Former President Joe Biden has initiated legal action in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent the release of recordings and transcripts from interviews he gave to a memoir ghostwriter. These materials, which were acquired during a special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents, have become a point of contention between Biden and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ plans to release these materials following a request from House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan. Biden’s legal team argues that this request lacks constitutional validity and strays beyond the committee’s investigatory reach. Read more
The lawsuit filed by Biden seeks a declaratory judgment to invalidate the congressional request, along with injunctions to prevent disclosure. It claims the DOJ’s decision contravenes the Privacy Act, which generally prohibits federal agencies from releasing individual records without consent. While the act allows disclosures to congressional committees, Biden’s counsel asserts that this situation does not fulfill the criteria. More details on this are available in the complaint filed by the Biden legal team, emphasizing that the interviews with biographer Mark Zwonitzer, conducted between 2016 and 2017, do not serve a legitimate legislative purpose since they predate the Hur investigation. The Hill offers some insights into this aspect of the legal argument.
According to the lawsuit, an agreement with the White House Counsel’s Office restricted the use of these records to the special counsel’s investigation spearheaded by Robert Hur, which concluded in February 2024. The report by Hur acknowledged Biden’s willful retention and disclosure of classified materials from his tenure as senator and vice president, yet refrained from recommending criminal charges against him. This agreement with the counsel’s office also required prior notification and an opportunity to contest any external disclosure, which Biden’s legal team argues was not properly honored by the DOJ.
The lawsuit represents a new chapter in a protracted struggle over these materials. In 2024, a US House vote held then-attorney general Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress after citing executive privilege when refusing to release Biden’s interview tape with Hur. The full audio eventually surfaced in May 2025, but the conversations with Zwonitzer remained confidential until the recent decision to release them. CNN provides further background on the House Judiciary Committee’s interests and how they intertwine with Biden’s privacy claims.
Previously, Biden attempted to intervene in a related Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case filed by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which called for the release of these documents. While the court allowed intervention regarding the disclosure to the Heritage Foundation, it denied his attempt to block release to the House Judiciary Committee, emphasizing that an intervenor cannot modify the nature of proceedings. This denial triggered Biden’s recent legal maneuver.