WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden has taken the unusual step of suing the Justice Department to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of interviews he gave to a ghostwriter, material that was obtained by the special counsel who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Washington’s federal court, alleges that the Justice Department informed Biden’s legal team it intends to release the files to Congress and to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group that had requested them. The department had previously taken the position that the records were exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and other public records laws, Biden’s attorneys said in the filing.
“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” Biden’s lawyers 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.”
The filing argues that the planned disclosure “would constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”
A rare legal posture
The lawsuit represents a seldom-seen dynamic: a former president suing the Justice Department to prevent the release of records generated during a criminal investigation that examined his own conduct. The department, now under the leadership of the current administration, is the defendant in a case that pits executive-branch document control against demands for transparency from Congress and outside groups.
The interviews in question were conducted with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer as part of the preparation of Biden’s memoir. They became evidence in the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 to examine Biden’s retention of classified materials from his time as vice president.
Hur’s investigation concluded in February 2024 with a report that declined to bring criminal charges against Biden, citing what Hur described as “evidentiary challenges” including that Biden would likely present to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That characterization became a flashpoint in the 2024 presidential campaign.
The disclosure dispute
The Justice Department’s apparent reversal on whether the recordings and transcripts are subject to release lies at the center of Biden’s legal challenge. According to the lawsuit, the department had previously conceded the materials were exempt from public disclosure, then changed course and informed Biden’s attorneys that it planned to provide the files to congressional requesters and the Heritage Foundation.
Biden’s legal team contends that the Privacy Act and other statutory protections shield the materials from release. The filing does not detail the specific content of the interviews but frames them as private conversations conducted in Biden’s home — material the government should not be permitted to disseminate simply because it came into possession of it during a criminal inquiry.
The Associated Press reported that Biden’s lawyers argued the disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of his privacy, a claim that will now be tested in federal court.
Political reaction
The lawsuit drew an immediate response from former President Donald Trump, who criticized Biden’s effort to block the release. Trump’s reaction was reported across multiple outlets as the case became the latest front in the long-running political and legal disputes between the two former presidents.
The Heritage Foundation’s involvement adds another dimension to the disclosure fight. The foundation has pursued records related to the Biden classified documents investigation through public records requests and is named in the lawsuit as one of the recipients the Justice Department intends to provide the materials to.
The case is filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. No hearing date has been set.