On Monday, the Department of Justice revealed that it would not be complying with Republicans' demands to release audio of Joe Biden's classified documents interview with special counsel Robert Hur, despite threats from House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee Chairmen Jim Jordan and James Comer that failure to abide by the subpoenas could lead them to hold Attorney General Merrick in contempt of Congress.
Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte argued that the redacted transcript the DOJ already provided to the committees was enough, noting that going so far as to provide the audio as well could set a dangerous precedent that would potentially prevent future interview subjects from agreeing to speak with investigators at all.
"The Department is concerned that the Committees' particular focus on continuing to demand information that is cumulative of information we already gave you," Uriarte wrote in a letter to the chairmen, "indicates that the Committees' interests may not be in receiving information in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions, but to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files."
The DOJ did, however, include a transcript of Hur's interview with Biden's ghostwriter, Mike Zwonitzer, who, according to the special counsel, tried to destroy audio recordings of his interview with the president.
Uriarte went on to suggest that “producing the audio files would compound the likelihood that future prosecutors will be unable to secure this level of cooperation."
"They might," he claimed, "have a harder time obtaining consent to an interview at all. It is clearly not in the public interest to render such cooperation with prosecutors and investigators less likely in the future."
Comer responded to the DOJ by noting that, "the Biden administration does not get to determine what Congress needs," calling its desire to withhold the audio "curious."
The committees had given the DOJ until April 8 to comply with the demands of their subpoenas, however it is unclear what steps will be taken following the agency's refusal.
Letter Uriarte by Tommy on Scribd
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