Biden Recordings Released After Court Fight Over Classified Documents Probe
Audio recordings from former President Joe Biden’s interviews with a memoir ghostwriter have been released after a long legal battle, giving the public new access to material tied to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s classified-documents investigation.
CBS News reported that more than two hours of recordings were shared with the network. The interviews were conducted in 2016 and 2017 with Mark Zwonitzer while Biden was working on his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.” CBS reported that Biden is heard at one point warning that some material “may be classified” and at another point referring to something as “classified.”
The Associated Press reported that about three hours of audio and 117 pages of transcripts, with redactions, were released by the Oversight Project, an arm of the Heritage Foundation. AP reported that one 2017 session included Biden saying he had found “all the classified stuff downstairs.”
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The legal fight matters because the recordings were not merely private memoir material by the time the dispute reached court. The D.C. Circuit said the recordings became subject to FOIA once the special counsel obtained them during the investigation, and the court found a substantial public interest in disclosure because Hur relied on the material when deciding not to bring charges.
Biden’s team argued the conversations were private and politically weaponized. Spokesperson TJ Ducklo said the recordings included discussions tied to Biden’s late son and accused the administration of using DOJ for political retribution.
Social reaction has focused on short clips and repeatable lines from the recordings, especially the “classified stuff downstairs” phrase. BBC World, CBS reporter Josh Boswell, and the Oversight Project were among accounts or outlets amplifying the release and clips online.
The next question is how the released material shapes public judgment of Hur’s no-charge decision, especially because the public version remains redacted.
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