Joe Biden claimed executive privilege over the recording of his interview with former special counsel Robert Hur on Thursday. The move came after House Republicans subpoenaed the tape as part of its investigation into the issue.
A transcript of the interview was released some months prior, with Hur describing Biden as confused and having memory issues throughout. Initially, the White House lied, claiming that the special counsel brought up the death of the president’s son, leaving him flustered. Hur debunked that during congressional testimony, showing that it was Biden who brought it up, getting the year of death wrong in the process.
See if you can spot the problem with the reason the president gave for claiming executive privilege.
Now, I’m no expert on executive privilege, though I dabble as best I can. Still, I’m pretty sure there’s no provision for claiming it solely because a president believes the result will harm him politically. Yet, that’s exactly what Biden is admitting to doing. Naturally, the above CNN reporter (and the Associated Press among others who repeated Biden’s justification) aren’t the least bit bothered by that and are showing zero journalistic curiosity.
He was the VP when he criminally stole the documents. He has no executive privileges to coverup his crimes.