Nicolai Haugsted
Long-hidden Biden recordings are finally set to emerge after dramatic legal U-turn.
Former President Joe Biden has decided not to continue his legal battle over the release of recordings and transcripts from interviews conducted for his memoir, clearing the way for the material to be handed over to President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.
The move follows a series of court defeats and effectively ends Biden’s attempt to prevent the publication of conversations he had with his ghostwriter while preparing his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad.
According to NPR, Biden’s lawyers filed a voluntary dismissal on Friday, bringing the case to a close.
The outcome marks a victory for the conservative Heritage Foundation, which sued to obtain the recordings after they became part of the Justice Department’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Those interviews were conducted in 2017 after Biden left the vice presidency. Federal investigators later obtained the recordings after classified documents were discovered at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Special Counsel Robert Hur ultimately declined to recommend criminal charges in 2024, concluding that prosecution was not warranted despite classified material being taken home.
His report nevertheless generated widespread political debate after describing Biden as:
“A sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Conservatives plan immediate release
Conservative groups seeking access to the material argue the recordings could provide further insight into Biden’s mental sharpness before he became president.
Jeffrey Clark, a Trump ally and vice president of litigation at the Oversight Project, said the public will soon be able to hear the recordings for themselves.
“What you’re going to hear on the tapes … is Joe Biden’s condition years before he ran for president, when a special counsel said he has memory problems.”
Clark added that the organizations involved in the lawsuit intend to publish both the audio recordings and written transcripts as soon as they receive them.
Privacy concerns rejected by courts
Biden attempted to intervene after the Justice Department reversed its long-held position in May and announced it intended to release both the transcripts and audio files.
His legal team argued that private conversations recorded while writing a memoir deserved protection and that several federal laws prevented their disclosure.
Federal courts rejected those arguments, including the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Notably, the panel included judges appointed by Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with only Biden appointee Florence Pan dissenting.
Facing the likelihood that the recordings would ultimately be released, Biden’s team chose not to pursue further appeals.
A source familiar with the recordings described them as “painfully boring.”
According to the source, the interviews largely consist of Biden reviewing documents one by one, reading through them and discussing their contents rather than engaging in wide-ranging conversations.
Biden’s decision contrasts sharply with Trump’s approach to litigation. While Biden has chosen to end the case, Trump has simultaneously asked the US Supreme Court for a second time to review the civil judgment ordering him to pay $5 million to writer E. Jean Carroll—despite the court having already declined to hear the case.
