Biden’s lawyers said in the lawsuit that the Justice Department plans to release the documents to Congress and a conservative group.
WASHINGTON – Joe Biden sues Ministry of Justice On Tuesday, the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents obtained audio recordings and transcripts of the former president’s interviews with ghostwriters in an effort to prevent their release.
Biden’s lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington that the Justice Department planned to release the documents to Congress and the conservative group the Heritage Foundation, after the department had argued they were exempt from disclosure under public records laws.
Biden’s lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”
“Every American, including a current or former vice president, has the right to the privacy of private conversations conducted in the privacy of his or her own home,” his attorneys wrote. “When the U.S. Department of Justice obtains this private information through a criminal investigation, the Department has a special responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”
At issue in the case are audio recordings and transcripts of Biden’s home interviews in 2016 and 2017 with Mark Zwonitzer, who wrote two memoirs with Biden. Special counsel Robert Hur scrutinized the documents as part of his investigation into the president. Improper storage of confidential documentsstarting when he was a senator and vice president.
Hour’s yearlong investigation resulted in a 345-page report that questioned Biden’s age and mental competency but recommended against criminal charges against the then 81-year-old. Hull said he did not find enough evidence to successfully prosecute the case in court.
Biden has separately objected to the release of audio of his interview with Hull. House votes to retain Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2024 contempt of parliament The White House refused to turn over the audio after exercising executive privilege to shield it from Congress.
That same year, the transcript of Biden’s five-hour interview with federal prosecutors was released. While Biden insisted he took classified information seriously, transcripts show he was sometimes vague about dates and details, and he said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail of some of the sensitive documents he handled.
Republicans argue that Biden was cleared by his own Justice Department and that Trump was unfairly harmed by prosecutors. Democrats, for their part, have highlighted Biden’s cooperation in the investigation and contrasted it with the separate criminal case against Trump, who is accused of refusing to return classified documents owned by him at his Florida estate requested by the National Archives.
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