Judge won't block DOJ from releasing Biden conversations with biographer

A federal judge has cleared the way for the Justice Department to provide a conservative think tank with redacted transcripts and recordings of former President Joe Biden's conversations with his biographer, Mark Zwonitzer. The decision on Friday denied Biden's attempt to prevent the disclosure to the Heritage Foundation.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich stated in her 26-page decision that Biden's privacy interests were diminished by the extensive redactions made by the Justice Department. The government had agreed to a temporary delay in releasing the material, set to expire Friday evening.

Friedrich wrote that Biden had not demonstrated any public harm that would occur without an injunction. She concluded that 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.'"

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Biden has not identified any public harm that would arise absent an injunction in this case. And, as with the Department's FOIA balancing discussed above, 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.'

Following the ruling, Biden's legal team submitted an emergency motion requesting the judge to block the release while they pursue an appeal. They argued that the disclosure of private conversations could not be undone and would cause permanent damage to his privacy and law enforcement interests.

The dispute originated from a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Heritage Foundation in March 2024. The group sought records that special counsel Robert Hur relied on for his report on Biden's handling of classified documents. Hur's report had referenced Biden's "diminished faculties and faulty memory" as evidenced in the 2016 and 2017 recordings used for Biden's 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad."

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This Court should grant an injunction pending appeal to prevent an irreversible change in the status quo. President Biden's motion for a preliminary injunction raises serious legal questions, and the disclosure of his private conversations cannot be undone. The resulting damage to his privacy and to weighty law enforcement interests will be permanent.