Former President Joe Biden filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday, seeking to block the planned public release of private audio recordings and transcripts that captured his memory lapses during his time in office.
According to Bloomberg and CNN, the lawsuit aims to halt a June 15 disclosure by the DOJ to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The files contain roughly 70 hours of private home interviews from 2016 and 2017 between Biden and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer.
The recordings were seized by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into Biden's retention of classified materials. Hur's 2024 report declined criminal charges but described Biden as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." The characterization became a focal point of the debate over Biden's fitness during the 2024 re-election campaign.
Conservative critics argue the lawsuit is an attempt to keep evidence of Biden's cognitive decline from the public. Biden's attorneys say the disclosure would be an "unwarranted invasion" of his personal privacy.
