Former President Joe Biden has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s Justice Department in an effort to stop the release of audio recordings connected to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s classified documents investigation.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, seeks to prevent the Department of Justice from releasing recordings and transcripts of Biden’s conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
The material was obtained during Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president.
According to court filings, the recordings were made between 2016 and 2017 while Biden was working on his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.”
Investigators later used portions of the conversations as part of the probe that examined whether Biden improperly retained and discussed classified information.
Biden Argues Release Violates Privacy
Biden’s legal team argued that releasing the recordings would violate his privacy rights because the conversations took place inside his home and were gathered during a criminal investigation.
“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 attorneys wrote in the filing.
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The lawsuit comes weeks before the Justice Department is expected to provide the recordings and transcripts to Republican lawmakers and the conservative Heritage Foundation organization.
The tapes are separate from Hur’s interview recordings with Biden, which the former president has also attempted to keep from public release.
The Justice Department has not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
Hur Report Became Major Political Issue
Hur’s investigation began in January 2023 after classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president were discovered at his former office in Washington and at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
In February 2024, Hur released a report concluding that Biden had retained classified materials and, at times, read portions aloud during conversations with Zwonitzer. However, Hur decided against recommending criminal charges.
The report drew widespread attention after Hur described Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” a characterization that became politically damaging during Biden’s reelection campaign in 2024.
According to Hur’s findings, Biden was recorded saying, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs,” while discussing documents stored at his home.
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Court filings also revealed that Zwonitzer deleted some audio files after learning of Hur’s appointment as special counsel in 2023, though investigators later recovered the material.
President Trump reacted to Biden’s lawsuit on Truth Social, calling the former president “A Crooked Politician!!!”
Transparency and Presidential Records
The dispute is expected to intensify debate over how investigative materials involving former presidents should be handled after criminal inquiries conclude.
Most Republicans argue the public has a right to review material tied to a major federal investigation involving classified information and questions about a president’s mental sharpness.
Biden’s allies, however, argue that making the tapes public could create concerns about privacy protections for future investigations and personal communications obtained by prosecutors.
