Judge rejects Biden’s bid to block release of Hur-related audio sought by Heritage Foundation

WASHINGTON, DC: Former President Joe Biden suffered a setback after a federal judge rejected his effort to stop the Justice Department from turning over audio recordings tied to Special Counsel Robert Hur's classified documents investigation.

His legal team immediately sought an injunction pending appeal. The ruling moves a long-running fight over the recordings closer to public release.

Judge says public interest outweighs privacy concerns

District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled on Friday, June 19, that former President Joe Biden's privacy interests, while significant, did not outweigh the public's interest in access to the materials sought by the Heritage Foundation.

In her decision, Friedrich wrote that Biden's privacy concerns were "though substantial," outweighed by the public interest and were further reduced by extensive redactions made by the Justice Department.

“The harm to Biden's diminished privacy interest is outweighed by the public's interest in the Zwonitzer materials and FOIA's 'policy of broad disclosure of Government documents in order to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society,'" Friedrich wrote.

The judge also noted that she personally reviewed the redacted materials before issuing her ruling.

Heritage Foundation seeks Biden audio

The dispute centers on hours of recorded conversations Biden had in 2017 with author Mark Zwonitzer while working on a memoir about the death of his son, Beau Biden.

The Heritage Foundation has spent years fighting for access to the recordings. The conservative think tank argues the files contain evidence that Biden mishandled classified information, a claim the former president has repeatedly denied.

Friedrich wrote that Zwonitzer's redacted materials "contain no information about Biden's family or other private persons."

That finding undercut one of the key privacy arguments raised by Biden's legal team as they sought to keep the recordings from being released.

Hur investigation remains at center of fight

The recordings were obtained by the Justice Department during Special Counsel Robert Hur's 2023 investigation into Biden's handling of classified records.

Hur ultimately declined to bring charges against Biden in February 2024. However, his report concluded that Biden had shared classified materials with Zwonitzer during their 2017 conversations.

The audio recordings have remained at the center of legal and political battles since then, with Biden filing suit against the Justice Department in May to block their release.

Friday's ruling rejected that effort and cleared the way for the department to provide the recordings to the Heritage Foundation unless Biden succeeds in his appeal.