House Republicans released Biden ghostwriter memoir interview audio on Monday that includes Joe Biden saying, "I just found all the classified stuff downstairs," during interviews for his 2017 memoir Promise Me, Dad. The release opens a new public look at recordings that had been fought over for years and that were tied to a 2024 investigation into Biden's handling of records.
Mark Zwonitzer and Promise Me, Dad
The recordings were made in February 2017, a month after Biden left the White House as vice-president, while he was working with Mark Zwonitzer on Promise Me, Dad. In another line from the tapes, Biden says, "The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified."
House Republicans and the Oversight Project sued for the tapes as part of the probe into Biden's handling of the records. The audio and transcripts had been obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his 2024 investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents.
Robert Hur's 2024 probe
Hur found in 2024 that Biden had improperly retained records but did not recommend charging him. He said he had concerns that a jury would take Biden's side and view him as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The release also lands against the record of the justice department, which declined to release the audio during Biden's presidency from 2021-25. In May, Biden's personal lawyers sued the justice department to keep the tapes private, then dropped that lawsuit after legal defeats.
TJ Ducklo on the release
Biden's spokesman TJ Ducklo called the release "just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution". He also said, "It's wrong, and while President Biden disagrees with today's decision, he also respects the courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in a healthy democracy,".
The recordings include significant redactions, which House Oversight Committee Republicans say are intended to cover Biden's disclosure of classified information. The tapes do not identify in the available material what specific classified records Biden was referring to, leaving the public with the words he used and not the underlying documents they describe.
