Newly released audio recordings reveal Joe Biden acknowledging the possession of classified materials after his vice presidency. The tapes, obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur and released by House Republicans, feature conversations with a ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017, contradicting previous assertions that classified information was not shared during the memoir’s drafting.
The recordings, totaling approximately 70 hours, capture the former president during the drafting of his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose. In these tapes, Biden is heard discussing sensitive documents with his co-writer, Mark Zwonitzer. One specific recording from 16 February 2017—just one month after Biden left the White House—features him stating that he had just found all the classified materials downstairs.
This admission serves as a critical piece of evidence in the broader investigation into how the former president handled national security records. While Biden previously told reporters that he had not shared classified information and had not shared it with his ghostwriter, the audio provides a different account. CBS News reported that Biden is heard warning Zwonitzer that some of the material may be classified and to be careful, as he was not sure if it was marked classified. At another point, he is heard saying that the next thing he had there was classified.
The Robert Hur Investigation and the Decision Against Charges
The audio was a central component of the 2024 probe led by Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Hur. In his report, Hur concluded that the investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.
Despite these findings, Hur did not recommend criminal charges. The special counsel determined that prosecution was unwarranted based on aggravating and mitigating factors, stating that the evidence did not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He specifically highlighted concerns that a jury might perceive Biden as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.
The report also painted a picture of cognitive decline, describing Biden as struggling to remember events
and exhibiting diminshed faculties
and “painfully slow” conversations dating back to 2016. One recording captures him asking what he was going to ask and noting that he could not think of anything else. Hur further noted that Biden presented serious risks to national security, given the vulnerability of extraordinarily sensitive information to loss or compromise to America’s adversaries, though he concluded that criminal charges were not the proper remedy here.
Classified Disclosures and the ‘Downstairs’ Records
The tapes reveal that Biden’s access to sensitive information extended beyond mere possession; he detailed specific high-level government interactions to his ghostwriter. The recordings include mentions of a big meeting with the CIA and everyone, a big meeting down in the Situation Room, as well as a long meeting where the Department of Defense briefed the president.
The timeline of these disclosures suggests a pattern of retaining notes that the government was unaware of. In an October 2016 recording, while still serving as vice president to Barack Obama, Biden told Zwonitzer that he had extensive notes over this period of time and that the White House did not know he had them.
The physical location of these documents has also been a point of contention. The February 2017 recording regarding the classified stuff downstairs
was used by Hur to support the claim that Biden held classified material in his rented Virginia home. This contrasts with Biden’s earlier claims that he did not know how boxes of classified materials were found in his garage.
Legal Battles and Political Retribution
Biden fought for years to keep these recordings private. During his presidency from 2021-25, the Justice Department declined to release them. In May, his personal lawyers sued the department to maintain their privacy, though they eventually dropped their lawsuit after legal defeats. House Republicans and a conservative nonprofit, the Oversight Project, sued for the tapes as part of the probe.
The released recordings contain significant redactions, which Republicans on the House Oversight Committee claim are intended to cover Biden’s disclosure of classified information.
Responding to the release, Biden’s spokesman TJ Ducklo criticized the direction of the Justice Department under President Donald Trump, calling the move just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution. Ducklo added that the situation was wrong, and while President Biden disagreed with the day’s decision, he also respected the courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in a healthy democracy.
