White House blocks release of Biden’s special counsel interview audio

President Joe Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age (Susan Walsh/AP)

The White House has blocked the release of audio from US President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.

The dispute over access to the recordings is at the centre of a Republican effort to hold attorney general Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress and more broadly to hinder the Democratic president’s re-election effort in the final months of the closely contested campaign.