Biden Invokes Executive Privilege to Shield Interview Tapes from House Committees

[Social Media]

 

President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege to keep the recording of his deposition about storing classified documents confidential. This move comes as House Republicans push to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to release the recording. Meanwhile the House Judiciary and Oversight committees have scheduled votes on contempt resolutions against Garland, arguing that the recording is crucial for understanding Special Counsel Robert Hur's decision not to charge Biden.

 

The Justice Department has released a transcript of the deposition but argues that releasing the recording could jeopardize future criminal investigations. Associate Attorney General Carlos Uriarte confirmed that the Office of Legal Counsel determined the recording falls under executive privilege.

 

Garland stated that the contempt threat is part of "unprecedented and unfounded attacks" on the Justice Department. He emphasized that the department has gone to great lengths to respond to legitimate congressional requests but insists that releasing the recording would harm future investigations. However the House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, argue that the recording is necessary to assess Biden's mental state and the legitimacy of Hur's decision. They accuse the White House of attempting to hide the president's condition from the public.

 

Investigation Background

Biden's personal lawyers found classified documents at his Penn Biden Center office. Additional documents were later found at his Wilmington home. Unlike former President Donald Trump, Biden voluntarily returned the documents and cooperated with authorities. Special Counsel Robert Hur interviewed Biden and ultimately decided not to charge him. However, Hur described Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," a characterization Biden disputes.

 

Political Implications

The contempt resolutions are part of a broader effort by House Republicans to scrutinize Biden and Garland, with potential impeachment proceedings on the horizon. However, the success of these resolutions in the full House is uncertain due to the slim Republican majority and some moderate GOP lawmakers' reluctance to engage in partisan battles with the Justice Department.  Democrats, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Hank Johnson, argue that the committees' actions are politically motivated and a waste of time, noting that the Justice Department has already complied significantly with congressional requests.

 

Executive Privilege in Context

Invoking executive privilege is relatively rare and typically occurs during significant congressional investigations. Past presidents, including George Washington, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, have invoked it in various contexts to protect sensitive information. Biden's invocation of executive privilege is aimed at preventing potential misuse of the recording for partisan purposes. White House Counsel Edward Siskel accused Republicans of intending to distort the audio recordings for political gain.

 

The Justice Department maintains that producing the recording could impede future investigations by chilling cooperation from witnesses and targets. If the contempt resolutions pass the committees and are approved by the full House, it remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will act on them, given its past rejections of similar recommendations.

 

Credit: USA TODAY 2024-05-18

 

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[Skipalongcassidy]

Democraps covering up again...   some experts say that the use of executive privilege to protect the recordings is "extremely problematic" and "strictly a political decision."

[thesetat]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

The Justice Department has released a transcript of the deposition but argues that releasing the recording could jeopardize future criminal investigations

So either they are afraid Biden will look like a twit. Or they deleted things in the transcript that they do not want anyone to hear. Given the mishandling of documents and untrustworthy testimonies with people that are proven liars in official capacity. I would tend to think that they are trying to prevent this simply because they know it will show involvement in Biden trying to use the court system to break Trump and prevent him from running for President. 

In every case against Trump, there are problems with how the cases are using laws that they do not seem to want Trump to be able to use. 

[EVENKEEL]

What are the democrats hiding? C'mon man.

 

 However the House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, argue that the recording is necessary to assess Biden's mental state and the legitimacy of Hur's decision. They accuse the White House of attempting to hide the president's condition from the public.

 

[rwill]

6 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

What are the democrats hiding? C'mon man.

Biden repeatedly saying he can't remember anything.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Social Media said:

President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege to keep the recording of his deposition about storing classified documents confidential.

 

Need I say anything else?

Edited May 18 by thaibeachlovers

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

Democraps covering up again...   some experts say that the use of executive privilege to protect the recordings is "extremely problematic" and "strictly a political decision."

What is doers Gym Jordon and MTG?

[Chomper Higgot]

50 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

What are the democrats hiding? C'mon man.

 

 However the House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, argue that the recording is necessary to assess Biden's mental state and the legitimacy of Hur's decision. They accuse the White House of attempting to hide the president's condition from the public.

 

More of the Republican accusation confession thing.

[EVENKEEL]

11 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

More of the Republican accusation confession thing.

I'm not good at riddles. 

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, rwill said:

Biden repeatedly saying he can't remember anything.

See the released transcript.

[wombat]

More twists and turns than an eel hooked on a fishing line.

[Luuk Chaai]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

What are the democrats hiding? C'mon man.

 

 However the House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, argue that the recording is necessary to assess Biden's mental state and the legitimacy of Hur's decision. They accuse the White House of attempting to hide the president's condition from the public.

 

Start with the  24million Biden and family got from foreign countries

[pomchop]

Because the dems know beyond doubt that the repubs will cut and splice and destort the tapes to make campaign videos that will be total BS....take a look at what a farce the james comer hearing fiasco has become.

 

Not so easy to do with the transcript

 

Good for dems. Stop trying to be nice when you are dealing with people who have zero morals and refuse to admit almost 4 years later that they lost the election in spite of ZERO EVIDENCE which is all you need to know about how Repubs will twist and turn facts into lies.

[Skipalongcassidy]

20 minutes ago, pomchop said:

Because the dems know beyond doubt that the repubs will cut and splice and destort the tapes to make campaign videos that will be total BS....take a look at what a farce the james comer hearing fiasco has become.

 

Not so easy to do with the transcript

 

Good for dems. Stop trying to be nice when you are dealing with people who have zero morals and refuse to admit almost 4 years later that they lost the election in spite of ZERO EVIDENCE which is all you need to know about how Repubs will twist and turn facts into lies.

Boy have you lost your way... that is the most ridiculous post I have ever read on here and that's saying something with a tug on it

[Wrwest]

4 hours ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

Democraps covering up again...   some experts say that the use of executive privilege to protect the recordings is "extremely problematic" and "strictly a political decision."

The transcripts of what was said were made available so all is public knowledge. That said, I have little doubt that the recordings would be used for political ends by slicing and dicing so as to emphasize hesitation or stammering in answer to the questions. This, I think could be applied to many of us when asked a question and then trying to think before answering .... As the transcript of everything said was made available, I have no issue of exerting "Executive Privilege" under the circumstances.

[Wrwest]

3 hours ago, rwill said:

Biden repeatedly saying he can't remember anything.

Unlike you or I when asked of something in our lives years ago ...?

[Wrwest]

1 hour ago, pomchop said:

Because the dems know beyond doubt that the repubs will cut and splice and destort the tapes to make campaign videos that will be total BS....take a look at what a farce the james comer hearing fiasco has become.

 

Not so easy to do with the transcript

 

Good for dems. Stop trying to be nice when you are dealing with people who have zero morals and refuse to admit almost 4 years later that they lost the election in spite of ZERO EVIDENCE which is all you need to know about how Repubs will twist and turn facts into lies.

Yep.

 

[Thingamabob]

1 hour ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

Boy have you lost your way... that is the most ridiculous post I have ever read on here and that's saying something with a tug on it.

Well said. BTW, as a former President, is Trump also allowed to utilize executive privilege ?

[riclag]

Joe’s acting like a Richard!

 

Nixon tried to push his version of Transcripts during watergate but the court didn’t bite!

 

Edited May 18 by riclag

[Purdey]

They have the transcript. 

Like the famous video of the "tour" made by rioters, the audio could be edited to score political points. 

They simply need an official document that swears the transcript has not been edited.

[riclag]

He waved exe priv, listen to the above forbes video first 3 minutes!

Are you suggesting the audio would be edited by a Gop& Dem oversight committee lol

 

Edited May 18 by riclag

[thesetat]

9 hours ago, pomchop said:

Because the dems know beyond doubt that the repubs will cut and splice and destort the tapes to make campaign videos that will be total BS....take a look at what a farce the james comer hearing fiasco has become.

 

Not so easy to do with the transcript

 

Good for dems. Stop trying to be nice when you are dealing with people who have zero morals and refuse to admit almost 4 years later that they lost the election in spite of ZERO EVIDENCE which is all you need to know about how Repubs will twist and turn facts into lies.

What does anything you said have to do with laws? Are you telling me that transcripts can not be blotted out for security reasons? Words can not be changed knowing the president would support or even promote those that aided in what he wanted? Were you even listening to the arguments made as to why the tapes should be handed over? 

or perhaps you are just thinking JOe Biden is the greatest and should do everything he says? 

The senate has other tapes that were never released to the public as stated in the hearing. To say they would release these is Democratic propaganda. To say they could be used in a future case of impeachment would be more accurate. 

The facts as stated were that the Senate has the right to demand the best evidence. Also, there was a time limit to use the Executive privilege which was not met. Also, by releasing the written version releases any privilege as well. The written version was released to the press prior to giving it to the Senate. Why would they do that? Perhaps there is something underlying here we do not know about yet. 

 

Biden tried to use his power as President to break laws. The contempt charge should be upheld and was by vote. 

 

So whose messing with MORALS now. Seems there is much the Dems are trying to do that is on the shady side and perhaps even violations of laws recently, including many that are being used against Trump in his cases. 

 

Right or wrong, the Senate has a right to demand the best evidence and it was requested and denied by the Prez. Good they upheld the contempt charge and are still demanding that evidence. 

 

You need remember this is an oversight committee. Put together to keeps the checks and balances of the untouchables in order. To make sure the leader does not abuse his power and is fit to do his job. They are the only thing we have to protect ourselves with our voted leaders. Why refuse them unless hiding something?

[candide]

8 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Well said. BTW, as a former President, is Trump also allowed to utilize executive privilege ?

No, but he used it extensively when he was President.

[candide]

GOP commissioners are so hopeless, because they cannot find anything on Biden, that they are ready to edit evidence and lie about it, as they did already.

 

Remember this one? 😅

https://www.politicususa.com/2023/04/21/jim-jordan-just-got-busted-with-evidence-of-his-hunter-biden-lies.html

[riclag]

The impeachment inquiry rules!

 

remember biden lied at his press conference “ how in the hell dare he raise that” statement! He tried to blame Hur but Hur never raised his son death ! Or biden lying about Hur finding he willfully misrepresented his findings .

“From impeachment to oversight , to the 25th amendment (allowing the removal of a Potus for incapacities) there are ample reasons for congress to demand information and evidence from the Government”.

 

https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/4671765-bidens-voldemortian-privilege-the-president-who-must-not-be-heard/

 

Edited May 18 by riclag

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, Wrwest said:

Unlike you or I when asked of something in our lives years ago ...?

I remember things that happened years ago better than what happened last week.  Short term memory loss is a normal part of aging and does not affect memory of long ago events.

[pomchop]

14 hours ago, riclag said:

Joe’s acting like a Richard!

 

Nixon tried to push his version of Transcripts during watergate but the court didn’t bite!

 

maybe joe will release the tapes as soon as trump releases his tax returns and a real health report with real numbers measured and reported by the mayo clinic and not some idiot "doctor' who says he is the healthiest person on the planet?

[nattaya09]

12 hours ago, candide said:

No, but he used it extensively when he was President.

Trump invoked it 3-4 times. Not sure if that's a lot considering the Democrats were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him for 4 years. For comparison, Clinton invoked it 15 times

[Hanaguma]

What a thin excuse: "oh, the other side might edit it selectively and use it for political gain..."  Sure.  Like that has never happened before. Remember "very fine people on both sides"?  It's all part of the game, sometimes it hurts.

 

I don't think the Democrats really have a problem with cutting and splicing and editing. The announcement that Biden made challenging Trump to a debate was cut and spliced 5 times in just 15 seconds!

 

The reality is that the Democrats don't want audio of a befuddled Biden sounding like, well, an 80 year old man. They are trying so hard to keep up the pretense that he is still lucid that the audio would completely blow that claim out of the water.

[impulse]

The Biden White House itself has been caught out when the daily transcripts they released didn't match what Biden actually said.  Especially when his words were gibberish, or he read too much, like "Pause..."

 

I'd like to believe the Biden DOJ wouldn't do the same, but color me skeptical.  Not to mention they don't really want us to know what caused Hur to refer to him as an old man with a limited memory.

 

If the Biden administration wanted us to trust their transcripts, they shouldn't have falsified their daily releases.