White House tampered with special counsel transcript in Biden's classified docs case: Oversight Project

The White House has admitted in federal court to altering the transcript of President Joe Biden’s testimony to Special Counsel Robert Hur during an investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. This revelation comes after a Heritage Foundation and Judicial Watch lawsuit demanding the release of the original recording. 

Earlier this year, it was reported that Special Counsel Hur found that Biden mishandled documents at home and in his former office. Biden reportedly struggled to remember details about his life, including recalling the years he served as Vice President and when his son Beau died during interviews with Hur. The Special Counsel chose not to bring charges against Biden, citing that a jury would not convict him due to his perceived cognitive decline. 

Following the revelations, many have demanded the release of the audio recording from when Biden was interviewed. However, the president has claimed Executive Privilege in an attempt to prevent the recording from being released to the public. 

The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project has now reported that the transcripts were tampered with to make Biden appear more articulate.

“WHITE HOUSE ADMITS THEY DOCTORED BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TRANSCRIPT,” the group posted. “After being forced into Federal court by us, the White House admits they altered evidence to make Biden appear less incompetent. This case has been blown wide open.” 

According to a court filing obtained by the group, the White House acknowledged making edits to the transcript, such as removing filler words like “um” or “uh” and repeated phrases. The filing goes on to say, “Besides these exceedingly minor differences, based on my simultaneous review of the transcripts while listening to the audio recording, the transcripts accurately capture the words spoken during the interview on the audio recording with no material differences between the audio recording and transcripts.” 

Executive Director of the Oversight Project Mike Howell expressed frustration, stating, “The real question is why are we in Court at all?  This tape belongs to the American People and there is no legitimate argument to not give it to them.  The idea that the DOJ needs months to send over a recording is absurd on its face. They should save the taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees and just hit the send button.” 

“President Biden is having his Richard Nixon moment,” he added. “If he wants to drag this out then it just means this chapter of corruption will be even longer."