House Republicans moved toward holding Joe Biden ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer in contempt of Congress on Thursday over withholding audio of his interviews with the president where he revealed classified information.
The Judiciary Committee voted to advance a contempt resolution on Thursday after Zwonitzer defied its subpoena for documents, including transcripts, audio and video recordings of his interviews with Biden for the president’s two memoirs, ‘Promises to Keep’ and ‘Promise Me, Dad.’
The resolution will now go to the floor for a full House vote. If the full body votes to hold him in contempt, he will be referred to Biden’s Justice Department for criminal prosecution – which is unlikely.
Zwonitzer is now caught between two branches of government. The White House counsel said Thursday Zwonitzer is ‘not authorized’ to comply with the subpoena because of ‘significant separation-of-powers concerns.’
The counsel noted Biden provided the information ‘in confidence’ while writing a memoir.
Republicans pointed to Biden’s special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation of Biden’s handling of classified documents. Hurs report noted that Biden relied ‘extensively on the notebooks’ notes he took during his vice presidency’ in the writing of ‘Promise Me, Dad.’
‘Mr. Biden told Zwonitzer that some of the information in the notebook may be classified. Some of these entries remain classified up to the Top Secret level,’ Hur stated in his report.
Hur’s report said Biden was not consistent in how he handled classified documents, saying he seemed to sometimes have ‘stopped at or skipped over the potentially classified material’ when speaking with Zwonitzer and at other times Biden ‘read his notes from classified meetings to Zwonitzer nearly word for word.’
Zwonitzer deleted recordings of his interviews with Biden once he learned of the special counsel investigation, according to Hur.
Hur testified that Zwonitzer ‘slid those files into the recycle bin on his computer,’ but law enforcement was eventually able to recover them. He retained the transcripts.
Biden got an $8 million book advance for the memoirs which he said was ‘more money than I ever made in my life.’
‘Biden had strong motivations for ignoring classified procedures, because he was writing a book, a book for which he got paid a million bucks. So we have a motive, an $8 million motive,’ Jordan said.
Biden, in a fiery news conference on February 8 after Hur’s bombshell report was published, swore he had not shared classified documents.
‘I did not share classified information,’ Biden insisted. ‘Guarantee you, I did not.’ He added he wasn’t aware how the boxes containing classified documents ended up in his garage.
Next week House Republicans will go to court to try to force Attorney General Merrick Garland to hand over the audio of Biden’s interview with Hur. The DOJ has handed over the transcripts but not audio.
Meanwhile Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is expected to force a vote on holding Garland in inherent contempt of Congress. If Luna’s resolution is passed, it could force Garland to stand trial before the House, and if found guilty, he would be detained by the House Sergeant-at-Arms.
But even those at the forefront of the Biden impeachment efforts are distancing themselves from the movement.
‘I think if Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna wants to offer that, you know, God bless her, I’d support it,’ Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan told DailyMail.com. ‘But I think we’re focused on going to court and winning in court.’
‘I’ll vote for it if it comes up for a vote,’ Oversight Chairman James Comer told DailyMail.com. ‘I don’t think there’s anywhere near the votes for that. I don’t think it’s necessary and I worry that would somehow unintentionally harm the court case.’
‘The last time that was used, I think members of Congress rode horses to the Capitol. So, you know, no one knows how to implement that. And I don’t think that’s necessary, because we’ve already held him in contempt.’
Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross, N.C., tore into Republicans for going after Zwonitzer as a ‘private citizen.’
‘Going after a private citizen who is now caught between two branches of government is not only legally bankrupt, but also an unjustified abuse of power.’
She went on: ‘Zwonitzer set out to write a memoir in President Biden’s name about the death of his son, Beau. Nothing more. He’s now caught in a legal battle in which he has no stake. All because the majority on this committee is desperate.’