A federal appeals court on Monday denied former President Joe Biden's request to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from his memoir interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that the public interest in the material outweighed Biden's privacy concerns, though it stayed the decision until August 3 to allow further appeals.
The recordings, made in 2016 and 2017 for Biden's memoir 'Promise Me, Dad,' became central to a legal battle after special counsel Robert Hur's 2024 investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents. Hur's report noted Biden read classified notes verbatim to Zwonitzer but declined to file criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence of intent.
The Heritage Foundation, which sought the recordings under a Freedom of Information Act request, argued their release would provide transparency about Hur's decision. Biden's legal team contended the conversations were private and personal, with one dissenting judge agreeing that privacy protections should apply.
The court acknowledged extensive redactions to protect Biden's privacy but concluded the public interest in evaluating Hur's findings was paramount. The ruling allows Biden to appeal to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court by August 3.