WASHINGTON – The U.S. House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday, seeking to obtain audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel as part of an investigation into the president’s handling of classified information.
The Men’s suitfiled in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, calls for the annulment of Biden’s claim that Executive privilege about the recordings of his interviews with Robert K. Hur.
The Republican-controlled committee argues in the lawsuit that the tapes are relevant to the impeachment proceedings against Biden and “whether the President intentionally withheld the classified materials to benefit either his family … or himself.”
A Justice Department spokesman said in a statement to States Newsroom that the “department is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond to the court at the appropriate time.”
The lawsuit also seeks audio recordings of Hur’s interview with Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter of Biden’s 2017 memoir.
It is one of several attempts by Republicans to obtain the tapes after Hur declined to press charges against Biden, calling him a “sympathetic, well-meaning older man with a bad memory.” Biden rejected many of these claims.
“The Committee therefore needs these records to evaluate the Special Counsel’s characterization of the President, which he and White House lawyers have vigorously disputed, and to evaluate its final recommendation that President Biden should not be prosecuted,” the lawsuit states.
Separately, Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is leading the effort have an “innate contempt” vote when lawmakers face Garland again next week in hopes of obtaining the tapes.
Last week, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said House Republicans will be “as aggressive as possible and use every tool at our disposal to ensure” that the tapes are released.
The House of Representatives voted in early June to impeach Garland for contempt of court. for not releasing the audio recordings. However, the Ministry of Justice submitted a written Transcript von Hurs interviews with Biden to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
