Joe Biden sued the US Justice Department on Tuesday to block the planned release of audio recordings and transcripts from his interviews with the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir Promise Me, Dad. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, targets a DOJ release scheduled for June 15 and argues the recordings contain private information unrelated to the classified-documents inquiry that originally captured them, the BBC reported.
What is in the recordings? Special Counsel Robert Hur obtained the audio and transcripts while investigating Biden's handling of classified materials. Hur did not recommend charges but described the interviews as "painfully slow, with Mr Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries," the BBC reported. The interviews with co-writer Mark Zwonitzer covered events around the 2015 death of Biden's son Beau, and Hur said Biden read from notes that appeared to contain classified information.
Why is the DOJ moving to release them now? House Republicans and the conservative Heritage Foundation requested the recordings in 2024, and the current Justice Department reversed the prior administration's position opposing release, The Hill reported. In a statement, the DOJ accused the prior administration of trying to "hide audio recordings that clearly demonstrate a significant decline" in Biden's mental state. The reversal is part of a broader rollback by 
Donald Trump's appointees of Biden-era privacy positions.
What does Biden argue? The suit characterizes the planned release as a misuse of investigative material gathered under a privacy expectation and seeks an injunction before the June 15 deadline, the BBC reported. The filing comes the same week his wife Jill Biden said in a CBS interview that she feared he was having a stroke during the 2024 debate against Trump.
Figures referenced: Joe Biden, Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
