News24 | Joe Biden sues Department of Justice over release of interview audio
Former US president Joe Biden is seeking to stop the release of audio recordings linked to a classified documents investigation, saying the materials were shared privately during cooperation with investigators.
Former US president Joe Biden sued the US Department of Justice to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from private conversations with his biographer.The recordings were used during former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, though no criminal charges were filed.Biden’s team says the recordings were provided on the understanding they would remain private, arguing their release is politically motivated and serves no public interest.Former Democratic US president Joe Biden sued the US Department of Justice on Tuesday, seeking to bar the release of audio recordings and transcripts of private conversations with his biographer in 2016 and 2017. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, comes ahead of the department’s planned 15 June release of the materials to the US House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The foundation sought them after they were used as part of then-Special Counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. Hur declined to bring criminal charges. The department fought the Heritage Foundation’s 2024 request for the records as exempt from the Freedom of Information Act until President Donald Trump took office, the lawsuit claims. It announced it would be releasing the records in response to the committee’s request, which the lawsuit claims is meant only to skirt federal law barring their release.The lawsuit asks the court to declare the committee’s request pretextual and invalid, and permanently bar the release of the records to the committee.READ | Joe Biden thanks supporters for 'love' after cancer diagnosisRepresentatives for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.TJ Ducklo, a spokesperson for Biden, said in a statement that the former president cooperated with Hur’s investigation and provided the tapes on the condition that they wouldn’t be made public.“The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest,” Ducklo said. “What’s happening now isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics.”READ | Biden bids farewell from Oval Office as Trump looms over his legacyThe recordings, made in Biden’s home, were part of the writing process for his 2017 memoir, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose,” which detailed Biden’s decision to pursue the presidency while his eldest son Beau fought brain cancer. Earlier this month, Biden sought to intervene in the Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit against the Justice Department over the materials. Last week, a judge allowed Biden to join the case but barred him from pursuing claims about the committee’s request for the materials, according to court records.
