Appeals court denies Biden bid to block release of tapes with biographer for now

Appeals court denies Biden bid to block: elease of Biden's Biographer Recordings A federal appellate court has declined to prevent the Justice Department from

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D.C. Circuit Upholds Release of Biden’s Biographer Recordings

A federal appellate court has declined to prevent the Justice Department from providing redacted audio recordings and transcripts to a conservative organization. The materials document conversations between former President Joe Biden and his biographer from approximately ten years prior. While the ruling went against Biden’s request, the court has postponed implementation until August 3 to permit additional legal proceedings.

Majority Opinion and Dissent

Two judges on the three-member panel voted in favor of disclosure, with only one dissenting. Sri Srinivasan and Gregory Katsas authored the unsigned opinion stating that Biden failed to demonstrate sufficient grounds for withholding the documents. Florence Pan disagreed with the outcome.

“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 and Katsas found.

The majority acknowledged that individuals typically possess a strong privacy interest in avoiding identification as investigation targets when no charges follow. However, they noted that the Department of Justice publicly announced both the Special Counsel appointment and the investigation’s objectives. Furthermore, the final report detailed extensively how Biden faced scrutiny over alleged retention and disclosure of classified documents.

“In that regard, although there is generally a substantial privacy interest in not being identified as the target of an investigation that results in no charges, … DOJ announced the Special Counsel’s appointment and the purpose of his investigation, and the Special Counsel Report describes at length that Biden was investigated for allegedly retaining and disclosing classified materials.”

The judges emphasized that releasing these materials would help the public better understand and evaluate the Special Counsel’s work and final determination. They concluded that transparency would “advance” the relevant public interest.

Justice Pan argued in her dissent that the majority’s ruling would lead to premature publication of conversations that are unquestionably private. She characterized the decision as favoring immediate release of the contested exchanges.

“In my view, Biden has shown a substantial privacy interest,” Pan wrote. “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.”

Background of the Recordings

The disputed audio files originate from 2016 and 2017, when Biden participated in interviews with Mark Zwonitzer for his autobiography titled “Promise Me, Dad.” Interest in these recordings resurfaced several years later when the Heritage Foundation sought them following Robert Hur’s probe into Biden’s management of sensitive government documents after his vice presidency concluded in 2017. No criminal charges resulted from Hur’s examination.

The 2024 special counsel report contained sections referencing Biden’s discussions with Zwonitzer. According to the report, the recordings revealed the former president’s “diminished faculties and faulty memory.” The document described the conversations as “painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”

Legal Timeline and Response

Following the Hur report’s publication, the Heritage Foundation submitted a public records request for materials the special counsel utilized when drafting particular sections, including references to Zwonitzer’s recorded interviews. The Justice Department initially kept the audio tapes and most written transcripts confidential, citing applicable Freedom of Information Act exemptions.

On July 10, the same three-judge panel granted a temporary administrative injunction preventing release to the organization for ten days. The court clarified in a brief unsigned order that this measure, set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on July 20, aimed to provide adequate time for reviewing the emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal. The court stressed that this action should not be interpreted as a decision on the substantive merits of the motion.

TJ Ducklo, representing Biden, issued a statement addressing the ruling. He emphasized that the former president’s conversations about his deceased son were shared with the Justice Department under explicit conditions ensuring their continued privacy.

“President Biden’s conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private, and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way. Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution. It’s wrong, and while President Biden disagrees with today’s decision, he also respects the courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in a healthy democracy.”

The Justice Department initially withheld the audio tapes and most of the written transcripts, citing certain exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act. But once President Trump returned to office, the administration reversed course on several policies regarding document disclosure.

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