CNN's Jake Tapper told Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York on Wednesday that there is no legitimate reason for the Department of Justice to withhold the audio of President Joe Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.
Tapper on "The Lead with Jake Tapper" asserted there's "Really no basis" for the DOJ not to turn them over to Congress, but Goldman said it would have a "Very chilling impact" to do so.
"Three of the last five attorneys general have been found in contempt of Congress," Tapper said.
"Eric Holder didn't turn over information relating to the 'Fast and Furious' mishap, that sting operation. Attorney General Bill Barr was held in contempt of Congress by a Democratic Congress for not turning over information, the unredacted Mueller report and now Attorney General Merrick Garland for not turning over the audio."
"A citizen who doesn't have a dog in the fight might say, 'it seems to me as though the legislative branch is trying to do oversight of the executive branch and the executive branch keeps giving whoever's in charge of Congress, the executive branch consistently gives the finger to the House. I assume you don't see it that way, but there is a consistency in these three contempt of Congress votes," Tapper added.
Goldman said the only consistency is holding attorney generals in contempt of Congress, but that the "Circumstances are very different."
"There was no basis for Bill Barr to withhold the unredacted report from Congress. He could identify none if it were an issue of classified or secret information," Goldman added before Tapper cut him off, saying, "But there's really no basis for the Justice Department to not give the audio recordings to Congress either."
No comments:
Post a Comment