Staff Reports
In a bombshell new development, Special counsel Robert Hur left House Republicans fuming after testifying that it was uncertain whether the Department of Justice would make public the audio recordings from his marathon five-hour interview with President Joe Biden. Hur, who recently released a detailed report on Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, faced a barrage of questions from both the Republican and Democratic camps during his appearance before Congress on Tuesday.
Republican lawmakers, already seething over the last-minute release of the 250-page transcript of Biden’s interview, were incensed when Hur failed to provide a definitive answer on the availability of the audio recordings. House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) grilled Hur on why the public and Congress should be barred from accessing the audio, to which Hur responded evasively, claiming it was not his place to make such decisions.
Adding fuel to the fire, Hur’s report unveiled troubling details about Biden’s interactions with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, which included the alleged disclosure of classified information via audio recordings. Zwonitzer, according to the report, destroyed the recordings after Hur was appointed as special counsel. However, investigators were able to recover some of the deleted recordings from Zwonitzer’s devices, shedding light on the potential mishandling of sensitive material.
Critics argue that the release of the audio recordings could offer valuable insights into Biden’s mental acuity and illuminate undisclosed information that could be pivotal in understanding the extent of his memory lapses, which were highlighted in Hur’s report. The refusal to disclose the recordings has left many conservatives questioning the transparency and integrity of the Biden administration.
As the uncertainty looms over the potential release of the audio recordings, tensions continue to escalate between the GOP and the Department of Justice, with Republicans demanding full access to the recorded evidence as they intensify their scrutiny of President Biden’s conduct.
