Heritage Foundation criticizes DOJ deepfake concerns over Biden-Hur audio

Executive Director of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project Mike Howell on Wednesday told reporters that the U.S. Department of Justice’s concerns about so-called deepfakes were unfounded. He said the Heritage Foundation would continue fighting to make the Biden administration release the tapes of President Joe Biden’s conversations with Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur.

What’s this about? Hur was investigating Biden for the alleged unlawful retention and disclosure of classified documents from his time as vice president under then-President Barack Obama. For his investigation, Hur interviewed Biden on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 of last year. The Biden administration has released transcripts of the conversations. However, the Oversight Project released a statement on Friday showing what it said was a section of a court filing by the Biden administration wherein it acknowledged it had edited the transcripts to take out filler words and verbal slip-ups. House Republicans and others have called for the Biden administration to release the audio tapes of the recordings so the American public can hear aspects of the conversations that didn’t make it into the transcript. But  the Justice Department and the White House have claimed the recordings are protected by executive privilege and therefore they don’t have to release them.

The Heritage Foundation and others have sued the Biden administration to release the audio tapes of the recording. The Justice Department has argued releasing the audio recordings of Biden’s conversations could lead to the audio being manipulated to misrepresent Biden’s words. The department has also argued that releasing the tapes could have a chilling effect on interview subjects in future investigations who might refuse to let their statements be recorded since they could be released later.

Why is the audio of the tapes so important? In his investigation report, Hur said Biden had demonstrated a lack of mental clarity during the interviews. He reported that Biden struggled to remember dates and details, including when he’d served as vice president. Biden also failed to remember, even within a few years, when his son Beau had died, Hur reported. Furthermore, Hur described recordings of interviews Biden did with his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, which occurred several years before the investigation, as often painfully slow. During those recordings, Biden struggled to remember dates and times and found it challenging to read his own handwriting, Hur said.

Why are the DOJ's concerns about deepfakes unfounded? Howell argued that the Justice Department could authenticate official copies of the audio recordings with a watermark to help listeners distinguish between real and fake copies. He also argued that deepfake creators have decades’ worth of audio recordings and videos of Biden speaking that they can harvest for material to alter digitally.

Will the tapes be released? Howell argued that he expected the tapes to become public, one way or another. He said that could occur through administration officials’ obedience to a court order or through White House officials leaking them preemptively after recognizing that they’d lose the court case.

Does the Justice Department agree? U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testified to Congress on Tuesday that he would not allow the audiotapes of Hur’s conversations with Biden to be released.

Dig deeper: Read R. Albert Mohler Jr.’s column in WORLD Opinions about how Biden’s age and mental wellness will be focal points of discussion during the lead-up to this year’s presidential election.