person was unavailable, they contacted Hur directly.
Hur confirmed that he relied on the Biden-Zwonitzer audio and some of Biden’s handwritten notes related to a memo about Afghanistan for his report. Silverberg mentioned that he would discuss with the parties seeking access to Hur’s materials whether they would like Biden’s notes processed for potential release as well.
