In April, even before President Biden moved to formally block its release, the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project sued the Department of Justice for the audio recording of Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur during the DOJ's probe of the president's mishandling of classified documents. After President Biden announced Thursday morning that he would invoke executive privilege to prevent the audio's release, the legal efforts by Heritage to obtain the tapes have become even more critical.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered an expedited briefing schedule for Heritage Foundation and Biden administration lawyers earlier in May despite the Justice Department's objections and attempts to drag the matter out. At the time of the court order, the Oversight Project's Executive Director Mike Howell noted that the DOJ was "acting as President Biden's personal lawyer by unlawfully refusing to turn over the audio tape of Biden's interview with Hur. It must be a bad interview for Biden and is likely related to why he has shattered the presidential tradition of giving legitimate interviews," he added.
Howell explained that Americans "have an overwhelming interest in hearing President Biden’s voice in an official criminal interview and they have the right to hear for themselves the interview that led Hur to say that Biden has 'diminished mental faculties' and that a jury would be reluctant to convict 'an elderly man with a poor memory.'"
Heritage is not alone in seeking the audio as a matter of public interest, either. Other entities pursuing legal action to obtain the recording include a group of media outlets comprised of CNN, ABC News, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, CBS News, the Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Reuters, Univision, the Washington Post, and Scripps.
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Members of Congress also want to get their hands on the audio, but subpoenas have been brazenly defied by Attorney General Merrick Garland — leading him to face contempt of Congress charges being moved through the House Oversight Committee Thursday evening.
Notably, transcripts of Biden's interview have already been released — meaning the content of his conversation with Special Counsel Hur is already known. The audio will not reveal any new information about what Biden explained to Hur, but it will provide more context by showing how he handled the questioning — and likely lend added credence to Hur's conclusion that Biden is unfit to stand trial.
Those seeking the release of Biden's interview audio are right to do so — the American people can and should be trusted to make up their own minds about what the audio reveals (or does not reveal) about the president's handling of classified documents. The transcript from the interview already painted a rather bleak picture of Biden's mental fitness — being unable to remember when he was vice president or the date of his son's death.
The White House claims Biden is fit to serve, so they shouldn't have any problem with the audio being released. Their desperate opposition to that, including the attorney general's willingness to face contempt of Congress to avoid releasing the audio to lawmakers, suggests things might be worse than even the transcript made them out to be.
If the audio is released, Howell told Townhall it will be because of the Heritage Foundation's lawsuit — either due to the pressure it is placing on the Biden administration or because the court orders Biden's DOJ to hand over the recording. Time will tell, but the Biden administration is clearly trying to hide something in the recording that his advisors believe is worse than the blowback to the administration's attempts to keep it from the American people.
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