Former President Joe Biden sued the Department of Justice on May 27, 2026, seeking to block the release of 70 hours of audio recordings from his private interviews with his memoir’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, citing privacy concerns and potential violations of federal law.
The recordings, made in 2016 and 2017 at Biden’s home as he worked on his 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. The Trump administration’s DOJ announced plans to release the materials to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation on June 15, 2026.
Hur’s February 2024 report, which declined to recommend charges against Biden, cited the recordings extensively. According to the BBC, Hur wrote that Biden’s “memory appeared to have significant limitations” and described the interviews as “painfully slow, with Mr Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.” The Justice Department under the Trump administration has since accused Biden’s team of trying to “hide audio recordings that clearly demonstrate a significant decline” in his cognitive abilities.
In his lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Biden’s attorneys argued that the materials are protected by the Privacy Act and that releasing them would violate the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies operate. They described the conversations as “private and sensitive” and accused the DOJ of using a “false justification” to disclose the records “for the sake of exposure, among other improper purposes,” according to the BBC.
The case represents a sharp reversal from the Biden administration’s previous stance. When House Republicans and the Heritage Foundation sought the recordings in 2024, the DOJ under Biden had initially opposed their release on privacy grounds. The Trump administration took office in January 2026 and changed course, signaling its intent to make the materials public.
Biden’s lawsuit comes after months of legal maneuvering over the recordings. The Heritage Foundation filed suit in 2024 to force their release, arguing the public had a right to hear the audio. Biden’s team moved to intervene in May 2026 to block the disclosure, ultimately filing their own suit days later when the June 15 release date approached.
Sources
- BBC — reported Biden’s lawsuit, Hur’s findings on memory limitations, and the Trump administration’s DOJ statement
- CBS News — confirmed the 70 hours of audio files and transcripts from interviews for the 2017 memoir
- NBC News — reported Biden’s urging a judge to block release and the ghostwriter’s role
- Politico — confirmed the 70 hours of recordings and the June 15 release date
- The Guardian — reported Biden’s privacy argument in the lawsuit
- NPR — confirmed the recordings were from 2016 and 2017 interviews with Mark Zwonitzer
