Biden’s exec­u­tive priv­i­lege over Hur audio, but not tran­script, draws scruti­ny

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden‘s asser­tion of exec­u­tive priv­i­lege over spe­cial coun­sel Robert Hur’s audio record­ing of their clas­si­fied doc­u­ments inter­view sparked crit­i­cism from Repub­li­cans and legal experts after the pres­i­dent pre­vi­ous­ly waived his priv­i­lege of the inter­view tran­script.
A few hours before the House Judi­cia­ry Committee‘s hear­ing to hold Attor­ney Gen­er­al Mer­rick Gar­land in con­tempt over the audio, Biden’s coun­sel and the Depart­ment of Jus­tice revealed the pres­i­dent had decid­ed at the eleventh hour to claim exec­u­tive priv­i­lege over the record­ings, mean­ing Biden had assert­ed his right under the sep­a­ra­tion of pow­ers to with­hold the audio from Con­gress.
House GOP mem­bers spent much of the Judi­cia­ry hear­ing, and lat­er an Over­sight Com­mit­tee hear­ing, ques­tion­ing the valid­i­ty of Biden’s asser­tion, argu­ing it was for polit­i­cal rea­sons and a way to avoid shed­ding light on the president’s “declin­ing” men­tal state.
“That tape m …