Former President Joe Biden plans to fight the DOJ’s release of over 70 hours of recordings with his ghostwriter, the department told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich.
“President Biden cooperated fully with Special Counsel Hur, and agreed to provide audiotapes of conversations with his biographer for a book about his deceased son on the condition that they would not be made public,” confirmed Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklo. “The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest.”
In May 2024, Biden asserted executive privilege over all recordings with Special Robert Hur, including those with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
Hur investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents when he departed as vice president in 2012.
The special counsel found that Biden “willfully retained classified materials” and read them to Zwonitzer.
Hur interviewed Biden for five hours in 2023. He didn’t recommend filing charges against Biden, but described him as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The comments set off a wave of criticism and concern.
House Republicans subpoenaed the recordings in April. The department said it would not hand them over.
CNN (yes, CNN!), Judicial Watch, and the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project filed FOIA requests for the recordings.
The DOJ set May 12 as the deadline for Biden to take action.
The department won’t release any information until June 15, which gives Biden and the courts time to work out any legal proceedings.
“What’s happening now isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics,” Ducklo added. “If this Administration were genuinely committed to transparency, they would release Volume 2 of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump’s own alleged mishandling of classified documents. That report contains information Americans actually deserve to see.”
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