Attorney General Merrick Garland recommended that President Biden invoke executive privilege over audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
"To the contrary, this is one that would harm our ability in the future to successfully pursue sensitive investigations," he continued. "There have been a series of unprecedented, frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice Department. This request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just the most recent effort to threaten, defund our investigations, and the way in which there are contributions to an atmosphere that puts our agents and our prosecutors at risk. These are wrong. Look, the only thing I can do is continue to do the right thing. I will protect this building and its people."
Another reporter asked what the request for the Hur recordings, "combined with the efforts to defund Jack Smith and the other attacks on Biden administration officials say about the broader effort to discredit [Garland] and discredit the Justice Department."
"We have to go about our work following the federal principles of prosecution," Garland responded, explaining what he can do as attorney general. "We follow the facts and the law. We screen out outside, inappropriate influences. That’s what we’re doing here. We’re protecting our ability to continue to do high-profile and sensitive investigations, and we will continue to do that."
A third reporter, the final one given the chance to grill Garland before he left for the memorial, said the "odds now seem vanishingly small the two Jack Smith federal cases are going to begin trial, let alone finish trial this year," asking "what does that say about the pace of the justice system and confidence in the Justice Department."
"The special counsel brought both cases last year. He appropriately requested speedy trials. The matter is now in the hands of the judiciary and I’m not going to be able to comment any further on that," Garland said.
Former special counsel Robert Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The transcript of the Hur interview showed Biden struggling to recall some dates and occasionally confusing some details — something longtime aides say he has done for years in both public and private — but otherwise showing deep recall in other areas. Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age. At 81, he is the oldest ever president, and he is seeking another four-year term.
Hur, a former senior official in the Trump administration Justice Department, was appointed as a special counsel in January 2023 following the discovery of classified documents in multiple locations tied to Biden.
Hur’s report said many of the documents recovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in parts of Biden’s Delaware home and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by "mistake."
However, investigators did find evidence of willful retention and disclosure related to a subset of records found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, house, including in a garage, an office and a basement den.
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The files pertain to a troop surge in Afghanistan during the Obama administration that Biden had vigorously opposed. Biden kept records that documented his position, including a classified letter to Obama during the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday. Some of that information was shared with a ghostwriter with whom he published memoirs in 2007 and 2017.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
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