DOJ refuses to turn over audio of Robert Hur interview with Biden to House GOP

The Justice Department is refusing to provide the House Judiciary and Oversight committees with the audio file of then-special counsel Robert Hur‘s interview with President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents, claiming the committees’ request to receive the file is not in the spirit of “legitimate oversight.”

In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) obtained by the Washington Examiner, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte said the department has now responded to each of the four subpoenas sent by the committees. However, Uriarte wrote, the DOJ is concerned with the “threats of criminal contempt” from the committees despite providing what they believe are the necessary records regarding Hur’s investigation, which yielded no recommendation for criminal charges against the president.

“The Committees’ reaction is difficult to explain in terms of any lack of information or frustration of any informational or investigative imperative, given the Department’s actual conduct,” Uriarte wrote. “We are therefore concerned that the Committees are disappointed not because you didn’t receive information, but because you did.”