A federal judge on Friday denied former President Joe Biden's request to block the Justice Department from releasing nearly decade-old audio recordings to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Judge Cites Redactions, Public Interest

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, ruled that Biden's privacy concerns, while significant, were outweighed by the public interest and the Justice Department's redactions. Biden's legal team has since requested an injunction while the case is under appeal.

Tapes Stem From Classified Records Probe

The recordings capture 2017 conversations between Biden and Mark Zwonitzer, a professional author and ghostwriter who collaborated with Biden on his memoirs "Promises to Keep" (2007) and "Promise Me, Dad" (2017). The tapes in question relate to the latter, which chronicled the death of Biden's eldest son, Beau. The Justice Department obtained the audio during Special Counsel Robert Hur's 2023 investigation into Biden's handling of classified materials. Hur declined to charge Biden in February 2024 but found he had shared classified information with Zwonitzer.

President Trump called Biden a "Crooked Politician" on Truth Social in May, as the case revived scrutiny of Biden's cognitive state during his presidency.

The Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act, seeking the release of the tapes. It argued that the recordings show Biden mishandled classified information, a claim Biden has denied. Biden later sued in May to stop their disclosure.