A cache of previously undisclosed audio recordings capturing former President Joe Biden’s alleged “poor memory” and “diminished faculties” has been made public.
The tapes were recorded by Marc Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter who worked with Biden on his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released the material and began posting the audio files for the first time on Monday evening.
The recordings put Biden’s conversations with Zwonitzer under fresh scrutiny, with moments that appear to show the then-former vice president struggling with recall.
During one sit-down, Biden went several minutes with difficulty speaking at length, before Zwonitzer stepped in to steer the discussion.
“It strikes me that there were three big things going on,” Zwonitzer told Biden after an awkward pause. “I think Iraq, Central America, and Ukraine seemed to be the things that were chewing up a lot of a lot of your time.”
Biden responded in a low voice and appeared to have trouble forming clear, complete sentences. His first discernible answer referred to a conversation with Kevin McCarthy, who, Biden said, “it looked like was going to be speaker, or … the number two guy.”
From there, Biden moved into an extended discussion about energy infrastructure, as Zwonitzer listened and occasionally interjected with dates or specific details, apparently to help guide the exchange.
In another segment, Zwonitzer tried to return Biden to a topic they had previously covered, but Biden appeared unable to recall many of the details or subjects from their earlier conversation.
‘The next thing I have here is classified,’ Biden said at one point.
‘Some of this may be classified …’ Biden can be heard telling Zwonitzer in another discussion.
‘It’s not marked classified, but …’ Biden said, his voice trailing off. No classified materials were published in the book, but the discussions, and the documents, were cited in an explosive 2024 special counsel report.
Biden was not criminally charged with stashing classified documents in his garage and private office
The Justice Department obtained the audio files during its probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents from 2023 to 2024
This picture was taken in December 2022 in Biden’s garage, with other household items, as part of Hur’s investigation
‘It’s confusing me,’ he said, before an assistant steered the conversation back on track.
The audio comes as Republicans in Congress had pushed to make the tapes public after the Justice Department obtained them during a high-profile probe into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents when he served as Vice President and in the US Senate. The transcripts of the discussions were published in 2024, but audio had never before been shared in full.
The 2024 report, authored by former Special Counsel Robert Hur, stirred controversy around Biden when he questioned the ex-president’s diminished mental acuity and forgetfulness, leaving many to wonder what the attorney found in the tapes.
Hur decided against bringing charges against Biden for mishandling sensitive documents, in part, because he was a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’
He also noted the former president’s ‘diminished faculties in advancing age.’
Hur said the evidence included a recorded conversation between Biden and his ghostwriter in which the former president stated that he had just ‘found all the classified stuff downstairs.’
Biden’s push to keep the tapes hidden ultimately failed in court due to ‘substantial’ public interest in the documents.
The interviews were recorded at Biden’s home in 2016 and 2017 with author Marc Zwonitzer.
They took place when Biden was vice president and before his 2020 campaign, and were meant to remain private, the former president’s legal team has argued.
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Zwonitzer admitted to deleting the audio files during Hur’s investigation, claiming he was afraid of getting hacked.
The conservative Heritage Foundation began a public disclosure legal battle with the Department of Justice to release the files in 2024 shortly after Hur’s report was published.
Last week, Judge Florence Pan, a Biden-appointed judge, argued that the former president has shown ‘substantial’ interest in keeping the files private.
‘The conversations at issue took place in Biden’s home, and the recordings of them were obtained by the government in the course of a criminal investigation that did not lead to an indictment,’ Judge Florence Pan wrote in her dissent.
Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee, ruled against the motion to keep the files hidden.
Hur’s report was crammed with pictures of documents recovered from Biden’s home or an office he used when he was Vice President
Former Special Counsel Robert Hur later testified to Congress after stirring controversy around Biden
The recordings took place in 2016 and 2017 when Biden was vice president. Above, at a Democratic presidential debate in 2020
Biden’s recordings were shared with a ghostwriter for his 2017 book Promise Me, Dad
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The panel stayed an opinion until August 3, allowing further time for Biden’s legal team to appeal.
Biden announced earlier this month that he would be releasing another memoir titled Promise Me, America. It is expected to be published later this year.
