Just one day after President Joe Biden made a dramatic exit from the 2024 presidential race, the Department of Justice (DOJ) made a jaw-dropping revelation: they had miraculously stumbled upon a transcript of a Biden interview they previously swore up and down didn’t exist.
In a move that can only be described as impeccably timed, the DOJ confessed to a federal judge earlier this week that, contrary to their earlier insistence, transcripts of Biden’s cozy chats with his biographer, Mark Zwonitzer, for his 2007 and 2017 memoirs do exist. According to Politico, these elusive documents appeared out of nowhere, raising eyebrows and more than a few questions about the DOJ’s credibility and timing.
Initially, the DOJ had told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that transcribing approximately 70 hours of audio files and screening them for classified content would be too time-consuming.
During a June 18 hearing regarding a lawsuit brought by the conservative Heritage Foundation, Justice Department lawyer Cameron Silverberg stated that no transcript created by the special counsel was available to confirm its accuracy.
But wait—fast forward to this week, and Silverberg suddenly has a revelation! The DOJ had magically unearthed six electronic files, totaling 117 pages, which just happened to be verbatim transcripts of a select portion of the Biden-Zwonitzer audio recordings. And who created these? None other than a court-reporting service for the special counsel’s office. It’s funny how these things turn up right after Biden decided to drop out.
The Heritage Foundation was among several news outlets and conservative organizations that inundated the DOJ with documentation requests following a report by special counsel Robert Hur issued in February.
Hur’s report went to great lengths to explain the decision not to prosecute Biden for allegedly mishandling classified documents. According to Hur, Biden’s status as a well-meaning, albeit forgetful, elderly man played a significant role. Essentially, they decided to give Grandpa Joe a pass because he just can’t seem to remember where he put those pesky classified papers.
Hur’s statement about the U.S. commander-in-chief triggered a congressional investigation, lawsuits, and Freedom of Information Act requests demanding access to records related to Hur’s probe.
Politico also noted that the DOJ reversed its stance on another issue. Initially, the department resisted Heritage’s requests to contact Hur and identify the materials he relied on for key portions of his report. Eventually, the DOJ relented and contacted Hur, who confirmed he relied on the Biden-Zwonitzer audio recordings and a portion of Biden’s handwritten notes related to a memo about Afghanistan to compile his report.
Some reacted cynically to the news of the newly discovered transcripts, openly questioning the highly convenient timing of this sudden revelation.
Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley commented on social media platform X, expressing skepticism about the timing of the DOJ’s discovery now that Biden is not running for re-election.
The Oversight Project, part of the Heritage Foundation, was equally skeptical. The organization emphasized their ongoing court efforts to obtain records that Hur relied on in his report, which detailed concerns about President Biden’s mental acuity.
The organization emphasized that the DOJ had consistently refused to speak with Hur for months and had set up a search procedure to avoid being held accountable and transparent. They pointed out that the DOJ only revealed information less than 12 hours before a hearing, following a briefing on the matter.
The Oversight Project couldn’t hide their glee at finally dragging the DOJ into the light and forcing them to disclose the information. They proudly vowed to keep pushing in court to secure these records for the American people. The organization celebrated its role in exposing the issue and noted that senior Democrats on the Hill had distanced themselves from Biden once they realized what was happening.