{"id":1729,"date":"2026-05-27T04:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1729"},"modified":"2026-05-27T04:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:12:31","slug":"biden-sues-justice-department-to-block-release-of-audio-recordings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1729","title":{"rendered":"Biden sues Justice Department to block release of audio recordings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former president\u2019s conversations with a ghost writer helping to write his memoir were collected as part of a probe into his handling of classified documents. <\/strong><\/p>

Read more Reds ace Hunter Greene throws first side session after elbow surgery<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
President Joe Biden is shown in the Oval Office on Sept. 30, 2024. (Mark Schiefelbein\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Former president Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday, seeking to block the Trump administration from releasing the recordings and transcripts of his private interviews with a ghost writer who was helping to write his memoir.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues that <\/b>releasing the recordings would reflect an abandonment of the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cobligations to safeguard sensitive and highly personal law enforcement information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department informed Biden it plans on June 15 to provide the material to a congressional committee and a conservative think tank that had filed a public records request, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The conversations Biden had with writer Mark Zwonitzer occurred in 2016 and 2017, in the years after Biden\u2019s son Beau died of brain cancer and as he was contemplating a run for president.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department obtained the recordings during a 2023 special counsel investigation in which former attorney general Merrick Garland directed<\/a> a probe into whether Biden, who served as vice president from 2009 to 2017, mishandled classified materials in the years before he became president. Special counsel Robert Hur determined after an extensive investigation<\/a> that while Biden carelessly handled sensitive material, no chargeable crime was committed.<\/p>\n

The current legal battle stems from a public records request lodged by the conservative Heritage Foundation in 2024 for those recorded conversations. They reportedly include Biden reading from notebooks chronicling his time in office that investigators determined contained classified information.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department, under Garland, had declined to release <\/b>the recordings. At the time, according to the lawsuit, a Justice Department official opined that such a disclosure would be akin to \u201creleasing the pages of an unindicted suspect\u2019s diary entries, or the private text messages exchanged on the suspect\u2019s phone \u2014 despite no charges having ever been brought.”<\/p>

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The Heritage Foundation has continued to fight for the release of those recordings during the Trump administration and, in March, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee also requested them.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department has said it plans to hand over the material to <\/b>with \u201climited redactions,\u201d according to Biden\u2019s attorneys. They contend the decision to release the material is \u201ccapricious and arbitrary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit filed Tuesday <\/b>in federal court in D.C. accuses the Justice Department of suddenly reversing course from its Biden-era decision to block the release of the files.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that the Justice Department is violating federal privacy laws and using what Biden\u2019s lawyers described as a sham request from Congress as a way to circumvent federal laws around public records requests.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s attorneys claim that there is no legislative reason for Congress to want the materials. The House Judiciary Committee has said that it wants the tapes as part of its oversight into the \u201cpoliticization of the Biden-Garland Department of Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Materials long predate the Special Counsel investigation over which the Committee purports to be conducting oversight and could not possibly shed light on the \u201cpoliticization of the Biden-Garland Department of Justice\u201d \u2014 the Committee\u2019s stated purpose,” the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

The audio recording of Biden\u2019s five-hour-plus interview<\/a> with Hur were leaked to the media last year. Those tapes appeared to back Hur\u2019s assertion that Biden would likely come across as an \u201can elderly man with a poor memory\u201d if a case against him were brought to trial.<\/p>

Read more Becky Hammon stands by her \u2018small player\u2019 take as Jalen Brunson lifts Knicks to NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former president’s conversations with a ghost writer helping to write his memoir were collected as part of a probe into his handling of classified documents. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBiden sues Justice Department to block release of audio recordings - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1729\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biden sues Justice Department to block release of audio recordings - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The former president's conversations with a ghost writer helping to write his memoir were collected as part of a probe into his handling of classified documents.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=1729\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T04:12:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1268b4d0b572576d73a5b9796c3ec842-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Biden sues Justice Department to block release of audio recordings\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T04:12:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729\"},\"wordCount\":643,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/2db8717a4ede14222ad225ef64800021-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729\",\"name\":\"Biden sues Justice Department to block release of audio recordings - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/2db8717a4ede14222ad225ef64800021-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T04:12:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=1729#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/2db8717a4ede14222ad225ef64800021-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/2db8717a4ede14222ad225ef64800021-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"FILE - President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2024. 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