Biden seeks to block release of audio from interviews in lawsuit against Justice Department

Former President Joe Biden filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Tuesday, asking a federal judge to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his private conversations with the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir.

While the suit originated from a 2024 Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The Heritage Foundation later took the significant step of filing its own lawsuit to attain Biden’s remarks to Mark Zwonitzer when they were writing “Promise Me Dad: “ A year of hope, hardship and purpose.”

The Justice Department had refused to release the records, contending that the records were protected from official release. In Tuesday's lawsuit filed in the US District Court for Washington D.C., Biden’s attorney Amy Jeffress argued that the Department has altered the position during Trump’s second term.

Jeffress wrote in February: "without any formal explanation for its about-face, the Department notified President Biden of its intention to release the audio recordings and transcripts to the plaintiffs in the FOIA Action.”

As reported by the NBC, Jeffress writes: “ President Biden’s conversations with Zwonitzer and ultimately in his memoir, as he recommends the year of his life that began during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2014.”

It has been observed that this year was among the most momentous of Biden’s political life and personal life. Jeffress wrote in the lawsuit: “ Every American has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has written in his own home.”

The Heritage Foundation investigated research then counsel Robert Hur depended upon for specific sections of his report on Biden’s handling of restricted information, as the sections portrayed Biden as struggling to recall events and having difficulty reading on his own journal entries.

The audio of Hur conversing with Biden about the classified documents he retained ownership after his vice presidency. The White House denied that the tapes confirmed mental lapses, the materials will be released June 15 without court intervention.