DOJ Rejects Request From House Committees

(USNewsBreak.com) – The House has been relentless in its pursuit of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. They are trying to determine whether he used his name to fuel his son’s business activities while he was vice president in the Obama Administration. The committees have held hearings — public and private — and are now seeking an audio recording, one the Justice Department has refused to turn over.

On Monday, April 8, the Justice Department (DOJ) sent a letter to Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH), declining their request for an audio recording of special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with the elder Biden in October. In its denial, the department said the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees failed to identify an “investigative purpose” for securing the recording. Instead, the correspondence suggested the lawmakers were trying to “serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files.”

Justice Department rejects House GOP bid to obtain audio of Biden interview with special counsel https://t.co/ZF4A7cw2Jw pic.twitter.com/abq26a1fku

— CBSColorado (@CBSNewsColorado) April 8, 2024

In return, Comer and Jordan have threatened to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt if the department doesn’t submit the file. According to The Washington Post, Carlos Uriarte, a senior DOJ official, said their “reaction is difficult to explain” because they have already received a substantial amount of information from the Hur investigation. Uriarte added that the department is “concerned that the Committees are disappointed not because [they] didn’t receive information, but because [they] did.” The DOJ gave the committees the transcript of the interview, so Uriarte and the DOJ are unclear as to why lawmakers also want the audio file.

Uriarte also fears that turning over the file without just cause could hinder future interviews between the DOJ investigators and high-profile officials or people involved in sensitive investigations.

The committee leaders said in a statement that the American people deserve transparency, “not obstruction,” from their leaders. They promised to respond to the DOJ in the near future, according to CBS News. It’s unclear what steps they plan to take next.