Author Mark Zwonitzer refused to comply with a House GOP subpoena requesting the recordings of his interviews with the president.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee, mostly Republicans, passed a resolution on June 27 to hold President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter in contempt of Congress. This action came after the ghostwriter failed to provide materials related to his work on the president’s memoirs in response to a subpoena.
In March, the committee issued a subpoena to Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter behind President Biden’s memoirs “Promise Me, Dad” and “Promises to Keep,” requesting documents and audio recordings of interviews conducted for the books.
As of now, Zwonitzer has not handed over any of the requested records.
The objections raised were dismissed by committee leadership.
The Judiciary Committee initially requested materials from Zwonitzer in February after Hur concluded his investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified information.
In his findings, Hur stated that as a private citizen, Biden had “willfully” retained and disclosed classified information to Zwonitzer. Despite this, no charges were recommended against the president, with one reason being the perception that he would appear sympathetic and well-meaning to a jury due to his age and memory issues.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the committee’s chairman, emphasized the importance of Zwonitzer’s records for oversight purposes. He argued that understanding the extent of Biden’s disclosures to Zwonitzer and the reasons behind them is essential.
Committee Democrats, on the other hand, viewed the contempt proceedings as a political maneuver.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the committee’s ranking Democrat, suggested that Republicans’ true motive in seeking Zwonitzer’s recordings was to undermine President Biden before the upcoming election.
In response, Mr. Jordan pointed to the special counsel’s discovery that Zwonitzer had attempted to delete evidence once the investigation into the president began, evidence that the committee is now seeking.
Despite Hur’s recovery of the files and decision not to prosecute Zwonitzer, the attorney for Zwonitzer, as well as the White House and Biden campaign, did not provide any comments at the time of publication.
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