The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied former President Joe Biden’s emergency motion to block the release of redacted transcripts and audio recordings of his conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
The 2‑1 ruling was signed by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Gregory Katsas; Judge Florence Pan dissented and would have granted the injunction.
The materials consist of hours of recordings and transcripts from 2016 and 2017 sessions in which Biden prepared his memoir “Promise Me, Dad.”
Special Counsel Robert Hur obtained the recordings during an investigation into Biden’s alleged retention and disclosure of classified documents. His team used the material to conclude that Biden had kept classified information after leaving the vice presidency but ultimately declined to prosecute.
The court held that the public has a substantial interest in examining the evidence that underpinned the decision not to bring charges, noting the need to evaluate the Special Counsel’s conduct and conclusions.
Justice Department redactions removed references to sensitive personal matters, non‑public individuals, illnesses, deaths, and family members. The remaining content largely discusses foreign policy and Biden’s decision not to run for president in 2016, information already available in the Special Counsel’s report and the memoir.
The majority determined that Biden’s privacy interests do not outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure and that the Department’s reversal of its earlier withholding decision was justified under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Biden had previously invoked executive privilege to keep the interview with Special Counsel Hur private, but the court rejected that argument under FOIA privacy exemptions.
The decision allows the redacted records to be released to the public, subject to the existing redactions.
