Joe Biden has sued the Department of Justice.
Joe Biden Drags DOJ to Court to Prevent Release of Private Audio Tapes
Former President Joe Biden has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prevent the release of files related to his past interviews.
The interviews were conducted with a biographer and later became a central part of a special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents.
In the lawsuit, Biden sought to bar the audio recordings and transcripts of the conversations from being released.
The legal action follows a shift by the DOJ, which, under the Trump administration, plans to turn over the materials despite previously asserting they were exempt from disclosure.
Why Joe Biden Sued the Department of Justice
Joe Biden files a lawsuit against the Department of Justice.
According to Reuters, Biden filed a lawsuit against the DOJ to prevent the release of audio recordings and transcripts of private conversations with Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.
He filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ahead of the department’s scheduled release of the materials.
The recordings are slated to be presented to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation.
These recordings were analyzed by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into the former president’s handling of classified materials.
Hur ultimately declined to press criminal charges. The lawsuit noted, “The department fought the Heritage Foundation’s 2024 request for the records as exempt from the Freedom of Information Act until President Donald Trump took office.”
According to the Associated Press, Biden’s attorneys argued that every American has a right to privacy in the personal conversations they have within their own homes.
“When the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure,” the lawsuit stated.
Hur’s yearlong investigation resulted in a 345-page report that raised questions regarding Biden's age and mental competence.
However, Hur concluded that he found insufficient evidence to successfully take the case to court.
'Victimized by Prosecutors'
Biden has separately fought the release of the audio recordings from his direct interview with Robert Hur.
In 2024, the House voted to hold then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the audio after the White House asserted executive privilege over the tapes.
The transcripts of the five-hour-long interview were released to federal prosecutors and Congress. Though the former president was adamant that he treated secret information seriously, the transcript showed instances of him being “fuzzy about dates and details.”
Additionally, he acknowledged being unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the documents he had handled.
Republicans argued that the former president was getting lenient treatment from his own DOJ, asserting that Trump was unfairly "victimized by prosecutors."
However, Democrats asserted that Biden cooperated fully in the investigation, drawing a sharp contrast with the separate criminal case against Trump.
In that case, prosecutors accused Trump of refusing to return classified documents requested by the National Archives, which had been stored at his Florida estate.