Joe Biden sues DOJ to stop release of audio recordings connected to special counsel probe

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.

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.

The lawsuit, which is related to private conversations the former president had with his biographer in 2016 and 2017, asks ⁠the Washington, D.C., 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. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.