Biden scores temporary court victory as Trump appointed judge delays release of Hur investigation materials
Former President Joe Biden has won another three weeks to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts tied to Special Counsel Robert Hur's classified documents investigation, after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction while a federal appeals court reviews his challenge.
The recordings stem from Biden's interviews with Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad." U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump-appointee, on Friday issued an injunction pending appeal that prevents the Justice Department from releasing the materials while the D.C. Circuit considers the case. The order came just hours after Friedrich denied Biden's request for a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the release altogether.
The legal battle could determine whether Americans ever hear the recordings that helped shape Hur's decision not to prosecute Biden over his handling of classified documents. The audio has been the subject of intense scrutiny because Hur raised questions about Biden's memory in explaining why he declined to bring charges against Biden for mishandling classified documents.
Although the Justice Department previously released audio from Biden's interviews with Hur, the recordings at the center of the current legal battle involve separate conversations between Biden and Zwonitzer.
Hur's 2024 report repeatedly referenced Biden's recorded conversations with Zwonitzer. The special counsel described some exchanges as "painfully slow" and said Biden at times struggled to recall events and relay information, observations that fueled scrutiny of the then-president's cognitive abilities amid an election year.
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The Heritage Foundation and its Oversight Project director Mike Howell have spent more than two years seeking the recordings and transcripts through FOIA requests.
Heritage Foundation officials have argued that the public has a strong interest in reviewing the materials referenced throughout Hur's report, particularly because the special counsel relied on the recordings in explaining his decision not to pursue criminal charges
Biden has been fighting to keep the potentially embarrassing recordings under wraps.
After Friedrich denied Biden's motion for a preliminary injunction on Friday, Biden's legal team immediately sought emergency relief to preserve the status quo while appealing the decision.
In an emergency filing, Biden's attorneys argued that disclosure would effectively end the case before appellate judges could review the legal questions involved. They maintained that once the recordings are released, any privacy protections would be permanently lost and the appeal would become largely moot.
The filing also stressed that the FOIA litigation has already been pending for more than two years and argued there was no urgent public need requiring immediate disclosure of conversations that occurred roughly a decade ago between Biden and his ghostwriter. Biden's attorneys noted that the former president is now a private citizen who neither holds nor is seeking public office.
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The Justice Department initially withheld the recordings and much of the transcript material under several FOIA exemptions. Earlier this year, however, the department reversed course and determined the records could be released with redactions after concluding that significant public interest existed in understanding evidence relied upon by Hur during his investigation.
After the Justice Department announced plans to release the recordings, Biden filed suit in May to stop the disclosure, claiming the audiotapes contain private conversations that should remain protected from public release and if released, would be in violation of the Privacy Act.
His legal team argued that the department's decision violates the Privacy Act and constitutes arbitrary agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act.
Leading Biden's legal effort is Amy Jeffress, a partner at Washington-based law firm Hecker Fink and a former Justice Department national security official. Jeffress has served as the primary attorney advancing Biden's challenge to the release of the materials and signed the recent emergency filing seeking to prevent disclosure while the appeal proceeds.
Jeffress has also drawn attention because she is married to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee who recently ruled against the Trump administration in a high-profile dispute involving the Kennedy Center. Cooper's ruling prompted criticism from some Trump allies and conservative commentators who pointed to the judge's family connection to Biden's attorney, suggesting a conflict of interest may be at play in Cooper's work.