The Justice Department on Friday said it will consult with various intelligence agencies and law enforcement to identify any classified information during a discussion between President Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur in response to a request from House Republicans demanding the transcript, and any recordings of the interview.
“Several of the materials listed in your February 12 letter require review for classification and protection of national defense information,” Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan and House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith.
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s, right, report calling out President Biden’s “poor memory” sparked newfound media coverage of the leader’s mental capacity in office. (Reuters / Getty)
The GOP lawmakers have requested Attorney General Merrick Garland turn over the transcript and any recordings of Biden’s October 2023 interview with Hur and the special counsel team. The three committee leaders are leading the impeachment inquiry against Biden.
“We have already begun this process. The Department is committed to responding to the Committees’ requests expeditiously, consistent with the law, longstanding Department policies and principles, and available resources,” Uriarte wrote.
The Justice Department will release the transcript to Congress if the White House gives the OK. The White House could invoke executive privilege, which could bar the release.
Hur, who released his report to the public last week after months of investigating, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents, and stated that he wouldn’t bring charges against Biden, even if he were not in the Oval Office.
The report revealed Biden’s significant memory issues, as concerns about the president’s age and mental capacity continue to surface amid his re-election campaign.
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Hur said Biden came off “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and that “it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
He is expected to testify before Congress about his findings, according to reports.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
