The audio recordings of the interview Special Counsel Robert Hur conducted with Joe Biden stemming from his investigation into whether the president mishandled classified documents remain under lock and key. Biden invoked executive privilege, abusing that power like his former boss, Barack Obama, when he was pressed over documents relating to the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal involving the ATF. The reasoning behind the refusal was already troubling, with Attorney General Merrick Garland essentially saying that the Justice Department could ignore subpoenas they find disagreeable. Now, they’re saying artificial intelligence could alter the audio recordings (via Politico):
The Justice Department is seizing on an increasingly common fear as it fights to prevent the release of the audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur: It could spawn deepfakes.
The concern — raised as part of an overnight court filing late Friday — is the latest step in a multi-pronged legal battle aimed at forcing the Justice Department to release the audio, which Biden claimed executive privilege over last month.
“The passage of time and advancements in audio, artificial intelligence, and ‘deep fake’ technologies only amplify concerns about malicious manipulation of audio files. If the audio recording is released here, it is easy to foresee that it could be improperly altered, and that the altered file could be passed off as an authentic recording and widely distributed,” the department wrote in a 49-page filing.
Beyond creating AI-generated deepfakes, Bradley Weinsheimer, an associate deputy attorney general at DOJ, argued in an affidavit included in the filing on Friday night that releasing the audio would create a “substantial risk that malicious actors could alter the recording to (for example) insert words that President Biden did not say or delete words that he did say.”
AI? Are they being serious?
Biden’s lawyer opened the door to this latest showdown over the tapes. The Democrats pounced over Hur’s conclusions, which did not recommend charges because Biden was seen as an old man with a failing memory; Biden reportedly was unable to recount when his son, Beau, passed away from brain cancer. Biden’s attorney, Bob Bauer, described the president as cogent during his sit-down with Hur. Bauer is the husband of Anita Dunn, a senior communications adviser for the Biden White House:
All they have to do is release the recordings and transcripts. https://t.co/cUGq1hpUbc
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 13, 2024
So, release the tapes, then. Also, there’s a transcript of the recordings, so it’s odd to see executive privilege invoked for something that’s been made public. But that’s not the point. Like Trump, Biden’s ploy here is to buy for time since I feel these audio recordings shore up the two things that are on most voters' minds when it comes to Biden: he’s too old to be president.
He has to sound awful.
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