Biden sues US government to block release of ghostwriter interviews
The interviews were obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur during an investigation into Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Former US President Joe Biden has filed a lawsuit against the federal government in an effort to stop the release of recordings and transcripts of interviews he gave to the ghostwriter of his memoir.
The interviews were obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur during an investigation into Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Although Mr Hur found that Mr Biden had improperly kept some records, he did not recommend criminal charges.
His 2024 report, however, drew intense attention after raising concerns about Mr Biden’s memory and fitness for office.
The disputed interviews were conducted with writer Mark Zwonitzer while Mr Biden was working on his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad, which focused in part on the death of his son Beau Biden in 2015.
According to Mr Hur’s report, Mr Biden referred during the interviews to notes he had taken while serving as vice-president, some of which appeared to contain classified information.
The report also described parts of the interviews as slow and difficult, saying Mr Biden appeared to struggle at times to recall events and read from his own notebooks.
Those comments became politically explosive in Washington and intensified scrutiny of Mr Biden’s age and health.
Mr Biden later ended his re-election bid after a poor debate performance deepened concerns among Democrats about his ability to continue as the party’s candidate.
Republican lawmakers and the conservative Heritage Foundation have been seeking access to the memoir interview materials since 2024.
The Justice Department has now indicated that the records could be released by June 15.
Mr Biden’s lawyers are asking the court to block that release.
They argue that the conversations were private, sensitive and protected under the Privacy Act.
They also claim the Justice Department is violating the Administrative Procedure Act by seeking to disclose the materials for improper purposes.
The department had previously opposed releasing the records on privacy grounds.
But under President Donald Trump, it has changed its position.
Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre accused the previous administration of trying to hide recordings which, she said, showed a decline in Mr Biden’s cognitive abilities.
She said the public should be allowed to hear the recordings and reach its own conclusions.
Mr Biden’s legal team rejects that argument, saying the government is relying on a false justification to expose private conversations.
