'Executive Privilege Is Not Applicable Here': GOP Lawmaker Dismisses Biden Claim Over Hur Audio

4 months ago

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) spoke about the audio of President Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.

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Transcript

00:00 The gentleman from Virginia is recognized.

00:03 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06 You know, I'm disappointed.

00:08 I strike the move to strike last word.

00:10 I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised that we're getting a letter from the White House

00:18 citing executive privilege the day before the hearing, the day before the markup.

00:25 And as my colleague from California knows, who's the ranking member on the subcommittee

00:31 that I chair, Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight, this is common behavior for

00:37 this White House.

00:38 Wait until the last minute and then throw either an excuse or a few pages of documents

00:47 that have been subpoenaed, much of which is publicly available to us, to try and fend

00:57 off exactly this, a contempt citation for failure to comply.

01:04 You know, it'd be one thing if it were the subcommittee that I chair.

01:10 It'd be one thing if it were documents subpoenaed at the Department of Health and Human Services

01:16 or education or the FTC about collusion with big tech, about the COVID information that

01:27 they tried to limit availability on the Internet.

01:33 There are so many different ways in which this administration has failed to be accountable,

01:38 failed to be held accountable, and failed to provide the information that we've requested

01:43 that we're not surprised.

01:45 But this is under an impeachment inquiry.

01:47 Last year, we approved an impeachment inquiry in this body, which heightens that standard

01:55 and actually increases the burden on the administration to show that there is some reason why they

02:06 should not be providing this information.

02:08 And executive privilege does not, is not applicable here.

02:16 We have a request for a recording, as was stated earlier.

02:23 The White House doesn't get to decide how that information is provided, which transcript

02:30 is better, which transcript is appropriate.

02:32 If we want one transcript, they give us that one.

02:35 If we want the other one, they have to give us that one.

02:40 This investigation is about whether the president willfully retained and disclosed classified

02:44 materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.

02:48 Actually, that was a conclusion.

02:52 And then hers investigation also concluded that Vice President Biden had, quote, strong

02:59 motivations, unquote, to ignore the rules for properly handling classified materials.

03:06 Those strong motivations included an advance of $8 million that Biden had planned to receive

03:11 for writing his memoir, a book he had decided to write, quote, months before leaving office.

03:16 But why has the DOJ not sought to bring charges against the president for his actions, both

03:20 as vice president and a private citizen?

03:23 Well, for one reason, Special Counsel Hearn noted in his report that although there was

03:29 sufficient evidence that Biden had willfully retained classified information, he wouldn't

03:33 recommend taking it to trial because the president would appear to a jury to be, quote, sympathetic

03:37 while meaning elderly man with a poor memory.

03:41 But Hearn knew that to make the $8 million book advance, he would need reminders.

03:46 But many of those reminders are classified, and yet he shared them with his ghostwriter,

03:51 Mark Zwanader, who holds no security clearance.

03:55 As part of the impeachment inquiry in the Judiciary Committee's legislative oversight,

03:58 the committee has sought information about, among other things, President Biden's mishandling

04:03 of classified information.

04:04 And the DOJ refuses to provide the committee with these recordings.

04:12 And Attorney General Garland not only confirmed that this material has been turned over to

04:21 the White House and not us, he said this during an appropriations testimony, but failed to

04:32 see the hypocrisy in allowing the White House access to these recordings, but not the Judiciary

04:37 and Oversight Committees.

04:38 So he rejected the notion that DOJ should release the recordings and said they needed

04:42 to remain confidential, but at the time had no response as to how to provide the recordings

04:48 to the White House, as to how he provided the recordings to the White House.

04:55 So these recordings are important to our investigations because of the superior evidence that the

05:02 transcripts, the recordings provide, because transcripts do not capture demeanor evidence.

05:07 And there's evidence that the White House has doctored official transcripts to hide

05:10 a verbal slip-up from President Biden already.

05:13 So if they're already doctoring official transcripts, we need the tapes.

05:18 We need the tapes.

05:19 And they have an obligation to provide them to us.

05:22 I yield back.

05:23 The gentleman yields back.

05:27 The question occurs on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York.

05:32 Those in favor say aye.

05:34 Those opposed, no.

05:35 No.

'Executive Privilege Is Not Applicable Here': GOP Lawmaker Dismisses Biden Claim Over Hur Audio

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