There’s no escape, Joe.
Joe Biden attempted to hide behind executive privilege as the call for the public release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s recordings on his classified documents case intensified.
Biden’s apprehension to release the tapes led many to believe that Biden is criminally culpable.
The legal team of the Heritage Foundation asserted in their motion that the president’s invocation of executive privilege on Thursday adds urgency for the court to act on the three Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, Judicial Watch and CNN, that seek access to the tapes.
The emergency motion seeks to expedite the release of the 5-hour worth of audio recordings. It was filed on May 17 at the US District Court of the District of Columbia.
The Heritage Foundation argued that the Department of Justice does not require that much time to draft a response to the requests.
“The Department’s asserted time constraints were misleading,” The Heritage Foundation attorneys quipped in their filing.
“The Department did not need the time to prepare a position and declarations it twice told the Court it did. A formal assertion of Executive Privilege is an extraordinary undertaking.”
Heritage Foundation lawyers further said that the recommendation of two House panels to charge Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt “adds to the compelling and already extraordinary public interest in the disclosure of the audio recording.”
In April, the DOJ announced that it would not comply with the subpoena issued by House representatives James Comer (R-Kentucky) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel of the Oversight project, called the Justice Department’s arguments “absurd.”
Brosnan further noted, “It’s nonsense that they need time to prepare their legal arguments, given how the entire apparatus of the Justice Department, including the top levels, is well aware of not only the congressional interest but also the legal cases.”
Meanwhile, the Judicial Watch blasted the Justice Department’s line of reasoning and described it as “another brazen cover-up.”
As for the contempt measure on Garland, it still requires House approval and awaits resolution from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).
Johnson earlier commented on Biden’s effort to block the release of the recordings, “President Biden is apparently afraid for the citizens of this country and everyone to hear those tapes.”
Heritage is proposing that the DOJ make its arguments by May 27 and that all briefing in the case be complete by July 1.
“This schedule is aggressive, but the exigency of the moment and the Department’s clear gamesmanship warrants it,” Samuel Dewey, legal consultant for the group, wrote.
If the GOP refused what would Democrats do? Raise hell and threaten to jail them.