In February, Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report interviewing President Joe Biden on his supposed keeping of classified documents without authorization. He declined to charge him because he was "a well-meaning elderly man with poor memory." House Republicans have sought the interview audio file, but the White House has refused to hand it over, claiming executive privilege. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) discussed the turn of events in a recent appearance on Fox Business's Evening Edit, saying House Republicans seek to verify what the transcript said.
Host Jackie DeAngelis began by repeating a claim by White House spokesman Ed Siskel that Republicans would "chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes."
However, she suggested that if Hur's transcript matched the audio, why would they not hand it over?
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Rep. Biggs agreed, saying, "What is necessary for us as we go forward is with an audio recording, you can determine the accuracy of Mr. Hur's portrayal, and that allows us to determine the mental acuity of the President of the United States who is essentially making decisions that could take us into World War III."
Moreover, the Arizona Congressman said Republicans have no reason to distort or modify the audio files for political gain "because ostensibly, they gave us the transcript of the recording, right? Give us the recording now, and if they do not match up, then there is a real problem there."
Because the White House refused to hand over the audio, House Republicans voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
In March, Rep. Biggs interrogated Hur about some of the interview transcripts, specifically where Biden recalled speaking with his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer while writing his autobiography Promise Me, Dad.
Biggs pointed out that it appeared that Biden knowingly allowed Zwonitzer to read portions of his classified information notes.
"My immediate response was, 'Okay, so he knows he has got classified docs. He is looking at this, he cannot read [it, and] he is is giving this to somebody he knows has no security clearance.' [Biden] says, 'Hey, read this, but be careful, it might be classified," Biggs argued.
Moreover, he suggested that if Biden suspected it was classified, he would have told Zwonitzer, "I do not know if it is classified, but we are going to skip over this."
Thus, the Arizona Congressman declared, "Until that is resolved, he did not do that. What he said was, 'Read it anyway."
