Robert Hur won't commit to handing over audio tapes of Biden's classified documents interview despite GOP demands saying he's 'no longer a DOJ employee'

House Republicans are setting up the next tension point with the Justice Department, demanding the release of audio recordings related to special counsel Robert Hur's classified documents probe and his five hour interview with President Biden. 

Multiple GOP lawmakers groused about the manner in which DOJ put out the 250-page printed transcript of Biden's interview, which they had been demanding. The agency provided it to Congress minutes before Tuesday's hearing featuring Hur. That had the effect of burying the information amid the media focus on the televised event where Hur testified Tuesday.

But House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked Hur why Congress shouldn't also get the recordings related to his probe, which resulsted in a 388 page report.

He asked Hur, who left government service Monday, if there was any reason 'why the American people and their representatives in United States Congress should not have access to those tapes?

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pressed special counsel Robert Hur on whether the government would provide audio recordings provided to his classified documents probe

Hur did't advocate one way or the other or commit to the government putting out the tapes, but made clear that his investigators relied on the audio in his probe.

'Chairman, what I can tell you is that my assessment that went into my conclusions that I described, my report was based not solely on the transcript, it was based on all of the evidence, including the audio recordings,' said Hur, a Donald Trump employee who testified that he was a registered Republican when Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson tried to cast him as a partisan who was angling for a new job.

Jordan pushed again, asking 'shouldn't the United States Congress have access to that same information?'

'It is not for me to weigh into what information Congress should or should not have,' said Hur, who again said recordings were part of the evidence he considered.

He said it was up to the Justice Department and cited his departure from the agency. 

Tuesday's televised hearings also featured testimony from Hur about Biden's taped conversations with his ghostwriter.

Special Counsel Robert Hur said his report was 'based on all of the evidence, including the audio recordings,' when asked why Congress shouldn't receive them

Hur's report included explosive information about President Biden's memory

House Republicans, including Jordan and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) are demanding audio recordings related to Hur's probe

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz complained that ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, who provided transcripts of conversations with Biden where classified information came up, didn't get charged after deleting tapes of their conversations.

'What does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you?' Gaetz asked Hur. 

Hur in his report says that Zwonitzer's actions, 'including the production to the special counsel of transcripts that mention classified information – suggest that his decision to delete the recordings was not aimed at concealing those materials from investigators.' He also sat for voluntary interviews and did not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights. 

If Republicans are able to force production of tapes of Biden's interviews, it could provide additional news cycles of coverage, or potentially provide new or embarrassing information. 

The printed transcript makes several references to Biden comments that are 'indiscernible.'