Former President Joe Biden has sued the U.S. Department of Justice in an effort to block the Trump administration from releasing audio recordings and transcripts of private conversations he held with his biographer in 2016 and 2017, escalating a legal fight over materials gathered during the special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeks to prevent the Justice Department from releasing the materials to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The department has said it plans to release the records by June 15.

The recordings involve Biden’s conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad. The materials were later obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents from his time as vice president and senator. Hur declined to bring criminal charges, but his report drew national attention for its depiction of Biden’s memory and mental acuity.

Biden’s attorneys argue that releasing the recordings would be an “unwarranted invasion of privacy” and would expose deeply personal conversations that were never intended for public disclosure. The lawsuit says the Justice Department had previously maintained that the materials were protected from disclosure under federal public records law, but reversed course after President Donald Trump returned to office.

The suit asks the court to declare the House Judiciary Committee’s request for the records invalid and to permanently block the department from turning over the materials. Biden’s legal team argues that the committee’s request is a pretext meant to sidestep federal law and force the release of records that the Justice Department had already treated as exempt from disclosure.

The Heritage Foundation first sought access to the materials in 2024 after Hur’s investigation became a major political flashpoint. The group and congressional Republicans have argued that the recordings are necessary to evaluate Hur’s conclusions and the Justice Department’s decision not to charge Biden.

Hur’s 345-page report concluded that criminal charges were not warranted, but said Biden had retained and disclosed classified materials after leaving the vice presidency. The report also described Biden as an elderly man with memory problems, language that outraged Biden’s allies and became a major political issue during the 2024 campaign.

The dispute over audio recordings has been going on for years. In 2024, the Biden White House asserted executive privilege over audio of Biden’s interview with Hur, while transcripts of the interview were released publicly. At the time, the Justice Department argued that releasing audio could encourage manipulated or AI-generated deepfakes and discourage future witnesses from cooperating in sensitive investigations.

Republicans have long accused the Justice Department of treating Biden more favorably than Trump in classified documents investigations. Democrats have countered that Biden cooperated with investigators, while Trump was accused of obstructing efforts to recover classified records from his Florida estate before that case was later dismissed.

The lawsuit places the Trump Justice Department in a politically charged posture: defending a decision to release sensitive investigative materials that the department had previously resisted making public. Biden’s lawyers say the shift reflects political pressure, not a neutral application of the law.

The court fight now turns on whether the Justice Department can release the recordings and transcripts to Congress and the Heritage Foundation despite Biden’s objections. Unless a judge intervenes, the department is expected to provide the materials next month.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)