Justice Department won’t give Republicans audio tapes of Biden’s interview with special counsel

CNN —

The Department of Justice says it won’t provide Congress with the audio tapes from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden despite threats from House Republicans to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in criminal contempt.

In a new letter obtained by CNN, DOJ said it would not be turning over the audio tapes by the deadline Republicans set for them. The department noted the committees already have all of the transcripts of the interviews they requested from Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, including the transcripts of interviews with the president and with his ghostwriter, which the department turned over Monday.

It’s not yet clear if House Republicans will carry out their threat to hold Garland, a top GOP target, in contempt of Congress for failing to fully comply with a congressional subpoena. CNN has reached out to the committees of jurisdiction for comment.

House Oversight Chair James Comer criticized the Department of Justice for not turning over the audio tapes, but did not say whether House Republicans would move forward with holding Garland in contempt.

“The Biden Administration does not get to determine what Congress needs and does not need for its oversight of the executive branch,” Comer said in a statement, responding to the DOJ argument that House Republicans don’t need the audio tapes when they have the transcripts of the interviews.

Comer said his committee will continue to work with the House Judiciary Committee on this matter: “We will respond to the Justice Department soon.”

“We urge the Committees to avoid conflict rather than seek it,” Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte wrote in a letter to the