Biden sues DOJ to block release of Hur interview audio
Rule ChangesAbout 70 hours of ghostwriter recordings face a June 15 disclosure deadline
June 15th, 2026: DOJ scheduled release dateNew here? Follow stories to track developments over time. Create a free account to get updates when stories you care about change.
Overview
Updated May 27Joe Biden talked with his ghostwriter for about 70 hours in 2016 and 2017. The Trump-era Justice Department now plans to release the recordings — and Biden sued Tuesday to block it.
The audio became evidence in Special Counsel Robert Hur's classified-documents investigation, then sat under executive-privilege protection. After the Heritage Foundation won a Freedom of Information Act suit for the files, DOJ reversed course. Biden's complaint says the tapes capture private home conversations that should stay sealed.
Why it matters
A ruling for Biden shields former presidents from FOIA release of their criminal-investigation interviews; a ruling against him sets the opposite precedent.
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People Involved
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The federal agency that prosecutes federal crimes and defends the U.S. government in court.
A conservative oversight group that uses Freedom of Information Act requests to pressure federal agencies.
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Timeline
January 2023 June 2026
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DOJ scheduled release date
Latest ScheduledAbsent a court order, DOJ has told a federal judge it will hand over the redacted audio and transcripts to Heritage and the House Judiciary Committee on this date.
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Biden sues DOJ to block release
LegalBiden files suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to stop the June 15 disclosure. He argues FOIA's personal-privacy exemption covers the home interviews.
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Biden moves to intervene in Heritage FOIA case
LegalBiden files a motion to intervene in Heritage Foundation and Mike Howell v. DOJ, Case No. 24-645, ahead of the June 15 release date.
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Biden signals he will fight the release
StatementBiden's team tells reporters the former president plans to contest DOJ's planned disclosure of the Zwonitzer recordings.
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Trump DOJ reverses position on release
LegalThe Justice Department tells Biden's lawyers it will release redacted audio and transcripts to Heritage and Congress. The reversal comes without a written explanation, Biden's complaint says.
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House holds Garland in contempt
LegalThe full House votes 216-207 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. DOJ declines to prosecute him.
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Biden asserts executive privilege over audio
LegalThe White House blocks release of the Hur interview audio. Hours later, House panels vote to recommend holding Garland in contempt.
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Hur testifies before House; transcripts released
LegalHur appears before the House Judiciary Committee. The interview transcripts are made public; the audio is not.
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Hur report declines charges, cites 'poor memory'
ReportHur concludes Biden 'willfully retained' classified materials but recommends no prosecution. A jury, he writes, would see Biden as 'a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.'
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Biden sits for two days with Hur's team
InvestigationBiden is interviewed at the White House over October 8-9, 2023. Investigators ask about the documents and his work with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
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Garland appoints Hur as special counsel
InvestigationAttorney General Merrick Garland names Robert Hur to investigate classified documents found at Biden's Wilmington home and the Penn Biden Center.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
United States v. Nixon (1974)
The Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that President Nixon had to turn over his secretly recorded Oval Office tapes to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski. The Court rejected Nixon's blanket executive-privilege claim in the Watergate criminal investigation.
Nixon released the tapes within weeks. They contained the 'smoking gun' conversation showing he ordered a cover-up. He resigned 16 days after the ruling.
The decision set the precedent that executive privilege is not absolute and must yield to legitimate criminal-process needs. It did not address whether such recordings can later be made public through FOIA.
Nixon settled when a president must surrender recordings to investigators. Biden's case asks the next question: whether the investigator's tapes can later be released to political opponents through FOIA.
Clinton grand jury video (1998)
Independent Counsel Ken Starr delivered a videotape of President Clinton's August 17 grand jury testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. House Republicans voted 363-63 to release it publicly four days later.
An estimated 22 million Americans watched the testimony air on television. Clinton's job approval ratings rose afterward.
The episode set the recent benchmark that materials gathered by special prosecutors — including a president's own recorded testimony — can be made public when Congress chooses, even over the executive branch's objection.
Clinton's lawyers fought the video release on privacy and dignity grounds. They lost. Biden is making a similar privacy argument 28 years later, this time through a federal FOIA suit rather than a congressional vote.
Trump v. Thompson (2022)
The Supreme Court declined to block release of Trump White House records to the House January 6 committee despite Trump's executive-privilege claim as a former president. Sitting President Biden had waived the privilege.
The National Archives turned over hundreds of pages of records to the committee within days of the ruling.
The case established that a sitting president's privilege waiver outweighs a former president's privilege claim, weakening ex-presidents' control over their official records once they leave office.
Biden, like Trump in 2022, is the former president trying to keep records sealed against the current administration's wishes. The legal question differs — these are personal interview tapes under FOIA, not official records under executive privilege — but the structural posture is the same.
