Former President Joe Biden dropped his lawsuit Friday seeking to block the release of audio recordings from private interviews he gave to a memoir ghostwriter, clearing the way for Congress to access the material.
Biden’s attorneys filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., less than a week after a federal appeals court rejected his bid to keep the recordings sealed.
The recordings were collected by ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on two memoirs: 2007’s “Promises to Keep” and 2017’s “Promise Me, Dad.” Zwonitzer interviewed Biden at his Delaware home in 2016 and 2017. The material was later obtained by special counsel Robert Hur during his investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents from his time as a senator and as vice president under President Barack Obama.
Hur declined to charge Biden but released a scathing report in early 2024 that described the then-president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Republicans in Congress demanded access to the underlying recordings after that report dropped.
Biden filed suit in May to prevent the Justice Department from releasing the tapes to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation. His lawyers argued the recordings contained “candid, personal” conversations that were “intended to remain private.”
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 on Monday that “substantial” public interest existed in releasing the material. The majority opinion, written by Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Gregory Katsas, found that any privacy interest Biden held did not outweigh the public’s right to the recordings.
“We conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure,” the majority wrote.
Circuit Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, dissented. She wrote that Biden had demonstrated “a substantial privacy interest” in conversations held at his private home that were gathered as part of a criminal probe that produced no indictment.
After the ruling, the court suspended enforcement until Aug. 3 to give Biden time to pursue additional appeals. He could have petitioned the full D.C. Circuit for a rehearing or asked the Supreme Court to intervene. He did neither. His attorneys filed dismissal papers Friday, ending the legal fight.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, had previously ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed Biden’s privacy claims. That ruling prompted Biden’s appeal to the circuit court.
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), has been pressing for access to the recordings since Hur’s report was made public. Republicans have argued the tapes could shed light on Biden’s mental acuity and his handling of the documents case.
With the lawsuit dropped, the material is expected to be turned over to congressional investigators and the Heritage Foundation in coming weeks, subject to any remaining procedural steps.
