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Biden sues the US Justice Department to stop release of audio from interviews
Without a court intervention, the materials are set to be released June 15
(DoD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo. (Released))
In 2024 the conservative Heritage Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain former President Biden’s remarks to Mark Zwonitzer during the writing of Biden's memoir “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.”
Initially ruled exempt from disclosure, the Justice Department had withheld the sought materials. However, according to Biden's law suit, “the Office of the Deputy Attorney General informed President Biden, through counsel, that the Department had made a final decision to release the materials, with limited redactions, to the Heritage Plaintiffs and to Congress on June 15.”
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Former President Biden argues that this type of personal information is exempt from a disclosure under FOIA laws. In response, a Justice Department spokesperson claimed the previous administration had “tried to hide audio recordings that clearly demonstrate a significant decline in his cognitive abilities as far back as 2016.”
Biden’s lawsuit states, “Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home."
Some of Biden's opponents believe these recordings may shed new light on then-special counsel Robert Hur's decision to not criminally charge Biden after Hur's yearlong investigation into mishandling of classified documents. Hur's 345-page report contained a passage that questioned Biden's age and mental competence, describing him as “painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”
Hur claims he found insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute the matter in court.
