Newly released audio captures Joe Biden saying he found 'all the classified stuff downstairs'

WASHINGTON, DC: Roughly 70 hours of audio recordings that former President Biden spent years fighting to keep private have finally been released.

The tapes, recorded while Biden worked with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer on his 2017 memoir 'Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose,' capture the then-recently departed vice president referencing classified information on multiple occasions.

Robert Hur declined to prosecute, citing Joe Biden's memory

"Some of this may be classified … So, be careful. I'm not sure ... It's not marked classified but," Biden tells Zwonitzer at one point. Later in the recordings, he says again, "The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified…"

Perhaps most notably, in a Feb 16, 2017 recording, roughly a month after leaving the vice presidency, Biden tells his ghostwriter, "I just found all the classified stuff downstairs," a comment that special counsel Robert Hur cited in his 2024 report as evidence that Biden had classified material at his Virginia rental home.

Hur described Biden's tone in that moment as "matter-of-fact," suggesting he may have quickly forgotten about the documents afterward.

On other tapes, Biden describes what sound like classified White House meetings, including "a big meeting with the CIA and everyone," "a big meeting down in the Situation Room," and "a long meeting where DOD brief … POTUS."

In an Oct 10, 2016 recording, he tells Zwonitzer he kept extensive notes the White House wasn't aware of: "They didn't know I have this."

The recordings first drew intense scrutiny when Hur referenced them in his February 2024 report on Biden's handling of classified documents, an investigation launched after classified material dating to his vice presidency was found in his home and private office.

Hur ultimately declined to recommend charges, characterizing Biden as "struggling to remember events" and exhibiting "diminished faculties" with "painfully slow" conversations as far back as 2016.

Hur argued a jury would likely view Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," making a conviction unlikely. At one point in the tapes, Biden appears to lose his train of thought entirely, saying, "Alright, what was I going to ask you? Something else… Uh… um. Oh gosh. I can't think of anything else."

A two-year fight over disclosure ends in defeat for Joe Biden

The recordings were not made public until the Oversight Project, a conservative nonprofit, had been fighting for two years in court, having first obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by its sister organisation, the Heritage Foundation, in February 2024; although Biden's legal team had joined the suit in an attempt to prevent the disclosure, a federal appeals court rejected their objection on 20 July and as a result the tapes were released.

Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklo criticized the decision, saying in a statement that the conversations "were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way," and calling the release "the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution," while noting Biden "respects the courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in a healthy democracy."

Biden received an $8 million advance for the 2017 memoir and is expected to release a sequel, 'Promise Me, America', this November.