A D.C. Circuit panel has delayed the Justice Department’s planned release of audio from Joe Biden’s interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer while judges consider the former president’s request for a broader injunction.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily prevented the Justice Department from releasing approximately 70 hours of recorded interviews between former President Joe Biden and the ghostwriter of his memoir, preserving the recordings while the court considers Biden’s emergency appeal.
The temporary order gives Biden a brief reprieve in his effort to keep the tapes from being turned over to the Heritage Foundation and Mike Howell, the former director of the organization’s Oversight Project.
Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judges Gregory Katsas and Florence Pan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an administrative injunction barring disclosure through 11:59 p.m. July 20.
The three-judge panel said the limited pause was intended to maintain the existing situation while it reviews Biden’s motion for a longer injunction that would remain in place during his appeal.
The unsigned order “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits,” according to CBS News.
The appeals court’s action temporarily suspends a June ruling by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who rejected Biden’s attempt to prevent disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
Friedrich considered Biden’s claim that the recordings implicated his personal privacy but concluded that the public interest in disclosure carried greater weight.
After reviewing the effect of Justice Department redactions, Friedrich found that the audio “contain no information about Biden’s family or other private persons.”
She also determined that Biden’s privacy interest had been reduced and did not overcome FOIA’s general presumption in favor of releasing government records.
The recordings were made in 2016 and 2017 as Biden spoke with author Mark Zwonitzer while preparing his memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.”
The Justice Department later obtained the tapes during former special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s retention and handling of classified materials after leaving the vice presidency.
Hur concluded in his February 2024 special counsel report that Biden had willfully retained and disclosed classified information, including by reading classified material aloud to Zwonitzer.
Despite those findings, Hur declined to recommend criminal charges. He said a jury would likely view Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The Heritage Foundation requested the recordings through FOIA in 2024.
The Justice Department under the Biden administration declined to release them. After President Donald Trump returned to office, the department reversed that position and moved toward disclosure.
Biden then intervened and filed suit, arguing that the recordings reflected private conversations conducted inside his home and should remain sealed.
Howell said the Heritage Foundation remained focused on obtaining the recordings for public release.
“We are monitoring the situation and, as always, will do whatever is in the best interest of getting these tapes out to the American people as fast as possible,” Howell told the Examiner.
The D.C. Circuit is expected to decide before July 20 whether Biden qualifies for a longer injunction that would prevent disclosure while the full appeal moves forward.
Until that decision is issued or the administrative order expires, the Justice Department remains prohibited from releasing the tapes.
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