Appeals court blocks Trump DOJ from releasing Biden interview tapes cited in Robert Hur report
WASHINGTON, DC: A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's Justice Department from releasing audio recordings and transcripts of former President Joe Biden's conversations with his biographer, pausing a closely watched legal battle tied to former Special Counsel Robert Hur's investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an emergency administrative injunction on Friday, July 10, preventing the Justice Department from turning over the materials to the Heritage Foundation for at least 10 days while it considers Biden's appeal.
The recordings became politically significant after Hur's 2024 report cited them while describing Biden's memory during the classified documents investigation.
Court pauses release battle
The three-judge appellate panel said the temporary injunction is intended to give the court time to consider Biden's emergency request and should not be viewed as a ruling on the merits of the case.
The recordings stem from interviews Biden gave to biographer Mark Zwonitzer in 2016 and 2017 while working on his memoir 'Promise Me, Dad'.
The Heritage Foundation later sought access to the tapes and related transcripts through the Freedom of Information Act after Hur referenced portions of the interviews in his report.
Although the Justice Department initially withheld the material, the department reversed course after President Donald Trump returned to office, saying it planned to release the recordings to Congress and the Heritage Foundation.
Robert Hur's report remains central
Hur declined to charge Biden over his handling of classified documents but wrote that the recordings reflected what he described as the former president's "diminished faculties" and "faulty memory."
Those observations quickly became a focal point of political debate during the 2024 election cycle and continue to draw attention.
Biden's legal team argues the recordings were obtained during a criminal investigation that ended without charges and were never intended for public release.
In court filings, his attorneys compared the interviews to private diaries or personal text messages, saying disclosure would cause unnecessary harm and serve no urgent public interest now that Biden is a private citizen.
Justice Department lawyers countered that releasing the recordings would allow the public to independently evaluate Hur's conclusions and better understand the evidence behind his report.
The appellate court's order keeps the recordings under seal until at least July 20, leaving unresolved whether the public will ultimately hear the interviews that played a key role in one of the most scrutinized investigations of Biden's presidency.
