White House says Hur tapes are privileged as Congress moves to hold Garland in contempt

President Biden has asserted executive privilege over the audio and video recordings from the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified materials and will refuse congressional requests to hand them over, the White House and the Justice Department said in separate letters to House Republican leaders Thursday.

The letters were sent hours before the GOP-led House Oversight and Judiciary committees were scheduled in two separate meetings to advance a contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland for defying a subpoena that demanded the recordings, which include hours of special counsel Robert K. Hur interviewing Biden.

Garland had requested that Biden assert executive privilege over the recordings, saying that it could harm efforts to get officials to cooperate with future investigations and sit for taped interviews, according to a letter between the attorney general and president that was made public Thursday. Biden’s assertion of executive privilege means that Garland is prohibited from releasing the tapes to Congress.