WASHINGTON — President Biden asserted executive privilege Thursday over five hours of audio tapes in which he presented himself to special counsel Robert Hur as confused about key facts from his own biography — helping him escape prosecution for allegedly mishandling classified records.

The 81-year-old president also barred Congress from hearing tapes of ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer allegedly confessing to investigators that he deleted incriminating recordings of Biden discussing classified information after Zwonitzer learned of Hur’s probe.

“The unique characteristics of audio recordings raise particularly pronounced concerns about chilling future cooperation,” Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a Wednesday letter urging Biden to block the tapes from release.

Garland wrote that the release “would raise an unacceptable risk of undermining the Department’s ability to conduct similar high-profile criminal investigations,” even though transcripts of the interviews in question already have been released.

White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote to House Republicans that “[t]he absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes.”

Transcripts of Biden’s two days of interviews with Hur on Oct. 8-9, 2023, show that he misstated the year that his son Beau died of brain cancer, as well as the year Donald Trump was elected president.

House Republicans subpoenaed the tapes in February, saying they had to a duty to perform oversight of Hur’s investigation, which concluded without criminal charges, in part due to Hur’s finding that “at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Republicans argued the tapes could prove whether Biden truly seemed to be cognitively impaired behind closed doors.

An alternative theory postulates that Biden may have deployed a strategic “bathrobe defense” and exaggerated his own confusion to avoid accountability for hoarding classified records over decades, including records from his 36 years as a senator and eight years as vice president, at his Delaware home and pre-presidency DC office.

Republicans argue the Justice Department applied a double standard to shield Biden while prosecuting his November election challenger, former President Donald Trump, for allegedly mishandling national security information.

Trump, 77, faces 40 charges and up to 450 years in prison in a classified-documents case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

In response to Biden’s privilege declaration, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee voted to approve a resolution holding Garland in contempt of Congress. The House Oversight Committee was expected to follow suit later Thursday.

“It’s a five-alarm fire at the White House. Clearly President Biden and his advisers fear releasing the audio recordings of his interview because it will again reaffirm to the American people that President Biden’s mental state is in decline,” said Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.)

“The House Oversight Committee requires these recordings as part of our investigation of President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. The White House is asserting executive privilege over the recordings, but it has already waived privilege by releasing the transcript of the interview,” Comer added.

“Today’s Hail Mary from the White House changes nothing for our committee. The House Oversight Committee will move forward with its markup of a resolution and report recommending to the House of Representatives that Attorney General Garland be held in contempt of Congress for defying a lawful subpoena.”

Garland is likely to ignore any contempt resolution that House Republicans pass, meaning that he would not face prosecution from his own agency, as has been the case with prior attorneys general.

The AG, whose Supreme Court nomination by Barack Obama failed as a result of Trump’s upset victory in 2016, previously has been accused of inappropriately shielding Biden, including as part of a tax-fraud and foreign-influence investigation pertaining to first son Hunter Biden’s dealings during Joe Biden’s vice presidency.

Two IRS whistleblowers came forward last year to allege that Garland lied when telling Congress that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss had the power to charge Hunter, 54, outside of his own district without interference from Biden appointees.

The whistleblowers said the alleged false testimony was part of a broader Justice Department coverup that included DOJ officials blocking the pursuit of investigative leads associated with Joe Biden, even when communications directly linked him to foreign business relationships, including in China.

Biden-appointed DC US Attorney Matthew Graves and Biden-appointed Los Angeles US Attorney Martin Estrada later confirmed they had declined to “partner” with Weiss on tax fraud charges.

Garland last August elevated Weiss to the status of a special counsel after Hunter Biden walked away from a probation-only plea deal in July over courtroom demands for blanket immunity for past conduct, including possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate his father.