Biden asserts executive privilege over audio of Robert Hur interview in classified documents probe

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President Joe Biden has asserted executive privilege on audio recording of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur over handling of classified documents, to prevent House Republicans getting tapes of an exchange where he reportedly showed “poor memory.” Republicans on the House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee had demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland turn over the recording of Mr Biden and Mr Hur, who investigated how classified documents ended up at the president’s Delaware home and former office in Washington, DC. The White House rejected the demand, telling Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan and Oversight Committee chair James Comer that Mr Biden was heeding Mr Garland’s request to deny the GOP-led panels access to the tapes. Nonetheless, the House committees have been pushing for the recording despite having the transcript of Mr Biden’s words, in hopes of using the audio content in campaign Mr Siskel told Mr Comer and Mr Jordan that the transcripts and other written materials that they’ve already received “more than satisfy articulated needs for this information”. But Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the Oversight Committee’s ranking Democrat, told The Independent on Thursday that the sturm-und-drang over the recording of Mr Biden is the latest example of his GOP colleagues being “unable to take yes for an answer,” citing their previous demand for the transcript of the interview and supporting documents from the investigation.