From Law 360:
An audio recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur is protected by executive privilege, and so is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, despite what conservative organizations and media outlets have said, the U.S. Department of Justice told a Washington, D.C., federal judge.
FOIA’s Exemption 5 allows the government to withhold records that are subject to civil litigation privilege. Since Biden has asserted executive privilege over the audio recording of his interview, it is covered by a recognized litigation privilege, the DOJ said Thursday in its opposition to efforts by several conservative organizations and press outlets to obtain the recordings.
Those plaintiffs have argued that the president’s ability to assert executive privilege under FOIA’s Exemption 5 doesn’t extend to certain law enforcement records, which are addressed by the law’s Exemption 7, according to the DOJ.
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