Biden Sues to Block Release of Interview Recordings

Former President Joe Biden has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department seeking to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from interviews he conducted with his biographer. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, aims to prevent the DOJ from releasing about 70 hours of audio files and transcripts to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The interviews were conducted with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer for Biden's 2017 memoir 'Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.' The recordings are part of a special counsel investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents. According to multiple reports, the DOJ plans to release the materials on June 15.

The lawsuit argues that the Department of Justice has reversed its position on releasing these files under the Trump administration without formal explanation. It claims that the committee’s request is pretextual and invalid, meant only to skirt federal law barring their release. Biden's attorneys seek a court declaration that the committee’s request is invalid and a permanent bar on the release of the records.

The investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents began after classified documents were found at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and his former private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C. In February 2024, special counsel Robert Hur released a report determining that although Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials, there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges against him.

Fox News reports that the recordings were obtained lawfully in 2023 by then-special counsel Robert Hur. The outlet argues that Biden can no longer legitimately claim a Fourth Amendment privacy interest in them once they entered the public and prosecutorial domain, stripping them of privacy protections. Fox News further claims that the recordings show Biden sharing classified information with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, who held no security clearance.

Biden's lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.” They stated that every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in personal conversations within their own home. The transcripts of five hours of Biden interviews with federal prosecutors were released previously, showing moments where Biden was fuzzy about dates and details regarding the sensitive documents he handled.