A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that audio recordings of interviews between Joe Biden and a ghostwriter must be released to the public. The decision follows a legal challenge by the Heritage Foundation, which sought the recordings under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The interviews were conducted by Mark Zwonitzer for the former president's memoirs.
The Biden legal team had sought to block the release of the audio, arguing that the recordings were of a private nature and that transcripts already provided to the public were sufficient. The court, however, found that the audio recordings constitute distinct agency records and are subject to disclosure.
The recordings were previously used as part of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into the handling of classified documents. Hur’s final report noted that while Biden had retained classified materials, no criminal charges were recommended. The Heritage Foundation argued that hearing the actual audio was necessary to fully understand the context and tone of the conversations mentioned in the report.