A U.S. appeals court on Monday rejected a bid by former President Joe Biden to prevent the public release of audio recordings from interviews conducted for his 2017 memoir. The ruling by a 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found a substantial public interest in the recordings, which were obtained by the Justice Department during its probe into Biden's handling of classified documents.
The interviews, conducted in 2016 and 2017 when Biden was Vice President, were with author Mark Zwonitzer for his memoir, "Promise Me, Dad." The special counsel's report on the classified documents, authored by Robert Hur, referenced these interviews, noting Biden's "diminished faculties in advancing age" and "poor memory." Hur decided against bringing charges, describing Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The conservative Heritage Foundation filed a public information request in 2024 to unseal the recordings following the publication of Hur's report. The majority opinion stated that Biden had not demonstrated a sufficient likelihood that the materials must be withheld from disclosure. The judges concluded that any remaining privacy concerns from redactions to the recordings likely do not outweigh the public interest in disclosure.
Judge Florence Pan, an appointee of President Biden, dissented, arguing that the former president had shown a substantial interest in keeping the files private. Judges Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee, formed the majority. The panel has stayed its ruling until August 3, allowing time for Biden's legal team to pursue further appeals.
During a 2024 congressional hearing, Hur testified that Biden had retained classified documents, including a recorded conversation where the president stated he had "just found all the classified stuff downstairs." Zwonitzer, the author, admitted to deleting the audio files during Hur's investigation, citing fears of being hacked.
Biden announced last week that he is releasing another memoir, "Promise Me, America," expected later this year. The recordings in question took place before his 2020 presidential campaign.
