(The Epoch Times)—Former President Joe Biden filed a lawsuit on May 26 in a bid to block the Department of Justice (DOJ) from releasing audio recordings and transcripts of his private conversations with a biographer that were connected to a 2023 special counsel probe into his handling of classified records.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, comes as the DOJ planned to release the materials to the House Judiciary Committee and conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation on June 15.
The materials stemmed from private conversations Biden had with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer in his home between 2016 and 2017 as part of the writing process for his memoir titled “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.”
The book detailed Biden’s decision to run for the 2016 presidency while his eldest son, Beau, fought brain cancer and later passed away in 2015, according to the lawsuit.
The DOJ later obtained the materials in 2023 as part of former special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified information after his vice presidency.
The probe ended in 2024 with findings that Biden had willfully retained classified materials, though no criminal charges were pursued. Hur said at the time that the evidence fell short of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
According to Biden’s lawsuit, the DOJ initially withheld the materials under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the grounds that they were exempt from disclosure, but the department later reversed its position under President Donald Trump’s second term.
The lawsuit seeks judicial review to stop the DOJ from disclosing the materials, citing Biden’s privacy rights and the DOJ’s obligations to protect “sensitive and highly personal law enforcement information.”
“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” the lawsuit stated.
“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 Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Biden has earlier sought to intervene in the Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit against the DOJ over the materials. Last week, a judge allowed Biden to join the case but barred him from pursuing claims about the committee’s request for the materials, according to court records.
Oversight Project, a legal advocacy arm of The Heritage Foundation, said on May 11 that the public deserves access to the materials and called for full transparency regarding Hur’s 2023 probe.
“President Biden revealed classified information and was not prosecuted,” Oversight Project President Mike Howell said in a statement, adding, “These tapes will further prove the massive lie regarding Biden’s fitness for office and the fact Biden revealed classified information.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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