Audio recordings that former US President Joe Biden fought for years to keep secret are now out in the open. On Wednesday, the right-wing watchdog group “Oversight Project” released audio clips of Biden chatting with his biographer, Mark Zwonitzer. The recordings seem to back up what Special Counsel Robert Hur concluded in his 2024 report: that Biden had shared sensitive information, suffered from memory decline, and held onto classified documents even after leaving the vice presidency.
Joe Biden in a file photo
According to CBS News, these recordings first sparked major scrutiny and controversy back in February 2024, when the Justice Department’s special counsel released a report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. The investigation was triggered after staffers found documents marked “classified” at Biden’s home and private office—files that dated back to his time as vice president. Ultimately, Hur decided not to press charges. In his report, he wrote that as early as 2016, Biden had shown signs of “struggling to remember events” and “cognitive decline,” making conversations “unusually slow.”
After two years of courtroom battles, the “Oversight Project” managed to get the recordings released. The group says its mission is to “expose and root out corruption within the government.” CBS News reported on Wednesday that the 83-year-old Biden told Zwonitzer in the recording: “Some of that might be classified information… you’ve got to be careful. I’m not sure… these files aren’t marked classified, but…” In another part of the audio, Biden adds: “What I’m about to show you here, well, it’s classified…” The clips obtained by CBS News show Biden describing several meetings that appear to have been classified, including “big meetings with the CIA and others,” “high-level sessions in the White House Situation Room,” and “long briefings from the Pentagon to the president.”
Biden’s spokesperson, Andrew Bates, issued a statement to CBS News: “Over a decade ago, President Biden had conversations for a book, which touched on his late son and were private in nature. When these were handed over to the Justice Department, there was a clear agreement they’d stay confidential. Now the administration has flipped its stance and made them public—this is the latest example of this government weaponizing the Justice Department for political revenge. It’s simply not right.”