On Tuesday, House Republicans announced they had subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland for materials from special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents that culminated with a report released earlier this month.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) are demanding records — including transcripts, notes, video, and audio files — as part of the subpoena, according to a statement from their respective committees. NewsNation reported that they set a deadline of March 7, which is the day Biden is expected to deliver his State of the Union address.
🚨 #BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and @RepJamesComer subpoena Attorney General Merrick Garland for records, including transcripts, notes, video, and audio files, related to Special Counsel Robert Hur's investigation of President Joe Biden's willful mishandling of classified information. pic.twitter.com/S1pEOllVWl
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 27, 2024
The chairmen said in a subpoena cover letter that the Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to produce any of the materials they requested, such as the transcripts and recordings of the special counsel’s two-day interview with the president, with a February 19 deadline.
They wrote that the DOJ responded by saying it was “working to gather and process” responsive documents, including a review for “classification” and “confidentiality interests,” but did not offer a timeframe by which it expected to make any productions or “any commitment that it would produce all of the material requested.”
Comer and Jordan noted that their panels, in coordination with the Ways and Means Committee, are leading an impeachment inquiry into Biden and speculated that the president may have retained sensitive documents related to “specific countries” involving his facility’s foreign business ventures.
They said the committees “further seek to understand whether the White House or President Biden’s personal attorneys placed any limitations or scoping restrictions during the interviews” with Hur or Biden’s ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer “precluding or addressing any potential statements directly linking President Biden to troublesome foreign payments.”
Comer and Jordan also wrote that the Judiciary Committee seeks materials for its “ongoing oversight of the Department’s commitment to impartial justice and its handling of the investigation and prosecution of President Biden’s presumptive opponent, President Donald J. Trump, in the November 2024 presidential election.”
The Daily Wire reached out to the DOJ seeking comment.
Hur’s report criticized Biden’s retention of classified documents while out of office following his service as a U.S. senator and then vice president. Although Hur did not recommend charges, the 388-page report said Biden exhibited memory problems that likely would preclude a jury from convicting the president.
Biden delivered remarks at the White House in response to the report, insisting that his memory “is fine” just moments before he mistakenly said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was the president of Mexico while talking about Israel’s fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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The president also criticized Hur’s assertion in the report that Biden struggled to remember when his son Beau died of brain cancer, saying, “How in the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business.”
NBC News then published a report citing sources who said Hur did not ask Biden about Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, but rather the president brought up his son’s passing. The insiders added that Biden got the day and month correct, but not the year of Beau’s death. The younger Biden died on May 30, 2015, at the age of 46.
Hur may testify before Congress in the coming weeks.
Two weeks ago, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred journalists to the White House counsel when asked about releasing the transcript of Biden’s interview with Hur.