Full story
Tapes released, classified talk
Newly released audio recordings disclosed by the Oversight Project show former President Joe Biden discussing potentially classified information with his memoir ghostwriter, Mark Lewis Zwonitzer, in interviews conducted before his election to the presidency in 2020.
“'I just found all the classified stuff downstairs,' Biden tells ghostwriter in recording Audio recordings that Joe Biden fought for years to keep private - in which he acknowledges possessing classified material after leaving office as US vice-president - have been released by Republicans in Congress”
In one clip, Biden tells Zwonitzer, "They didn't even know I had this," as he talks about sensitive foreign policy matters handled by the administration.
The BBC reported that in a recording, Biden says, "I just found all the classified stuff downstairs," in February 2017, a month after he left the White House.
The recordings were released after Biden lost a prolonged legal fight to keep his conversations with Zwonitzer private, and the potentially classified information itself is redacted in both the audio and transcripts that the Oversight Project released.
The BBC also reported that the tapes contain interviews between Biden, now 83, and Zwonitzer, and that Biden fought for years to keep them private before they were released by Republicans in Congress.
Memory lapses and reactions
The tapes also include moments in which Biden appears to struggle to recall details, and the BBC said Hur believed a jury would view Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
In the recordings, Biden sometimes warns Zwonitzer, "Some of this may be classified … So, be careful. I'm not sure ... It's not marked classified but —" as the audio and transcripts remain partially redacted.
The Oversight Project’s Vice President of Litigation Jeff Clark insisted the tapes prove Biden’s decline, saying, "The tapes have always belonged to the American People, the Oversight Project just delivered them to their rightful owner,".
Biden’s spokesperson TJ Ducklo blasted the release as politically motivated, saying, "Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution."
The BBC reported that Biden’s personal lawyers sued the justice department in May to keep the tapes private, but after legal defeats they dropped their lawsuit.
Legal fallout and stakes
The release renews scrutiny of how classified material was handled after Biden left the vice presidency, with the BBC saying the recordings were obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his investigation in 2024 into Biden's handling of classified documents.
“On this portal we use navigation data and cookies, both our own and from third parties, to manage the portal, generate statistical information, optimize the site's functionality, and show advertising related to your preferences through analysis of your browsing”
CBS News reported that recordings shared with it include Biden describing potentially classified meetings, including "a big meeting with the CIA and everyone," "a big meeting down in the Situation Room," and "a long meeting where DOD brief … POTUS."
CBS News also said Hur characterized Biden as "struggling to remember events," and described "diminished faculties" and "painfully slow" conversations as early as 2016.
In response to the release, Biden’s spokesperson TJ Ducklo told CBS News that the conversations were private and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way, saying, "President Biden's conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private."
The BBC added that Hur decided not to recommend charging Biden, while Trump was charged with illegally retaining documents at his home in Florida and those charges were dropped after he returned to the White House.
