Joe Biden audio tapes that he had fought to keep private have now been released by House Republicans, adding a fresh twist to the long-running dispute over his handling of records after leaving office as vice-president. The recordings come from a 2017 memoir session and include moments in which Biden refers to classified material and appears to struggle with details.
The Biden audio tapes were recorded in February 2017, about a month after he left the White House, during interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer for the book Promise Me, Dad. In one clip, Biden says, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.” In another portion of the more than two hours of audio released Monday, he tells the ghostwriter, “The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified.”
Other recordings from October 2016 also surfaced in the release. In that exchange, Biden says, “I have extensive notes over this period of time… They [the White House] didn't know I have this.” At that time, he was still serving as vice-president under Barack Obama. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee say the redactions in the material are meant to hide Biden’s disclosure of classified information.
The tapes were obtained by Special Counsel Robert Hur during his 2024 investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents and records. Hur concluded that Biden had improperly retained records, but he did not recommend charges. In explaining that decision, Hur said he worried a jury would see Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” That description has become a central part of the political and legal fight surrounding the case.
