Biden invokes executive privilege as House GOP to vote on contempt
By: Bart Jansen (USA TODAY)
Of course he did..........
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Biden's assertion of executive privilege came as two House committees planned to vote on contempt resolutions for Attorney General Merrick Garland, who refused to turn over the recording.
Bart JansenUSA TODAY
- President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege to keep the recording of his deposition about storing classified documents at his home confidential.
- Biden's assertion came as the House Judiciary and Oversight committees planned votes to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to turn over the recording.
- The Justice Department released a transcript of the deposition, but said releasing the recording could hurt future criminal investigations.
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege Thursday to keep the recording of his deposition about storing classified documents at his home confidential, as House Republicans set two committee votes to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to release the recording.
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel determined the recording falls under executive privilege and Garland shouldn't be punished for following the president's order to keep the recording confidential, according to Carlos Uriarte, an associate attorney general.
The Office of Legal Counsel has long held that executive privilege extends to a "closed criminal investigation where disclosure is likely to damage future law enforcement efforts," Garland wrote to Biden on Wednesday.
The confrontation creates another election-year flashpoint between Republicans who have threatened Biden and Garland with impeachment and the Democratic administration dismissing the charges as partisan theater. At issue is recordings of the controversial interview that led Special Counsel Robert Hur to report that Biden is a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The House Judiciary Committee scheduled its vote for 10 a.m. Thursday and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee set its vote for 8 p.m.
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If the resolution is approved, the full House would have to consider it. But the Justice Department has declined to pursue charges against two previous attorneys general the House held in contempt: Republican Bill Barr in 2019 and Democrat Eric Holder in 2012.
Here's what we know about the investigation:
Biden's personal lawyers found classified documents at his Penn Biden Center office in D.C., where he worked in the years between being vice president and president. Biden then allowed the FBI to search his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where agents found more classified documents.
Former President Donald Trump, Biden's presumptive Republican opponent in the fall election, has argued he was treated differently. Trump faces federal charges for hoarding classified records at Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House,
But White House officials noted Biden returned documents to the government voluntarily and cooperated with authorities, rather than defying a subpoena and refusing to return documents as Trump did.
Garland appointed Hur to investigate Biden independently. The prosecutor interviewed the president in October about the documents dating to his time as a senator and as vice president. Hur decided not to charge Biden but his report called him a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Biden forcefully disputed the characterization of his mental ability.
Is invoking executive privilege rare?
All presidents invoke executive privilege to keep information confidential, but it is relatively rare and happens typically during congressional investigations, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. For example, George Washington invoked it during an investigation of a military operation against Native Americans, Barack Obama asserted it during the investigation of the Operation Fast and Furious scandal and Donald Trump asserted it during the investigation of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Two of Trump's former aides, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, defied congressional subpoenas by claiming Trump had invoked executive privilege but were convicted of contempt. Navarro is serving a jail term and Bannon has appealed his conviction.
Special counsel Robert Hur defended report critical of Biden's memory
Hur was grilled in March by lawmakers from both political parties during a fiery House Judiciary Committee hearing, either for going too soft by not charging Biden or too harsh for criticizing his memory.
"What I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe," Hur said. "I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the president unfairly."
Two House panels subpoenaed AG Garland for Biden recording
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., head of the Oversight Committee, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, head of the Judiciary Committee, subpoenaed Garland for the recording of Biden's deposition, in addition to the transcript that has already been released.
"The verbal nuances in President Biden's answers about his mishandling of classified information would assist the Committees' inquiry into whether he abused his office of public trust for his family's financial gain," said the committee report to accompany the resolution. "In short, the audio recordings would offer unique and important information to advance the Committees' impeachment inquiry."
But the Justice Department refused to provide the recording by arguing it had already provided lawmakers with all the information they needed.
"As the Department has previously explained, producing sensitive law enforcement information to Congress risks seriously chilling our ability to conduct investigations and prosecutions, including securing cooperation from witnesses and targets," Uriarte wrote the committees.
Comer says recording key to weighing Biden's fitness for office
Comer said he scheduled the contempt vote to hold Garland accountable.
"These audio recordings are important to our investigation of President Biden's willful retention of classified documents and his fitness to be President of the United States," Comer said in announcing the vote. "There must be consequences for refusing to comply with lawful congressional subpoenas and we will move to hold Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress."
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Hmmm. What embarrassing is he hiding?
And this load of bullshit.............
Damage future efforts? How? SMMFH
He knows that once he leaves office he will be prosecuted for mishandling classified material.
It's pathetic that Hur found the man was found to feeble and mentally incompetent to handle classified material but he's pushed as the Democrat candidate for POTUS (again).
No he won't. Hur has already stated that he is too incompetent to aid in his own defense, he isn't getting any more lucid as time goes by.
Then he's not fit to run for office. The Democrats and left don't grasp the problem they have right now.
I'm sure the Republicans can muster unanimity on this one.
Let it go down in history as Holder and Garland being the AGs held in contempt.
He's terrified of his testimony being used in an ad against him. It's a tough look for any adult to be too incompetent to be responsible for his own actions, let alone the President.
So now Presidents don't have to release information that is politically damaging.
That's some power to give Trump.
Abuse of Executive powers across the board.
FUBAR
As I recall, the use of Executive Privilege didn't help Nixon all that much as SCOTUS ruled that he had to turn over his tapes to Congress. I don't remember the entire timeline, so I don't know if there's enough time left in this legislative year for Congress to petition SCOTUS on this.
New precedents here, new precedents there, oh what a tangled web of deceit the left is weaving, perhaps coming back to strangle them at some point.