Former President Joe Biden is now suing the Trump Justice Department in an attempt to block the release of explosive audio recordings tied to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, comes just weeks before the Department of Justice is expected to turn over the recordings and transcripts to Republican lawmakers and the conservative The Heritage Foundation.
At the center of the legal battle are roughly 70 hours of audio conversations Biden recorded with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer in 2016 and 2017 while working on his memoir, Promise Me, Dad. The deeply personal book focused on Biden’s family life, political future, and the tragic illness of his son, Beau Biden.
But those conversations later became politically explosive after Special Counsel Robert Hur obtained the recordings during his classified documents investigation.
Hur’s February 2024 report concluded that Biden had read classified information aloud during multiple sessions with Zwonitzer. According to the report, Biden could even be heard saying, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs,” while also reading journal entries containing sensitive intelligence information “nearly verbatim” on several occasions.
Despite uncovering evidence involving classified materials, Hur ultimately declined to recommend criminal charges against Biden. However, the reasoning behind that decision created a political firestorm.
Hur wrote that a jury would likely view Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” a devastating characterization that intensified concerns about Biden’s mental sharpness during the middle of his re-election campaign.
The audio recordings themselves are now expected to become the latest flashpoint in the political war surrounding Biden’s presidency and cognitive fitness.
In the newly filed lawsuit, Biden’s attorneys argue the recordings are private conversations conducted inside his home and should not be released publicly.
“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 lawyers argued in court filings.
The legal team also contends that information gathered during criminal investigations should generally remain protected from public disclosure.
Meanwhile, President Trump wasted little time responding to the lawsuit, blasting Biden on Truth Social and referring to him as “A Crooked Politician!!!”
The controversy stems from Hur’s broader investigation launched in January 2023 after classified documents from Biden’s vice presidency were discovered at both his Wilmington, Delaware home and a former Washington office.
Although Hur declined prosecution, his report permanently altered the political conversation surrounding Biden’s age, memory, and fitness for office — and these newly contested recordings could soon add even more fuel to that debate.
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