Biden Sues DOJ to Block Release of Special Counsel Interview Audio

Joe Biden is suing the Trump administration's Justice Department to stop it from releasing private audio recordings and transcripts of conversations he had with his memoir ghostwriter — and this one has some real staying power as a legal and political story worth knowing about.

Here's the backstory: At the center of the case are audio recordings and transcripts of Biden's interviews at his home in 2016 and 2017 with Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on his two memoirs. Those files were scrutinized by special counsel Robert Hur as part of his investigation into Biden's improper retention of classified documents from his time as a senator and vice president.

Hur's yearlong investigation led to a 345-page report that questioned Biden's age and mental competence, but ultimately recommended no criminal charges against the then-81-year-old — saying he found insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a case in court.

So why is Biden suing now, after he's already out of office? Here's the twist: Biden's lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington's federal court that the Justice Department — now under Trump — plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law. In other words, the DOJ completely reversed its own position once the administration changed hands.

Biden says the interviews with his ghostwriter were personal conversations held at his home, recounting some of the most politically consequential and painful times of his life. His lawyers argued that the disclosure would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden's privacy."

Now under President Trump, the DOJ is planning to release the files to the conservative Heritage Foundation, which made a public records request, and to Congress. Biden argues the House Judiciary Committee has no legitimate reason to have the records.

This isn't the first round of this fight either. Biden has separately fought the release of the audio of his interview with Hur himself. The House in 2024 voted to hold Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over that audio after the White House exerted executive privilege.

Why does this matter to you? Because it gets at a bigger question about how much privacy any person — even a former president — can expect when they cooperate with a federal investigation. If the government can collect your private conversations as part of a probe, and then hand them over to political opponents years later under a different administration, that sets a precedent that affects how people cooperate with investigators at every level. It also puts the political use of the justice system front and center — a debate that's very much alive in Washington right now.