Attorneys for former President Joe Biden are preparing to intervene in federal court to stop the public release of audio recordings in which he is alleged to have discussed classified information with a ghostwriter.
According to Western Journal, the recordings are at the center of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed last year by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which is seeking access to Bidens taped conversations with his Promise Me, Dad ghostwriter, Marc Zwonitzer. The case, which has now drawn in the Department of Justice and the White House, could expose how the Biden administration handles transparency when the president himself is under scrutiny.
Politico reported that Bidens legal team is expected to fight aggressively to keep the recordings from being released, a move that will likely fuel accusations of a double standard in the enforcement of classified documents laws. The Department of Justice filed a joint status report in federal district court on Friday, setting a Tuesday deadline for Biden to formally move to block disclosure.
President Biden, through counsel, has advised the Department that he intends to seek to intervene to prevent any such disclosures, the filing states. The Department does not oppose intervention. If President Biden does not seek to intervene on or before May 12, the Department will disclose the material shortly thereafter. Otherwise, the Department will disclose the material on June 15. The document further explains that the DOJ plans to release the written transcript and audio recordings, pursuant to a request from the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, as well as to Plaintiffs.
Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo attempted to frame the dispute as partisan theater rather than a legitimate transparency fight. He claimed the case is about politics rather than transparency, adding, The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest.
Conservatives involved in the litigation sharply reject that characterization, arguing that the recordings go to the heart of Bidens competence and honesty. President of Heritages Oversight Project One, Mike Howell, who is also one of the plaintiffs in the case, insisted, These tapes will further prove the massive lie regarding Bidens fitness for office and the fact Biden revealed classified information.
Howell also took aim at Bidens reputation for delegating even basic presidential duties to staff and an autopen. The shenanigans arent over: At the last possible second, and after every delay tactic possible, the autopen is objecting to the American People receiving transparency. For critics on the right, that line encapsulates a presidency they see as both stage-managed and shielded from accountability.
Biden has repeatedly maintained that he never shared classified information with Zwonitzer during the ghostwriting process. Zwonitzer, however, initially tried to delete the recordings, though investigators were ultimately able to restore them.
The audio files were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur, appointed in 2023 by thenAttorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether Biden mishandled classified materials found at his Delaware home and former office. Hurs February 2024 report declined to recommend criminal charges, even though it concluded that Biden willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.
Hur later told the House Judiciary Committee in 2024 that, It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him by then a former president well into his eighties of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness. That rationale, focused on Bidens age and perceived mental state, has been widely criticized by conservatives as a political, not legal, judgment.
Axios, which also covered the matter, highlighted that Hur found Biden had read journal entries containing classified information nearly verbatim, at least three times. The outlet further reported that the recordings capture the former president telling Zwonitzer: I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.'
The stakes of the dispute are heightened by the Biden Justice Departments aggressive pursuit of President Donald Trump over classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. In 2022, federal agents raided Trumps Florida estate, accusing him of essentially the same type of conduct now at issue in Bidens case, reinforcing conservative claims of a two-tiered justice system.
Trump, reacting to Hurs decision not to charge Biden, blasted the outcome as proof of institutional bias in a Truth Social post. WOW! FAKE NEWS CNN, THROUGH A LEAK FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE, HAS JUST REPORTED THAT NO CHARGES WILL BE FILED IN THE (MUCH BIGGER THAN MINE!!!) CROOKED JOE BIDEN DOCUMENTS CASE. WE ARE LIVING IN A VERY CORRUPT COUNTRY! he wrote, underscoring the anger on the right over what many see as selective prosecution.
As the court-imposed deadlines approach, the central question is whether Biden will succeed in keeping the tapes hidden or whether the Justice Department will ultimately release them to Congress and the Heritage Foundation. For Americans concerned about equal justice and presidential accountability, the fate of these recordings may reveal whether transparency applies to those in power, or only to their political opponents.
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