'What Happened To Cooperation And Transparency': James Comer Calls Out Biden Over Audio Tapes

4 months ago

At a House Rules Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) spoke about President Biden's audio interview with special counsel Robert Hur.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you very much, Chairman Burgess and members of the House Rules Committee.

00:04The Oversight Committee's February 27th subpoena required the Department of Justice to produce

00:08audio recordings of President Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Err regarding

00:13the President's mishandling and improper disclosure of classified materials.

00:18The Department failed to produce them.

00:20The Oversight Committee held a markup to consider a report holding Attorney General Merrick

00:24Garland in contempt of Congress and favorably passed that report.

00:28This is not a complicated matter.

00:30The Executive Branch and its agencies, including the Department of Justice, are not above Congress's

00:35right to oversee those agencies.

00:38We, as members of the House of Representatives, have a duty to ensure congressional subpoenas

00:43are fully complied with by those who receive them – people, companies, and particularly

00:49the federal government.

00:51My colleagues on the other side of the aisle constantly talk about the threats to our institutions,

00:56but then they turn around and defend the DOJ's noncompliance with a duly authorized

01:01subpoena showing their partisanship.

01:05If my colleagues will not defend the institution of Congress – the institution they are a

01:10part of – how can we listen with a straight face when they talk about the sanctity of

01:15our other institutions?

01:16The President has asserted executive privilege over these audio recordings.

01:22Congressional scholars find this assertion bizarre and meritless.

01:26The President has waived any executive privilege over these audio recordings by releasing a

01:31transcript of the entire interview to the public.

01:35When the transcript was released, President Biden's own White House spokesperson claimed,

01:40quote, in keeping with his commitment to cooperation and transparency throughout this investigation,

01:46the President declined to assert privilege over any portion of the report, end quote.

01:53My question to the White House is, what happened to cooperation and transparency?

01:59What reason does the White House have to inappropriately assert executive privilege now?

02:05The White House has shown it is willing to alter transcripts to protect Joe Biden's

02:09image.

02:10It is insufficient to simply take the Justice Department at its word that the transcripts

02:15have not been altered.

02:17The Department of Justice does not get to decide how to comply with a subpoena, just

02:25as the people who receive subpoenas from DOJ cannot determine how they will comply.

02:30The Oversight Committee has conducted its own investigation into President Biden's

02:34mishandling of classified materials, and its findings contradict key portions of the White

02:39House's and President Biden's personal attorney's official narrative.

02:45Months of investigating by the Oversight Committee have revealed the White House has attempted

02:48to withhold the truth from the American people.

02:52As I stated in our markup, the Oversight Committee's timeline begins well before the White House's

02:57narrative that President Biden's private lawyers just stumbled upon classified materials in

03:03November 2022 at the Penn Biden Center.

03:07By May 24, 2022, six months before the White House's story began, the White House counsel,

03:15Dana Remus, contacted a Biden former employee to retrieve President Biden's materials from

03:20the Penn Biden Center.

03:22She then traveled there herself to pick boxes up, again, as I stated previously, and have

03:30not yet received an answer.

03:32Why would the most senior lawyer at the White House be going to pack up an office that was

03:37supposed to only have pictures and personal documents in it?

03:41Why were President Biden's personal lawyers visiting the Penn Biden Center days before

03:46the, quote, discovery of classified materials if they thought they were just picking up

03:51pictures and letters?

03:53Why were they calling FedEx to pick up boxes and a White House employee was leaving with

03:57boxes before the November 2nd discovery?

04:03These are questions I continue to ask because so far, none have been provided, not by special

04:07counsel Herr, not by the White House, not by the Department of Justice, and certainly

04:12not by President Biden.

04:14If the Attorney General chooses to defy Congress and not produce the audio recordings, he must

04:19face the consequences of his actions.

04:22The path before us is clear, and the Oversight Committee recommends the Attorney General

04:26be found in contempt of Congress.

04:28Neither he nor President Biden are above Congress's oversight.

04:32Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

04:33I yield back.

04:35Chair, thanks a gentleman.

04:36The gentleman yields back.

04:37Chair now recognizes and welcomes back to the Rules Committee the Ranking Member of

04:41the Oversight Committee, Mr. Raskin.

04:43Thank you very kindly, Chairman.

'What Happened To Cooperation And Transparency': James Comer Calls Out Biden Over Audio Tapes

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