Biden Drops Legal Effort to Block Release of Hur Investigation Transcripts and Recordings

Former President Joe Biden has voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit seeking to prevent the Justice Department from releasing audio recordings and transcripts of interviews he conducted with his longtime ghostwriter, clearing the path for public disclosure of materials obtained during Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Biden’s attorneys filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in federal court in Washington on Friday, ending the legal challenge that had sought an injunction against the release. The move comes days after a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Biden’s emergency request to keep the materials sealed, ruling 2-1 that the public interest in disclosure outweighed remaining privacy concerns once redactionsactions versions were prepared.

The recordings and transcripts stem from conversations Biden held with author Mark Zwonitzer in 2016 and 2017 while preparing the memoir Promise Me, Dad. Special Counsel Hur obtained the materials in 2023 as part of his probe into whether Biden had improperly retained and shared classified information from his time as a senator and vice president. In his final report, Hur concluded that Biden had willfully retained classified documents and shared sensitive information with his biographer but declined to bring criminal charges, citing among other factors Biden’s age and memory issues at the time of a potential trial.

Biden’s legal team had argued that the interviews were candid, personal conversations never intended for public release and that their disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy under the Privacy Act. The Justice Department, under the Trump administration, had moved toward releasing redacted versions in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, including one from the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, after initially resisting disclosure. A federal district judge earlier ruled that the public interest in examining the basis for Hur’s charging decision justified release, a finding largely upheld on appeal.

The appellate majority emphasized that the materials had already been reviewed in the context of a high-profile special counsel investigation and that redactions versions would sufficiently protect residual privacy interests. The dissenting judge maintained that Biden retained a substantial privacy interest in the recordings. An existing temporary stay on disclosure was set to expire in early August, giving Biden a narrow window to seek further review before the voluntary dismissal rendered further appeals moot.

The decision ends a months-long legal battle that began when Biden sued the Justice Department in May after learning of plans to release the files. Critics of the former president had long sought access to the raw interviews, arguing they provided important context for evaluating both the special counsel’s findings and questions surrounding Biden’s cognitive condition that intensified during the 2024 campaign. Supporters of the lawsuit contended that private conversations with a biographer should remain protected regardless of later investigative interest.With the case now dismissed, the Justice Department is expected to proceed with the release of the redacted transcripts and audio. The materials are likely to face intense public and political scrutiny given their connection to one of the more consequential special counsel investigations of recent years and the broader debate over presidential handling of classified information.