WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 28: U.S. Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) delivers remarks during a House Oversight Committee hearing titled “The Basis for an Impeachment Inquiry of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” on Capitol Hill September 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. The hearing is expected to focus on the constitutional and legal questions House Republicans are raising about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
OAN’s Abril Elfi
6:01 PM – Tuesday, June 25, 2024
The House Judiciary Committee recommended that President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter be charged with contempt of Congress after it was discovered by federal investigators that the former vice president had given the writer access to classified material.
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The Republican-led panel accused Mark Zwonitzer on Tuesday of not responding to a congressional subpoena issued in March for records, documents, and materials pertaining to his work on Biden’s 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad” and the president’s 2021 book “Promises to Keep.”
“Zwonitzer continues to withhold all documents and materials in his possession that are responsive to the subpoena from the Committee,” the report states. “The materials requested from Zwonitzer are crucial for the Committee’s understanding of the manner and extent of President Biden’s mishandling and unlawful disclosure of classified materials, as well as Zwonitzer’s use, storage, and deletion of classified materials on his computer.”
The panel has argued that Zwoniter’s failure to comply with the subpoena “hindered the Committee’s ability to adequately conduct oversight of Special Counsel [Robert] Hur’s investigative findings, the Justice Department’s commitment to impartial justice, and the President’s retention and disclosure of classified materials.”
Hur’s report on the Biden classified documents investigation states that Zwonitzer, 61, recorded multiple interviews with Biden in 2017, and that the former vice president read “nearly verbatim” from notebooks containing extremely sensitive information regarding foreign policy and national security.
Zwonitzer, a private citizen, was not permitted to obtain classified material, which seemingly presented the 81-year-old president with clear legal issues.
After Hur was chosen by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 to look into the possible mishandling of classified material by Biden, the ghostwriter purportedly erased the recordings.
“The recordings had significant evidentiary value,” Hur wrote in his 388-page report, adding that he “considered whether to charge the ghostwriter with obstruction of justice” but decided against it.
In a transcript of one of the recordings, Biden also tells Zwonitzer he “just found all the classified stuff downstairs,” referring to the home he was then renting in Virginia after leaving office.
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has demanded transcripts, audio, and video recordings of Zwonitzer’s interviews with Biden.
According to the report, Zwonitzer’s attorney challenged the subpoena, stating that it was “broad” and did not clearly state “how the materials [sought] would further the purpose of [the Committee’s] legislative reform,” and that it “violated Zwonitzer’s First and Fifth Amendment rights.”
“Finally, Zwonitzer claimed that the subpoenaed documents and materials ‘contain the President’s highly personal information,’ therefore he is not required to produce those materials,” the report states.
On Thursday, the committee will hold a markup hearing on the contempt resolution. A vote will then be held to decide whether to send the resolution to the entire House of Representatives for consideration.
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