The Department of Justice has “found” transcripts of exchanges between Joe Biden and his biographer that the department previously claimed didn’t exist. The acknowledgment was made to a federal judge on Monday evening as part of an ongoing attempt by several organizations to secure information via the Freedom of Information Act.
That comes nearly half a year after former special counsel Robert Hur ended his investigation into the president’s taking and mishandling of classified information. It also comes just one day after Biden dropped out of the presidential race. That timing will no doubt raise eyebrows.
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NEW: Justice Department discovers transcripts it previously said it did not have of Biden’s chats with biographer discussed in Hur report. Also, DOJ relents and asks Hur for help in responding to flurry of #FOIA suits for his records
w/@kyledcheneyhttps://t.co/Tg5G90X4ti— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) July 23, 2024
The Justice Department told a federal judge late Monday that it has located transcripts it previously denied having of President Joe Biden’s talks with a biographer that played a role in the recently completed criminal investigation into Biden’s handling of classified material before he became president.
In the wake of a report special counsel Robert Hur issued in February that described Biden as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the Justice Department has been swamped with Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits demanding access to various records related to Hur’s probe.
These transcripts are a big deal because one of the most direct allegations of criminality involving Biden’s actions was that he shared classified information with his biographer. Had these been handed over months ago, it could have dramatically escalated the stakes regarding Hur’s investigation and his subsequent report. It would have also deepened the scandal for a White House that was already in crisis given Biden’s other issues, including his mental and physical condition.
It is simply not believable that the DOJ didn’t know about these transcripts until the exact moment it became most politically convenient to acknowledge them. Now that Biden is out of the race, he is no longer in need of protection from AG Merrick Garland and his compromised department. Further, it allows now-presumptive Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris to claim that the administration is “transparent” despite the obvious timing issues at play. The same is true of the sudden reversal by Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned on Tuesday.
SEE: Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Resigns After Disastrous Hearing
Then there’s the other aspect at play. Could this be part of a ploy to go ahead and push Biden to resign the presidency, giving Harris a chance to garner an incumbency advantage? I wouldn’t put anything past the DOJ and the administration as a whole at this point. Everything is on the table given the continued evidence of their dishonesty and corruption.
Right now, this looks like a two-birds-with-one-stone setup, and I don’t think too many people are going to buy that it’s just a coincidence.
