On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled in U.S. v. Nixon that the 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, could not exert executive privilege over White House recordings related to the Watergate break-in. The ruling...
The post 50 Years Ago, Nixon Was Forced to Hand Over Recordings. Biden Should Be Too. appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled in U.S. v. Nixon that the 37th president, Richard M. Nixon, could not exert executive privilege over White House recordings related to the Watergate break-in. The ruling ended months of refusal from Nixon to release the tapes on the grounds that they were covered under executive privilege. In its now classic — or infamous, for Nixon fans — ruling, the court held that executive privilege cannot be used to “withhold evidence that is demonstrably relevant” in a criminal matter, adding, crucially, that no “President is above the law.” Nixon complied, but when the tapes were released, it was found that somebody had erased 18 and a half minutes of their most incriminating portions. The tapes were, and are, seen as the smoking gun proving that Nixon had engaged in a criminal coverup, and they paved the way for his impeachment. He resigned before that could happen.
Now President Joe Biden, taking a page from Nixon, has decided to assert executive privilege over recordings of his interviews, some five hours in all, with special counsel Robert Hur, taken last October on the matter of the president’s potential mishandling of classified documents: a criminal matter. (Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in Florida for the very same offense.) House Republicans have been after the Hur tapes for months following Hur’s Capitol Hill testimony in February, in which he painted a portrait of a confused, possibly senile Biden struggling to answer basic questions. Hur’s unflattering portrayal of Biden’s state during the interview enraged Democrats and prompted them to accuse the former of being a Republican operative engaged in a smear campaign against the sitting president in the middle of an election campaign.
After Hur’s testimony, House Republicans wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that he turn over the tapes. Garland refused (contempt of Congress charge, anyone?), and today Biden upped the ante by asserting executive privilege over the tapes, which only raises more questions about what the tapes might reveal and how damaging they might be to him, both personally and politically. Aside from potentially showing his weak mental state, the tapes could also breathe new life into the presently dormant classified-documents investigation of Biden, which could be political gold for Republicans.
Republicans should sue to get the tapes released, going all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, though it’s not clear that the current court would necessarily rule in their favor. The Roberts Court, with its 6–3 conservative, pro-Executive majority, could very well rule that Biden is within his rights. The court has already ruled that Trump must turn over documents in various matters in recent years. But with the Hur tapes, Biden is withholding evidence related to a criminal inquiry, which U.S. v. Nixon expressly forbids, and precedent is precedent.
In any case, the matter of the Hur tapes deserves to be heard by the Supreme Court. No man is above the law, as we’ve heard a lot here lately in regard to Trump. And what goes for Republican presidents should go for Democrat ones too.
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