Biden Sues DOJ to Block Release of Special Counsel Tapes

WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department seeking to block the release of approximately 70 hours of audio recordings and transcripts from private interviews he conducted with his ghostwriter — materials obtained by special counsel Robert Hur during the investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that releasing the recordings would constitute an “unwarranted invasion of privacy” and asks a federal judge to halt the DOJ’s planned disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee and the Heritage Foundation on June 15.

The Lawsuit

Biden’s legal team, led by attorney Amy Jeffress, contends that the DOJ under the Trump administration reversed its longstanding position that the materials were exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. According to the Associated Press, the department notified Biden in February 2026 of its intention to release the files “without any formal explanation for its about-face.”

“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” Biden’s attorneys wrote in the filing. “And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”

What’s at Stake

The materials at the center of the dispute are audio recordings and transcripts of interviews Biden conducted at his home in 2016 and 2017 with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer for his 2017 memoir, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.” The book chronicles the year beginning Thanksgiving 2014, during which Biden navigated his duties as vice president, weighed a potential 2016 presidential run, and dealt with his eldest son Beau’s battle with brain cancer. Beau Biden died in May 2015 at age 46.

As CBS News reports, three separate FOIA lawsuits were previously filed attempting to unseal the materials. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, filed its own FOIA request and subsequent lawsuit in 2024 seeking access to the recordings.

The Special Counsel Investigation

The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed in January 2023 to investigate whether Biden had mishandled classified documents discovered at his Wilmington, Delaware home and at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. Hur’s yearlong investigation concluded in February 2024 with a 345-page report that found Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” but declined to bring criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence.

The report became a political flashpoint for its characterization of Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” — language that TIME notes resurfaced during the 2024 presidential campaign and continues to fuel Republican criticism of the former president.

DOJ’s Reversal and Political Context

The Justice Department under the Biden administration had previously argued that releasing the materials “would constitute a severe invasion of privacy.” But after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, the DOJ reversed course. In a statement reported by USA Today, the department said: “Joe Biden’s Justice Department tried to hide audio recordings that clearly demonstrate a significant decline in his cognitive abilities as far back as 2016. This is the most transparent Department of Justice in history, and we will fight to ensure the American people can hear these recordings.”

President Trump has publicly supported the release. Speaking to reporters during a Cabinet meeting on May 27, Trump said: “I’d like to see it. I would like to see what he has to say because we can never allow what happened to this country to happen. The man was grossly incompetent.” On Truth Social, Trump called Biden “a Crooked Politician.”

Biden’s spokesperson TJ Ducklo dismissed the DOJ’s position as politically motivated. “President Biden cooperated fully with Special Counsel Hur, and agreed to provide audiotapes of conversations with his biographer for a book about his deceased son on the condition that they would not be made public,” Ducklo told TIME. “The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest. What’s happening now isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics.”

Legal and Privacy Implications

The case raises significant questions about the scope of FOIA exemptions, particularly Exemption 6 (personal privacy) and Exemption 7 (law enforcement records). Legal experts note that the DOJ’s reversal of position without formal explanation could be a key weakness in its legal argument. On May 21, the court “granted intervention as to some but not all of President Biden’s proposed cross-claims” and blocked him from pursuing claims about the committee’s request, according to court records cited by TIME.

The lawsuit also tests whether a former president can assert privacy rights over personal materials obtained during a criminal investigation — a question with potentially far-reaching implications for executive privilege and the boundaries of FOIA.

What’s Next

The court must now rule on Biden’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the June 15 release. If the materials are ultimately released, they are likely to dominate news cycles and could impact the 2026 midterm elections. The case could ultimately reach the Supreme Court, particularly if it raises novel questions about former presidential privacy rights and the limits of congressional oversight.

For now, the legal battle is set to unfold rapidly, with a scheduled release date less than three weeks away — unless a judge intervenes.