Joe Biden claimed executive privilege on Thursday to record his interview with former special counsel Robert Hur. The move came after House Republicans subpoenaed the tape as part of their investigation into the matter.
A few months earlier, a transcript of the interview was released in which Hur described Biden as confused and having memory problems throughout. Initially, the White House lied and claimed that the special counsel had brought up the death of the president’s son, which unsettled him. Hur debunked this during congressional testimony, showing that it was Biden who brought it up, misstating the year of death.
Try to identify the problem based on the reason the president gave for claiming executive privileges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is blocking the release of the audio recording of Biden’s special counsel interview, saying Republicans wanted it for political reasons.
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 16, 2024
Now, I’m not an expert on executive privilege, although I try as best I can. Still, I’m pretty sure there’s no provision for making the claim simply because a president believes the outcome will hurt him politically. But that’s exactly what Biden admits. Of course, this doesn’t bother the above-mentioned CNN reporter (and the Associated Press, among others, who repeated Biden’s justification) in the least and shows no journalistic curiosity.
Imagine if Donald Trump had claimed leadership privilege and rightly said he did so because he wanted to deny Democrats a political victory. How would Seung Min Kim react to her posting that she celebrated “Impeachmas” during the former president’s term?
What is Biden? Really But are you worried? Given that the minutes are already available, the President must have spoken incredibly senile on the tape of the interview.
Kind of strange to claim leadership rights for recording when the transcript has already been published. Biden must sound too idiotic.
– LB (@beyondreasdoubt) May 16, 2024
I admit, that was the first thing that came to mind too. Biden doesn’t want voters to hear his brain crumble as he’s questioned about allegedly committing multiple federal crimes. That is, assuming the transcript we received has not been altered. Maybe he’s hiding something other than his mental inability to be president. Recall that the White House originally pressured Hur to change his report to cover up the senility that Biden showed during the interview.
READ: The White House tried to pressure Robert Hur to hide details about Joe Biden’s senility
Do Republicans want the tape to expose the decay at the core of Joe Biden and his administration? Do you also want to show voters that the president is mentally unqualified? Of course those are the reasons. So what? That this will hurt Biden politically is the result of his own decisions, and both are legitimate issues about which Americans deserve full disclosure.
The claim of leadership privileges betrays the game on all fronts. He doesn’t want his senility highlighted by giving voice to the record, and he doesn’t want the American people to be reminded that he got away with a crime because he’s a member of the right political party. That being said, the Streisand effect is a real thing, and everything Biden has done is a draw more Attention to the tape.
