DOJ attorneys just spent almost an hour being yelled at by a federal judge for telling other lawyers not to comply with a congressional subpoena even while arresting a Trump advisor for that very same thing.
Having learned nothing, the DOJ is fighting a congressional request for the Biden special counsel interview ‘tape’ on the grounds that, well, they don’t like Congress who are a bunch of meanies and anyway can’t we talk about something else? Like women’s basketball? Or the eclipse? Or the speed at which paint dries.
The Justice Department rejected a request from two Republican-led House committees that it turn over an audio recording of former special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden.
The department said the committees had not identified an “investigative purpose” for their request of the audio and accused them of “escalation” and of seeking conflict “for conflict’s sake,” according to a letter sent to Chairs Jim Jordan and James Comer on Monday and obtained by CBS News.
I’m not familiar with the legal doctrine that allows the DOJ to determine that it won’t comply with a congressional request because it decides that House members are just seeking conflict.
99% of House hearings (at least the interesting ones) are pretty much that. As is much of politics. The whole point of having different branches of government is to have checks and balances.
The DOJ does not get to pick a fight with Congress. No more than it gets to pick one with POTUS. But that ship sailed once the administrative state decided that it runs the government and elected officials (never mind voters) are surplus.
The real story though is that Biden’s people don’t want the tape released. And the DOJ was told to stall. Why not?
The House Oversight Committee said in a statement, “The Biden Administration does not get to determine what Congress needs and does not need for its oversight of the executive branch.”
“It’s curious the Biden Administration is refusing to release the audio of President Biden’s interview with the Special Counsel after releasing the transcript,” the committee’s statement continued. “Why shouldn’t the American people be able to hear the actual audio of his answers? The American people demand transparency from their leaders, not obstruction.”
Two possible reasons.
- There’s a difference between the recordings and the transcript. And that could be a crime.
- Biden’s people are worried that the recordings will be used in the election.
But, as the House Oversight Committee said, who cares? That particular battle was lost in the early 70s. Congressional Democrats decided to destroy Nixon by demanding and making the White House recording system into a boogeyman and evidence of corruption. They had to have the tapes and they got them. It’s much too late for the DOJ to protest that Biden’s ‘tapes’ have to be kept secret. The only difference is Nixon’s DOJ people resigned. Every single Biden DOJ stooge will fight to the death, not for Biden, but to maintain the corrupt rule of their party.
Has Biden learned nothing from Nixon?