Biden Drops Legal Fight Over Special Counsel Hur Interview Recordings

Former President Joe Biden’s attorneys have abandoned their legal challenge to prevent the public disclosure of audio recordings and transcripts from his interviews with his memoir ghostwriter, according to a motion filed Monday. The decision concludes a protracted dispute over materials gathered by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved the voluntary dismissal.

Biden’s legal team cited his current status as a private citizen no longer seeking political office in withdrawing the case. The Justice Department can now release the recordings and transcripts to the House Judiciary Committee following the motion’s acceptance. The materials consist of conversations between Biden and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer regarding the former president’s forthcoming memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” recorded in 2016 and 2017.

Special Counsel Hur examined Biden’s retention of classified materials from his years as vice president under the Obama administration and as a Delaware senator. Hur declined to press criminal charges, determining prosecutors could not establish beyond reasonable doubt that Biden knowingly retained or disclosed the classified information. In his report, Hur noted that Biden might appear to jurors as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” rather than a deliberate violator of classification laws.

The conservative Heritage Foundation pursued the materials through Freedom of Information Act requests for more than two years, asserting public interest in the recordings and transcripts underlying Hur’s prosecutorial decisions. A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit previously sided with Heritage, concluding that privacy concerns did not outweigh public disclosure interests. Hur’s report frequently referenced Biden’s recorded exchanges with Zwonitzer, characterizing some conversations as “painfully slow” and noting instances where Biden struggled to recall events.

The Justice Department reversed its earlier position in February, signaling its intention to release redacted versions of the materials to both the Heritage Foundation and House lawmakers. The reversal marked a significant shift from the administration’s initial effort to maintain confidentiality of the investigative materials.