copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-04-25): The Department of Justice doubled down on its decision to not release the audio files of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur to House Republicans, stating that Republicans have not established a legitimate legislative purpose for demanding these recordings, in a new letter obtained by CNN. The letter from DOJ Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte to House Oversight Chair James Comer and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan sets up a showdown with Republicans who have continued to threaten holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for not releasing the audio recordings of the interviews Hur conducted with the president and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. [...] Uriarte argued that DOJ has extensively cooperated with the committees, noting that the department has already turned over the transcripts of the interviews Biden and his ghostwriter had with the special counsel, which would address Republican allegations made about the president as part of their impeachment inquiry.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-04-08): The Department of Justice says it won’t provide Congress with the audio tapes from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden despite threats from House Republicans to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in criminal contempt. In a new letter obtained by CNN, DOJ said it would not be turning over the audio tapes by the deadline Republicans set for them. The department noted the committees already have all of the transcripts of the interviews they requested from Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, including the transcripts of interviews with the president and with his ghostwriter, which the department turned over Monday. [...] "The Department is concerned that the committees’ particular focus on continuing to demand information that is cumulative of information we already gave you — what the President and Mr. Hur’s team said in the interview — indicates that the committees’ interests may not be in receiving information in service of legitimate oversight or investigatory functions, but to serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files," Uriarte wrote.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2023-01-12): Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed former federal prosecutor Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified government records at the private home and office of President Joe Biden. [...] Jean-Pierre refused to answer whether Biden would agree to an interview with the special counsel or his investigators. [...] Biden's lawyer, Richard Sauber, in a statement on Hur's appointment as special counsel, said, "As the President said, he takes classified information and materials seriously, and as we have said, we have cooperated from the moment we informed the [National] Archives that a small number of documents were found, and we will continue to cooperate."
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-03-12): Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee published on Tuesday the full transcripts of President Joe Biden's interview with the special counsel in charge of the investigation into his mishandling of classified documents. The president's five-hour interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur was conducted over two days on Oct. 8th and 9th of last year. Lawmakers obtained the transcripts ahead of Hur's testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. Read the full interview below:
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-03-12): WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Hur’s bombshell report on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents concluded that he presented himself as an "elderly man with a poor memory" who was unable to remember key dates, including when he served as vice president or the year his son died. [...] Biden spoke with Hur for 3½ hours Oct. 8, and for 90 minutes the next day. The timing was fraught, with a major international crisis having broken out Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel. [...] Biden allies believe a full reading of the transcript will only bolster their contention that Hur’s characterization of Biden during the interview was not based in reality. If anything, they argue, Hur’s at-times meandering questioning may have contributed to the confusion.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-03-12): The Justice Department has transferred the transcript of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur to Congress, according to a source familiar with the matter. Read the transcript of the interview obtained by CNN below. Transcript of interview between special counsel Robert Hur and President Joe Biden.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-03-12): The first interview began at the White House at 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 8, the day after the deadly Hamas attacks in Israel. Hur thanked Biden for making time for it. "I just got off the phone with Bibi Netanyahu," Biden said. [...] Hur asked Biden to try his hardest to recall details. "I acknowledge that some of the questions we are asking relate to events that happened years ago," Hur said. Biden replied: "I'm a young man, so it's not a problem." [...] The interviewers spent a lot of time walking Biden through photos of home and office spaces, asking him to recall details. In one instance, Biden told Hur he remembered buying a conference table "in Wilmington at Berger Brothers, I believe." Hur then asked about another piece of furniture.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-03-12): Recorded Interview: Robert Hur, President Biden Transcript f t # [...] Date of Interview: October 8 Date of Interview: October 9
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-05-17): WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has asserted executive privilege over audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur, the Republican federal prosecutor who declined to recommend charges against him over his handling of classified documents. [...] John Fishwick, who was a U.S. attorney in the Obama administration, told NBC News that the Justice Department "should not stand on a flimsy executive privilege argument to stall the release of President Biden’s audio interviews with special counsel Hur" and that Biden and the Justice Department "should promote full transparency of the Hur investigation and release the audio recordings now." [...] "President Biden is apparently afraid for the citizens of this country and everyone to hear those tapes," Johnson said. "They obviously confirm what the special counsel has found and would likely cause, I suppose, in his estimation, such alarm with the American people that the president is using all of his power to suppress their release."
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-03-12): President Biden sat for a two-day interview with then-special counsel Robert Hur in October. A transcript of the interview, obtained by The Washington Post, paints a more nuanced portrait of Biden, who Hur’s report portrayed as being absent-minded. [...] The latest: Lawmakers spent hours drilling former special counsel Robert K. Hur about his decision not to seek charges against President Biden for mishandling classified materials. Hur defended the entirety of his report, repeatedly arguing that the details about memory were necessary to explain his decision. Read the full interview between Hur and Biden. The report: According to a long-awaited special counsel report, prosecutors will not charge President Biden in the classified documents investigation. Here are the key findings from the report, which painted a scathing picture of Biden’s memory. A Post review of the complete 258-page Hur transcript of this interview with Biden paints a more nuanced portrait of their exchanges.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-06-04): READ MORE: White House blocks audio of Biden’s special counsel interview, arguing GOP has political motives Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation accused the Justice Department of trying to protect Biden from potential embarrassment. A transcript of the interview showed the president struggling to recall certain dates and confusing details but showing a deep recall of information at other times. "They don’t want to release this audio at all," said Howell, executive director of the group’s oversight project. "They are doing the kitchen sink approach and they are absolutely freaked out they don’t have any good legal argument to stand on." The Justice Department declined to comment Monday beyond its filing. Biden asserted executive privilege last month to prevent the release of the recording of his two-day interview in October with special counsel Robert Hur. The Justice Department has argued witnesses might be less likely to cooperate if they know their interviews might become public. It has also said that Republican efforts to force the audio’s release could make it harder to protect sensitive law enforcement files.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-07-10): The recordings capture Biden's two-day interview last October with then-special counsel Robert Hur, who ultimately concluded that while Biden improperly retained classified documents, he shouldn't be charged with any crimes because -- unlike former president Donald Trump, who was indicted for allegedly hoarding hundreds of classified documents and then trying to cover it up -- Biden cooperated with investigators and would likely convince a jury that he made "an innocent mistake." Trump, meanwhile, has denied all charges. [...] "The audio recordings, not the cold transcripts, are the best available evidence of how President Biden presented himself during the interview," the lawsuit says. "The Committee thus needs those recordings to assess the Special Counsel's characterization of the President, which he and White House lawyers have forcefully disputed." [...] "Any privilege that could conceivably apply to President Biden's interview with the Special Counsel was waived when the Executive Branch released a transcript of that interview," the lawsuit argued.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-07-01): WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit Monday seeking audio tapes of President Biden’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur — after the White House refused to share them citing concern about the impact on the Nov. 5 election. [...] "President Biden’s self-serving attempt to shield the audio recording of his interview with the Special Counsel while publicly releasing a transcript of that same interview represents an astonishing effort to expand the scope of executive privilege from a constitutional privilege safeguarding certain substantive communications to an amorphous privilege that can be molded to protect things like voice inflection, tone, and pace of speech," the lawsuit says. [...] "The audio recordings, not the cold transcripts, are the best available evidence of how President Biden presented himself during the interview," the lawsuit says. "The Committee thus needs those recordings to assess the Special Counsel’s characterization of the President, which he and White House lawyers have forcefully disputed, and ultimate recommendation that President Biden should not be prosecuted."
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-05-16): The confrontation creates another election-year flashpoint between Republicans who have threatened Biden and Garland with impeachment and the Democratic administration dismissing the charges as partisan theater. At issue are recordings of the controversial interview that led Special Counsel Robert Hur to report that Biden is a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." [...] Garland appointed Hur to investigate Biden independently. The prosecutor interviewed the president in October about the documents dating to his time as a senator and as vice president. Hur decided not to charge Biden but his report called him a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." [...] "The American people will not be able to hear why prosecutors felt the President of the United States was in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s words, a quote, elderly man of poor memory," Johnson said. Biden’s decision to withhold the audio of the interviews, the speaker argued, confirms "what the special counsel has found and would likely cause I suppose in his estimation such alarm with the American people."
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-07-01): The House Judiciary Committee sued Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday in their latest attempt to obtain the audio recordings of former special counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden and his ghostwriter. [...] The tapes are foundational to Hur’s conclusions not to charge Biden with criminal mishandling of classified records, including Hur’s damning assessment that Biden would be sympathetic to a jury because he is a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." [...] Republicans first subpoenaed the materials in February shortly after Hur released his final report, arguing that the recordings were vital to their impeachment inquiry in the president. The Justice Department has fought against the release, claiming that making the audio of Biden in a closed-door interviews public would be a violation of his privacy and could hurt their ability to record future witness interviews, because the intonation of a speaking voice itself is so unique.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-04-08): DOJ refuses to fork over audio of Biden’s interview with special counsel, despite contempt threat The Justice Department bucked its Monday deadline related to a subpoena demand from two Republican-led House committees for audio of President Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur. [...] The DOJ turned over a transcript of Hur’s interview with Zwonitzer alongside its letter that stiffed Comer and Jordan on the audio demand.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-02-08): President Joe Biden fired back against special counsel Robert Hur’s description of why he was not charged, with Hur describing the president as potentially being seen by a jury as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." [...] President Joe Biden said he’s pleased that special counsel Robert Hur "reached a firm conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case." [...] President Joe Biden on Thursday touted his cooperation in special counsel Robert Hur’s probe, drawing a sharp contrast with how his predecessor has treated a similar probe.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-07-19): Forget about Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter — the hottest track of the summer is the secret (thus far) tape of Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur’s interview of President Joe Biden. Everyone, it seems, is clamoring to hear it: major media outlets, essentially every Republican official on the planet, and plenty of moderates and other interested political observers. Democrats who continue to call on Biden to drop out of the race (with increasing intensity over the past few days) could gather vital support for their cause from the tape’s release. I’m dying to hear the elusive recording myself. [...] Naturally, Hur’s October 2023 interview of Biden became an object of obsession among Republicans bent on showing that Biden has lost a step, or five. The recent frenzy around Biden’s mental acuity, sparked by his debate debacle, has exacerbated demand for the Justice Department to disclose the tape. If he does sound like an "elderly man with a poor memory," audio of the interview would become accelerant on an already-raging political fire. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson offered no pretext about his motivation: "We all know why they don’t want to turn over the audio: because it will … show exactly what we all saw on the debate stage a couple weeks ago. That is something they want to cover up."
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-02-08): Special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report also said Biden could not remember the year in which his son Beau died of cancer. [...] Hur, who interviewed the president at the White House himself, found evidence that Biden "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials to his ghost writer after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen." The special counsel concluded, however, that the evidence "does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." At the news conference, Biden denied disclosing restricted information, saying he was careful to skip over any sensitive material when sharing his notes. [...] Hur also revealed in his report that he considered filing criminal charges against Biden’s ghostwriter after learning that he had deleted audio recordings of his talks with Biden during the writing of the memoir.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-09-26): The Judiciary and Oversight committees issued subpoenas for the Department of Justice to turn over materials from the investigation, including audio recordings of Biden's interview with Hur.[122] Biden invoked executive privilege over the materials, preventing their disclosure.[123] The House of Representatives subsequently held Garland in contempt for defying the subpoenas on June 12, 2024.[124] Despite this, it has been acknowledged that due to Biden's decision to exert executive privilege, a criminal case against Garland would be highly unlikely.[29] [...] - ^ Jansen, Bart (May 16, 2024). "Biden invokes executive privilege to shield Robert Hur interview tapes from House". USA Today. Retrieved May 16, 2024. [...] - ^ "Justice Department rejects House GOP bid to obtain audio of Biden interview with special counsel". CBS News. April 8, 2024.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-07-01): House GOP files suit to force Garland to turn over Biden-Hur interview audio by Emily Brooks and Rebecca Beitsch - 07/01/24 3:25 PM ET by Emily Brooks and Rebecca Beitsch - 07/01/24 3:25 PM ET The House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit Monday to force Attorney General Merrick Garland to turn over audio tapes from President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur regarding his handling of classified documents. [...] "Any privilege that could conceivably apply to President Biden’s interview with the Special Counsel was waived when the Executive Branch released a transcript of that interview to the press and produced that transcript to the Committee," the suit states.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-06-03): The US Department of Justice is making a novel legal argument to keep a recording of an interview with Joe Biden from becoming public. In a filing late last week, the bureau cited the risk of AI-generated deepfakes as one of the reasons it refuses to release audio of the president’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. The conversation about Biden’s handling of classified documents is a source of heated political contention, with Republicans pushing for release of the recordings and the White House moving to block them. [...] Biden’s interview with Hur reignited a longstanding conservative campaign of questioning Biden’s mental faculties and drawing attention to his age, which critics claim make him unfit to be president. While Hur’s report into classified documents found at Biden’s private residence did not result in charges against him, the special counsel’s description of him as an "elderly man with poor memory" became ammunition for Republicans and prompted Biden to defend his mental fitness. Although transcripts of Hur’s interview with Biden are public, conservative groups and House Republicans have taken legal action, filed Freedom of Information Act requests and demanded the release of recorded audio from the conversation as he campaigns against Donald Trump. Biden has asserted executive privilege to prevent the release of the audio, while the latest justice department filing pushes back against many of the conservative claims about the recording.
Claim: Audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur leaked. (TikTok video, 2024-06-05)
Evidence (2024-07-02): So much has been made of this limited access that the impressions from Special Counsel Robert K. Hur about his five hours of interviews with the president on Oct. 8 and 9 drove months of coverage. The prosecutor said Biden had "diminished faculties in advancing age" and called him a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Biden angrily dismissed these assertions, which Vice President Kamala Harris called "politically motivated." [...] ProPublica obtained a rare interview with Biden on Sept. 29, nine days before the Hur interviews began. We released the video, which was assembled from footage shot by five cameras, on Oct. 1. We edited out less than a minute of crosstalk and exchanges with the camera people, as is customary in such interviews. [...] Recording began as soon as Biden was miked and sitting in the chair that Friday at 2:50 p.m. Earlier that day, Biden’s press staff had said the president would have only 10 minutes for the interview, instead of the previously agreed upon 20 minutes. We requested that the interview go the full 20 minutes. You can hear during the unedited interview a couple of moments when White House staff interrupted to signal that the interview should come to a close. Biden seemed eager to continue talking.