Garland swings back at House Republicans over attacks on US Justice Dept

By Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday criticized what he called "unfounded attacks" on the Justice Department by congressional Republicans as he rejected their request for audio recordings of a special counsel interview with President Joe Biden.

In a letter to the chairmen of the House of Representatives Judiciary and Oversight committees, the Justice Department said the Biden administration was asserting executive privilege, a legal doctrine that shields certain executive branch records from disclosure, over the audio recordings of Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur over his retention of classified records.

Garland criticized the series of political attacks House Republicans have launched on the DOJ and the justice system more broadly as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faces two federal and two state criminal prosecutions.

"There have been a series of unprecedented and, frankly, unfounded attacks on the Justice Department," Garland told reporters in a hallway outside his office. "We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one."

The House Judiciary Committee later advanced a measure that would hold Garland in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over the recordings. The full House would need to approve the measure before it would take effect.

Hardline House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in particular has called for Congress to cut funding to the DOJ's prosecutions of Trump for trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and for retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.

A parade of prominent congressional Republicans -- including House Speaker Mike Johnson -- have appeared at Trump's ongoing hush-money trial in a New York state court this week to criticize it as a politically motivated attempt to harm Trump's campaign.

CONTEMPT VOTES

The contempt votes could set up an awkward situation, with the Republican-controlled House calling on the Justice Department to act against the attorney general.

"The Attorney General must draw a line that safeguards the department from improper political influence," wrote Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general.

The president is also claiming executive privilege over an audio recording of an interview with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.

Garland appointed Hur last year to investigate Biden over his retention of classified records dating back to his time serving as vice president under Barack Obama.

Hur ultimately declined to pursue criminal charges, noting that Biden had cooperated with the probe, in contrast to Trump, who stonewalled a similar inquiry. Trump is now facing federal charges for retaining classified records.

Hur said Biden would appear to a jury as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" if the case was brought to trial. The remark fueled concerns about Biden's age, 81, as he runs for reelection and drew a furious response from the White House and Democrats.

The Justice Department has already turned over a variety of records requested in congressional subpoenas issued by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in connection with the Hur investigation, including transcribed interviews.

White House counsel Edward Siskel accused the committees' chairmen in an open letter of seeking the tape recordings for political purposes.

"The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal -- to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes," he wrote.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan defended his committee's request, saying at a hearing, "The recordings are necessary. Transcripts alone are not sufficient evidence of the state of the president's memory."

In a statement, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said, "Clearly President Biden and his advisors fear releasing the audio recordings of his interview because it will again reaffirm to the American people that President Biden’s mental state is in decline."

Garland told reporters on Thursday he views Republicans' threat of contempt to obtain sensitive law enforcement files as just the latest example in a series of attacks.

"The effort to threaten to defund our investigations and the way in which there are contributions to an atmosphere that puts our agents and our prosecutors at risk - these are wrong," he added.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Makini Brice; Editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)