A federal appeals court on Monday denied former President Joe Biden’s appeal to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of conversations he had a decade ago with the ghostwriter of his memoir.
In a 2-1 decision by the D.C. Circuit, the majority ruled that public interest in the contents was “substantial.” The court suspended its decision until Aug. 3 to allow Biden to consider an appeal.
The conversations between Biden and his writing partner Mark Zwonitzer were held in 2016 and 2017 after Biden finished his term as vice president in the Obama administration. The recordings and transcript were gathered in preparation for Biden’s 2017 memoir and came into the possession of the Justice Department in 2023 as part of a special counsel investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents during and after his vice presidency.