In a recent hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Merrick Garland, the Attorney General under President Biden's administration, defended the Department of Justice's decision to withhold audio recordings of President Biden's interviews with Special Counsel Robert Hur from public access.
The hearing, which focused on the oversight of the Department of Justice, followed a vote by the Judiciary and House Oversight Committees to hold Garland in contempt.
During his opening remarks, Garland stated that the release of the audio recordings from Hur's interview with Biden in the classified documents case would "chill cooperation with the department in future investigations." He emphasized the department's efforts to provide the committee with responses to its legitimate requests for information.
"We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committee gets responses to its legitimate requests for information," Garland said. He pointed out that the department had provided Hurs report, transcripts of the interview, and Hur himself had testified before Congress for "more than five hours."
However, Garland was firm in his stance against releasing the audio recordings. "We have made clear that we will not provide audio recordings from which the transcripts that you already have were created," he stated. He expressed concern that the release of such audio could influence witnesses' answers in future investigations if they believed their law enforcement interviews would be broadcast to Congress and the public.
Garland also addressed the committee's attempt to hold him in contempt, describing it as the latest in a series of attacks on the Justice Department's work. He cited threats to specific DOJ investigations, including the special counsels prosecution of the former president, as part of these attacks.
Garland listed other "attacks" on the Justice Department, including "baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods" about the FBIs law enforcement operations, "heinous threats of violence" directed at the Justice Department's career civil servants, and "false claims" that a state trial jury verdict was controlled by the Justice Department. He described this conspiracy theory as an attack on the judicial process itself.
"These repeated attacks on the Justice Department are unprecedented, and they are unfounded. These attacks have not and they will not influence our decision making," Garland asserted. He acknowledged the seriousness of contempt but stated that he would not jeopardize the ability of prosecutors and agents to do their jobs effectively.
In conclusion, Garland affirmed his and the Department of Justice's commitment to their duties, stating, "We will not be intimidated" and will "continue to work do our jobs free from political influence, and we will not back down from defending democracy."
Login