Joe Biden sues DOJ to stop release of audio recordings connected to special counsel probe
The lawsuit comes ahead of the department's planned June 15 release of the materials to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation, which requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act.
Joe Biden speaks at the International African American museum in Charleston
Former President Joe Biden sued the Justice Department Tuesday to block the release of recordings and transcripts from interviews he gave to a ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir, which were included in a special counsel probe regarding his handling of classified materials after he served as vice president.
The lawsuit comes ahead of the department's planned June 15 release of the materials to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation, which requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act, per Reuters.
Hur ultimately declined to bring charges
The Heritage Foundation requested the material after they were used in then-Special Counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, for which Hur ultimately declined to bring charges.
Hur determined Biden's memory lapses would make it hard to prove he acted willfully.
Biden asks court to permanently bar the release of the records
The lawsuit, which is related to private conversations the former president had with his biographer in 2016 and 2017, asks the Washington, DC, court to declare the committee’s request pretextual and invalid, and permanently bar the release of the records.
The recordings were part of Biden's 2017 memoir in which he detailed his decision to pursue the presidency while his eldest son Beau fought brain cancer.
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