Biden sues to block release of interviews with ghostwriter: 'Unwarranted invasion of privacy'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Former President Joe Biden sued the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday to prevent the release of audio and transcripts of his interviews with a ghostwriter, which were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur as part of his investigation into Biden's mishandling of classified documents.

According to Biden's lawyers, the transcripts and audio of Biden's interviews in 2016 and 2017 with author Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with him on his two memoirs, are among the material the Justice Department plans to release on June 15 to Congress and The Heritage Foundation, according to The Associated Press.

In the case filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, Biden's attorneys argued that releasing the recordings would "constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden's privacy."

"Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home," they wrote. "And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure."

President Donald Trump shared the story from Just the News on Truth Social on Tuesday, adding, "A Crooked Politician!!!"

The recordings at issue featured as part of Hur's investigation into the former president's alleged unauthorized removal, retention and disclosure of classified documents while senator and vice president in his garage in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as in a locked closet in his private office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.

Hur ultimately declined to press charges against Biden in 2024, though his report called into question his age and mental competency, noting his memory "appeared to have significant limitations." He claimed at the time that Biden would present himself at trial as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

The investigation also found that Biden "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials" as a private citizen, particularly involving notebooks about the troop surge in Afghanistan.

Biden fought to block the release of the audio of his October 2023 interviews with federal prosecutors by exerting executive privilege, and the U.S. House of Representatives voted in 2024 to hold then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over the audio despite a congressional subpoena.

Five hours worth of Biden's interviews with federal prosecutors was released last year, transcripts of which showed that while he insisted that he handled classified material seriously, he was unsure of details regarding the documents that were in his possession.