Former President Joe Biden is looking to block dozens of hours of his audio recordings with a ghostwriter from being released amid continuing scrutiny into his mental decline.
Biden’s legal team is set to resist the release of 70 hours of partially redacted audio recordings to the public or to lawmakers, according to Politico. The 2017 interviews, related to his work with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer for his memoirs, have come under fresh scrutiny for their commentary on the former president’s mental state, after special counsel Robert Hur stated he found Biden’s memory “fuzzy,” “hazy,” and “poor” in 2024. Biden is looking at a Tuesday deadline to take legal action to block the audio’s release, according to Justice Department attorneys.
“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,” Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo said. “The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest.”
“What’s happening now isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics,” he 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.”
The audio was initially obtained by investigators working with Hur, who was probing concerns that Biden mishandled classified information after he left the vice presidency in the Obama administration. Hur examined whether Biden shared classified information with Zwonitzer when the two were writing Biden’s second memoir, Promise Me, Dad. Hur’s report determined no criminal charges were warranted against Biden, but considered charging Zwonitzer with obstruction of justice because the ghostwriter destroyed audio recordings of interviews he conducted with Biden, once he learned of the documents investigation.
Hur’s investigation into Biden prompted widespread speculation about the former president’s cognitive state, partly due to leaked audio of a 2023 interview the special counsel had with Biden.
In March 2024, Hur’s report stated he found the president’s memory “fuzzy,” “hazy,” and “poor.” Biden was unable to remember basic life events, such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president, according to the report.
PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATS REBUKE ‘TRAITOR’ FETTERMAN AS PARTY THREATENS PRIMARY CHALLENGE
The Heritage Foundation is now suing to obtain the public release of Biden’s audio recordings with Zwonitzer.
“These tapes will further prove the massive lie regarding Biden’s fitness for office and the fact Biden revealed classified information,” Mike Howell, president of Heritage’s Oversight Project, told the outlet. “The shenanigans aren’t over: At the last possible second, and after every delay tactic possible, the autopen is objecting to the American People receiving transparency.”