Judicial Watch Sues Justice Dept for Communications with Biden White House Regarding Edited Transcripts of Special Counsel Interviews

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice for records of communication between the agency and White House regarding the altered transcripts of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s October 2023 interviews of President Biden in the criminal investigation into Biden’s theft and disclosure of classified records (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-02176)). The lawsuit is one of three federal FOIA lawsuits filed this week concerning the Hur investigation.

 (A separate Judicial Watch lawsuit forced the Biden administration to admit that the transcripts of the audio recordings have been altered and are not accurate.)

 Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the Justice Department inadequately responded to a FOIA request on June 1, 2024, for:

All records of communication between any official or employee of the Department of Justice and any official or employee of the Executive Office of the President regarding the creation, editing, or release of the transcript of the interviews of President Biden by Special Counsel Robert Hur on October 8, 2023 and October 9, 2023. This request includes, but is not limited to, all such communications including Mr. Hur and/or any other official or employee assigned to or employed by Mr. Hur’s office. 

All records of communication between any official or employee of the Department of Justice and the court reporter(s) responsible for the creation or editing of the transcripts of the interviews described in part one of this request and/or any other officer, employee, or representative of Free State Reporting, Inc. This request includes, but is not limited to, all such communications including Mr. Hur and/or any other official or employee assigned to or employed by Mr. Hur’s office.

All directions, instructions, or other guidance documents provided to the court reporter(s) responsible for the creation or editing of the transcripts of the interviews described in part one of this request and/or any other officer, employee, or representative of Free State Reporting, Inc. regarding the creation or editing of those transcripts.

Judicial Watch this week also filed two other FOIA lawsuits, one for the background materials referenced in Hur’s February 2020 report(Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-02177) and one for all communications about the Hur report with the Office of the White House Counsel and Biden’s personal lawyers (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-02179)). 

On February 5, 2024, Special Counsel Robert Hur issued the “Report of the Special Counsel on the Investigation Into Unauthorized Removal, Retention, and Disclosure of Classified Documents Discovered at Locations Including the Penn Biden Center and the Delaware Private Residence of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.”

In the report, Hur called Biden a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and declined to charge Biden with a “serious felony:”

We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness. 

Prior to the finalization of the report, the White House issued a letter to the Special Counsel’s office attacking the report’s “treatment of President Biden’s memory,” and added “there is ample evidence from your interview that the President did well in answering your questions …” 

“The Biden Justice Department is engaged in a major league cover-up for Joe Biden,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Hiding audio recordings, altering transcripts, and ignoring FOIA law shows that the Biden team is desperate to avoid disclosure about Joe Biden’s cognitive condition.”

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