{"id":2268945,"date":"2024-06-16T13:22:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T17:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/merrick-garland-running-interference-on-biden-audiotapes-to-protect-white-house-jonathan-turley-says\/"},"modified":"2024-06-16T13:24:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T17:24:31","slug":"merrick-garland-running-interference-on-biden-audiotapes-to-protect-white-house-jonathan-turley-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/merrick-garland-running-interference-on-biden-audiotapes-to-protect-white-house-jonathan-turley-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Turley Claims Merrick Garland is Shielding Biden Audiotapes to Defend White House"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmerrick-garland-running-interference-on-biden-audiotapes-to-protect-white-house-jonathan-turley-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2268945&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Professor Jonathan Turley \u200cof George Washington \u200cUniversity criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland for refusing to release the\u200b audio of President Joe \u200dBiden&#8217;s\u200d special\u200b counsel \u2063interview,\u200d alleging it\u200d was to\u2064 shield the White \u2063House \u2062from potential embarrassment. During an appearance on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Hannity,&#8221; Turley argued\u2064 that\u2064 this refusal\u200d by Garland was constitutionally incomprehensible and \u200caccused him of repeatedly interfering in\u200d matters that could embarrass the administration. \u2063He expressed disbelief in Garland&#8217;s\u200d readiness to argue in\u200b federal\u2064 court\u200b that, although the transcript is \u200bnot \u2062privileged, the audio recording is. The House of \u2063Representatives recently held\u200c Garland in contempt\u200d over his refusal\u200c to provide \u200cthe audiotapes, a decision driven by\u2064 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-joe-manchin-threatens-to-derail-bidens-1-9-trillion-aid-bill-unless-it-receives-bipartisan-support\/\" title=\"Sen. Joe Manchin Threatens To Derail Biden\u2019s .9 Trillion Aid Bill Unless It Receives \u2018Bipartisan\u2019 Support\">party-line vote<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Attorney General Merrick Garland is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-to-hold-garland-in-contempt-over-audio-of-biden-interview-with-hur\/\" title=\"Republicans plan to cite Garland for contempt due to Biden's convo with Hur\">withholding audio<\/a> of President Joe Biden\u2019s special counsel interview to protect the White House from a potentially embarrassing story, according to George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Turley appeared on Fox News\u2019 \u201cHannity\u201d on Friday and told guest host Kayleigh McEnany that House Republicans are right to pursue Garland on his refusal to hand over the audiotapes. The House voted to hold the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-ag-barr-authorizes-federal-prosecutors-to-pursue-substantial-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-before-2020-election-is-certified\/\" title=\"BREAKING: AG Barr Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Pursue \"Substantial Allegations\" of Voting Irregularities Before 2020 Election is Certified\">attorney general<\/a> in contempt of Congress last week in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-congresswomans-home-vandalized-with-antifa-symbols-on-memorial-day\/\" title=\"GOP Congresswoman\u2019s Home Vandalized With Antifa Symbols On Memorial Day\">largely party-line vote<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Garland \u201chas a record now of running interference on potential cases or investigations that might embarrass the White House. This latest fight with Congress is particularly telling. The position of Merrick Garland withholding these audiotapes is not just unsupportable, it\u2019s incomprehensible as a matter of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-impeachment-political-theater-ignores-us-history-constitutional-lawyer\/\" title=\"Trump Impeachment \u2018Political Theater,\u2019 Ignores US History: Constitutional Lawyer\">constitutional law<\/a>,\u201d Turley <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2024\/06\/15\/jonathan-turley-applauds-gop-garland-contempt-holding-biden-audiotapes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s absurd, and he\u2019s going to go into a federal court and make an argument that I think most trial lawyers would blush in front of a judge,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe\u2019s arguing that we didn\u2019t view the transcript as privileged but we do believe the audiotape of the same transcript to be privileged, as if this is the president who shall not be heard. No court has ever extended the privilege like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department\u2019s argument that releasing the audiotape will lead to a proliferation of AI deepfakes of Biden\u2019s special counsel interview is nonsensical and counterproductive, according to Turley.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThey made it even more absurd by saying that they have a type of deep fake privilege, that if we release the tape, AI will start to make fake audiotapes of the president\u2019s voice. Well, here\u2019s a flash for you Gordon, they already have the president\u2019s voice and you\u2019ve already given the transcript. A high school student could re-create a fake tape like that. If anything you make it more likely that would be accepted as true because you won\u2019t release the actual audiotape,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">House Speaker Mike Johnson <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpeakerJohnson\/status\/1801748276674249005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  in a statement Friday that the House would pursue the subpoena for the audiotapes in court. Turley applauded the step.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI commend Speaker Johnson in saying we\u2019ll go to court. I represented the House of Representatives in prior litigation and it actually has a very good record, including in our case of prevailing in the federal courts to fight for Article 1 powers \u2014 and this is it. This is the hill that you need to fight on,\u201d Turley said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/06\/14\/justice-department-contempt-biden-classified-documents\/36c5cf3c-2a7d-11ef-835a-2a6acac1f8a6_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued<\/a> a letter to the House on Friday two days after the contempt vote declining to prosecute Garland. Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte, who wrote the letter, cited the \u201clongstanding position and uniform practice\u201d of the DOJ to decline to prosecute officials denying subpoenas because of a president\u2019s claim of executive privilege.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attorney General Merrick Garland is not releasing audio from President Biden&#8217;s special counsel interview to shield the White House from embarrassment, stated George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Hannity.&#8221; He supported House Republicans&#8217; efforts to investigate Garland, as discussed with guest host Kayleigh McEnany<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":2268946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/Merrick-Garland-2.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2268945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/Merrick-Garland-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2268946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}