Biden Drops Effort to Stop House Judiciary Committee from Accessing His Interview Tapes With Ghostwriter

Stephanie Scarbrough/AP Photo

Former President Joe Biden abandoned his legal effort to stop audio recordings of his interviews with his memoir ghostwriter from being turned over to the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, filing a notice of voluntary dismissal on Friday after suffering a setback in federal appeals court.

The filing ends Biden’s attempt to block the release of the recordings and transcripts stemming from interviews conducted in 2016 and 2017 by memoir collaborator Mark Zwonitzer, whose conversations with Biden later became part of former special counsel Robert Hur’s classified documents investigation.

The move comes days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 against Biden’s request to keep the materials private, concluding there was a strong public interest in their disclosure while pausing its ruling until August 3 to give the former president an opportunity to seek further review.

In the majority opinion, Judges Sri Srinivasan and Gregory Katsas wrote: “We conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure.”

Srinivasan was appointed by former President Barack Obama, while Katsas joined the bench after being nominated by President Donald Trump during his first term.

Biden-appointed Judge Florence Pan dissented, writing: “In my view, Biden has shown a substantial privacy interest.”

“The conversations at issue took place in Biden’s home, and the recordings of them were obtained by the government in the course of a criminal investigation that did not lead to an indictment,” Pan added.

The dispute originated with a 2024 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Heritage Foundation, which sought access to the recordings and transcripts generated during Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The Department of Justice initially declined to release most of the material but later reversed course, saying it intended to publish redacted versions. Biden’s legal team intervened in an effort to prevent their release, arguing that interviews conducted inside his home should remain private.

Friday’s voluntary dismissal clears the way for the records to be provided to the House Judiciary Committee, ending Biden’s court challenge without further appeal.

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