A federal judge handed the Heritage Foundation a major win Friday, clearing the way for the Justice Department to release 70 hours of audio recordings former President Joe Biden made while writing his memoir.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich denied Biden’s attempt to block the release, dealing a blow to his claim that the tapes were private conversations inside his own home.
The recordings were obtained by the DOJ during its investigation into Biden’s handling of classified materials. The Heritage Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act request in April 2024 to obtain the conversations after the DOJ declined to press charges against Biden.
The recorded conversations were significantly redacted and “contain no information about Biden’s family or other private persons.”
When the Trump administration in February indicated its intent to reverse a Biden-era DOJ hold on the tapes, Biden retaliated with a lawsuit. He argued he holds “a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home.”
Friedrich’s ruling gives the DOJ the green light to release the recordings, though Biden’s lawyers immediately launched an injunction pending appeal.
Biden and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer made the recordings for his memoir Promise Me Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose. The tapes became evidence in the classified documents probe that ultimately ended without criminal charges.
