Biden Takes DOJ to Court in Bid to Keep Classified Docs Audio Recordings Hidden
Former President Joe Biden is now suing the Department of Justice in an effort to stop the release of audio recordings connected to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, marks a direct legal clash between Biden and President Donald Trump’s Justice Department as congressional Republicans and the conservative Heritage Foundation continue pressing for the materials to be made public.
At the center of the dispute are roughly 70 hours of recorded conversations between Biden and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer from 2016 and 2017. The recordings were made while Biden was working on his memoir, Promise Me, Dad, after leaving the vice presidency.
Those tapes later became a central piece of evidence in Hur’s investigation, which examined Biden’s retention of classified materials from his time as vice president.
Hur ultimately chose not to recommend criminal charges. But his February 2024 report became a political earthquake after describing Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory” who would likely come across sympathetically to a jury.
That conclusion immediately intensified concerns about Biden’s age, judgment, and mental sharpness during what was then his re-election campaign.
According to Hur’s findings, the recordings captured Biden discussing classified information with Zwonitzer inside his Delaware home.
At one point, Biden allegedly said, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.” Hur’s report also said Biden read portions of classified journal entries aloud “nearly verbatim” on multiple occasions.
Investigators determined that Biden had improperly retained classified materials, including records tied to Afghanistan, military policy, and sensitive national security matters.
Still, Hur concluded that prosecutors would face serious challenges proving Biden acted “willfully,” especially given the likely perception of Biden’s memory and mental condition before a jury.
That decision enraged Republicans, who argued that Biden was given treatment far different from the aggressive legal pursuit aimed at President Donald Trump.
Now, Biden’s latest effort to keep the recordings from public view is reigniting questions about transparency, accountability, and whether the American people are being denied access to evidence that could shed more light on one of the most consequential investigations of his presidency.
In court filings, Biden’s attorneys argued that the recordings involve private conversations and should remain protected.
“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” Biden’s lawyers wrote.
His legal team also argued that material gathered during a criminal investigation should not be released simply because political opponents want access to it.
Biden is also separately opposing efforts to release recordings of his interview sessions with Hur.
The fight comes as Republicans continue probing Biden’s classified documents scandal, as well as broader questions about how much his administration disclosed to the public while concerns about his fitness for office grew.
Court records in the original investigation also showed that Zwonitzer deleted portions of audio after learning in 2023 that Hur had been appointed special counsel. Investigators later recovered the deleted material.
President Trump responded to Biden’s lawsuit on social media, sharply criticizing the former president and accusing him of trying to keep damaging information from the American people.
The recordings in question date back to Biden’s post-vice presidency years, when he was weighing a possible White House campaign while also dealing with the illness and death of his son, Beau Biden.
Hur’s investigation began in January 2023 after classified documents were discovered at Biden’s former office in Washington, D.C., and later at his Wilmington, Delaware, home. Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur to serve as special counsel.
Federal investigators later recovered classified documents and handwritten notebooks containing Biden’s personal notes on foreign policy discussions and sensitive government matters.
For Biden’s defenders, Hur’s decision not to prosecute was the end of the matter. For conservatives, however, the report only deepened concerns about a two-tiered justice system and the willingness of Washington institutions to protect powerful Democrats.
The controversy became even more damaging after Biden’s disastrous 2024 debate performance against President Trump, which further fueled public concerns about his age, stamina, and ability to lead.
Now, the courts may decide whether the public ever gets to hear the recordings that played a major role in one of the most politically explosive classified documents investigations in modern American history.