A federal judge on Friday rejected former President Joe Biden’s request to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from his conversations with biographer Mark Zwonitzer.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the former president’s motion for a preliminary injunction in the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Heritage Foundation and its employee, Mike Howell.
The materials come from former special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. The Justice Department will now turn over the redacted versions to the plaintiffs and House Judiciary Committee.
BREAKING: A judge has cleared the way for DOJ to give a redacted version of Joe Biden's conversations with his ghostwriter to the Heritage Foundation.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 19, 2026
She says the redactions to private info are substantial and the rest if of high public interest. https://t.co/dZLS4Wdcqg pic.twitter.com/e0jFqbbSBq
The Justice Department initially withheld the tapes under multiple FOIA exemptions. The agency reversed its position after a congressional request. Biden filed a motion to intervene and prevent the tapes from being publicized.
The court found that the former president was unlikely to win on his claim that the disclosure violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The judges argued the DOJ’s choice was reasonable because it is redacting sensitive information while still maintaining transparency. They explained that the former president is “unlikely to show that the Department’s decision to disclose the Zwonitzer materials, as currently redacted, is ‘arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.’”
"Joe Biden is a 'third-party actor' with no business using major Trump case to stop ghostwriter tapes from emerging at 'eleventh hour': Court filing" - Law&Crime #SmartNews https://t.co/YB9MWr2dYB
— Jupiter Riising (@JupiterRising10) June 10, 2026
The court concluded that the information in the tapes is a matter of public interest because Hur used them in his investigation into Biden’s classified documents case.
The tapes are believed to show more evidence demonstrating Biden’s failing cognitive abilities while he was in office. During Hur’s interviews with Biden, the former president showed difficulty remembering details that should have been easy to recall.
Biden’s team was clearly trying to shield him from even more embarrassment. It was already bad enough that Democrats failed to cover up his dementia during his term in office. Now, it’s like we continue having reminders that this man served for four years in the Oval Office when he was clearly not equipped for the job.