by The Justice Department has doubled down on its decision not to release the audio files of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur to House Republicans, saying Republicans have not established a legitimate legislative purpose to demand these recordings, in new letter received from CNN.
The letter from DOJ Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte to House Oversight Chairman James Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan sets up a fight with Republicans who have continued to threaten to send Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not release the audio recordings of the interviews. Hur directed with the president and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.
The DOJ’s refusal to turn the tide comes as Republicans find that their impeachment inquiry into the president has stalled now that the prospects for the investigation ending in impeachment are becoming more likely. Without the votes in a slim majority or evidence of impeachable wrongdoing, Republicans are now struggling with how to end his investigation.
Uriarte insisted that DOJ has cooperated extensively with the committees, noting that the department has already turned over transcripts of interviews Biden and his ghostwriter had with the special counsel, which would address on Republican allegations made about the president as part of their impeachment inquiry.
“It seems that the more information you receive, the less satisfied you are, and the less reason you have to despise, the more you settle for it,” Uriarte wrote.
CNN has contacted spokespeople for Comer and Jordan.
Expressing concern that Republicans want these audio files for political purposes, he said: “The inability of the Committees to require these audio files based on legislative purposes or impeachment raises concerns about the other purposes. which they could serve.”
The department specifically called out Comer, saying he has not gone to view classified documents in the Hur case that DOJ provided him two months ago despite continued claims that they are critical to its investigation of Biden.
“The Chairman of the Oversight Committee has not yet accepted our offer,” Uriarte wrote, referring to two classified documents cited in Hur’s report on a call by then-Vice President Biden to then-Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk in December 2015. which DOJ provided to Republicans for review.
But on Fox News earlier this month, Comer alleged that these documents “could be part of the influence peddling schemes that his family was involved in, and we need all that evidence, including the audio tape, so that we can complete our investigation”.
An Oversight spokesperson told CNN, “The Department of Justice notified the team leading the impeachment inquiry and the team reviewed the classified documents.”
In the letter, DOJ also goes into extensive detail about how the privacy issues surrounding an audio recording of an interview differ from those surrounding a written transcript, and how the release of such audio files could discourage cooperation from future witnesses in criminal matters. investigations.
Comer and Jordan claimed the audio recordings in part because they argue that the audio files are “materially different from the transcripts, offering a valuable and unique information medium that captures tone of voice, tempo, inflections, verbal nuance and other idiosyncrasies.”
In response, Uriarte said, “These generic characteristics of audio files have nothing to do with the specific objectives of the Committees” but acknowledged that the audio files contain sensitive law enforcement information and need to be protected.
“As the courts have recognized, the privacy interest in a person’s voice – including tone, pauses in emotional reactions, and cues – is distinct from the privacy interest in a written transcript of the conversation,” Uriarte wrote.
Uriarte mentioned the possibility that audio files can be manipulated by “cutting, erasing and splicing” in a way that increases the privacy concerns of the witness. Noting that the department obtained voluntary agreement from Biden and Zwonitzer to be interviewed, and that those interviews would be recorded, Uriarte argued that the release of such audio files now could affect how they respond witness questions and “reduce willingness to interview subject to cooperation if they believe their audio file could be made publicly available” in the future.
Uriarte therefore accused the Republicans of pursuing these audio files for the wrong reasons.
“The Committees demanded information that you know we had principled reasons to protect, and then accused us of being in trouble for upholding those principles. That adds to our concern that the Committees may be seeking conflict for the sake of conflict” he wrote.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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