BREAKING: Judge Allows DOJ to Release 70 Hours of Audiotapes of Biden’s Conversations with Ghostwriter
Update: Judge Friedrich stayed her own order pending appeal and gave the DC Circuit Court of Appeals three weeks to make a decision on whether the DOJ can release Biden’s audiotapes.
A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for the Justice Department to release recordings of Biden’s conversations with his ghostwriter to the Oversight Project.
US District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, said the redactions were sufficient.
Biden’s lawyers immediately requested an injunction pending appeal.
The Oversight Project previously filed a FOIA lawsuit requesting records from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden.
Last month, it was reported that the DOJ was preparing to release damning audio of Biden’s interview with former Special Counsel Robert Hur. The Department is also going to release 2017 audio recordings of conversations with his ghostwriter in which he disclosed classified information.
Biden previously asserted executive privilege over the audio recordings related to then-Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his stolen classified documents scandal.
Then-US Attorney General Merrick Garland classified the audio tapes of Biden’s interview with Hur as “Top Secret” and locked it way in a SCIF.
The Oversight Project vowed to obtain and release Biden’s audio recordings of his conversation with his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
The Oversight Project celebrated the win on Friday.
🚨VICTORY🚨
Oversight Project secures major victory to force the release of Joe “Autopen” Biden tapes from 2016/2017 with the man he paid to write a book for him.
This will give the public more insight into when the deterioration began. pic.twitter.com/RxY1ruwrMR
— Oversight Project (@ItsYourGov) June 19, 2026
Politico reported:
A federal judge on Friday rejected an effort by former President Joe Biden to block the Justice Department from turning over hours of nearly decade-old audio conversations to the Heritage Foundation.
Biden’s lawyers immediately launched an injunction pending appeal.
But it could mean a major blow for the former president, who in May sued the DOJ to block the release of the recordings. Heritage contends the audio files contain proof that the former president mishandled classified information, which Biden has emphatically denied.
Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, wrote in her ruling that the former president’s privacy concerns “though substantial,” paled in comparison to the significant public interest in the case and were mitigated by extensive redactions undertaken by the DOJ.
Author Mark Zwonitzer’s redacted materials, Friedrich wrote, “contain no information about Biden’s family or other private persons. She herself reviewed them personally in advance of her ruling.”
Here is the backstory on Mark Zwonitzer:
Robert Hur in February 2024 released a 345-page report on his investigation of the stolen classified documents.
Robert Hur found that Joe Biden “willfully retained” classified information, however, he decided not to charge him. Hur said there is evidence Biden retained classified notebooks, “knowing he was not allowed to do so.”
Biden was not charged even though he willfully retained SCIF-designated classified documents and shared material with his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
According to Robert Hur, In 2017, Joe Biden read aloud classified passages about meetings in the Situation Room to his ghostwriter “verbatim on at least three occasions” – and Biden still wasn’t charged.
Mark Zwonitzer deleted digital audio files of recordings of his conversations with Biden after learning about Special Counsel Robert Hur’s appointment.
According to Hur’s report, Zwonitzer deleted the files before he received a subpoena.
Technicians were able to recover the deleted recordings but Zwonitzer was not charged for deleting the files.
According to the report, portions of three of Zwonitzer’s recovered audio files appeared to be missing and a fourth file appeared to have portions overwritten with a separate recording.
The feds declined to charge Zwonitzer.
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