Newly released audio recordings show former President Joe Biden repeatedly discussing potentially classified material with his ghostwriter, undercutting years of Democratic spin about his handling of sensitive documents.
The recordings, made while Biden was working with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer on his 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” were cited in special counsel Robert Hur’s 2024 report on Biden’s handling of classified documents.
CBS News reviewed more than two hours of recordings from a larger batch of roughly 70 hours tied to the investigation.
In one recording, Biden appears to warn Zwonitzer that some of the material may be classified.
“Some of this may be classified … So, be careful. I’m not sure … It’s not marked classified but —”
In another recording, Biden says again, “The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified …”
The tapes were made after Biden left the vice presidency and before he launched his 2020 White House campaign.
No classified material was alleged to have appeared in the published book.
But the recordings reignite a central conservative complaint about the classified-documents scandal: Biden was treated with kid gloves while President Donald Trump faced prosecution over his own documents case.
Hur opened his investigation after classified documents dating back to Biden’s time as vice president were found at his home and private office.
He ultimately declined to recommend charges.
Hur’s report also described Biden as “struggling to remember events,” exhibiting “diminished faculties” and having “painfully slow” conversations as early as 2016.
The recordings show Biden speaking haltingly at times.
In one moment, Biden appears to lose his train of thought.
“Alright — what was I going to ask you? Something else… Uh… um. Oh gosh. I can’t think of anything else.”
The tapes were released after a two-year court fight by the Oversight Project, a conservative nonprofit that says its mission is to “expose and root out corruption in government.”
Biden’s legal team initially tried to block the release, but after a series of rulings against him, declined to keep fighting.
Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo blasted the decision to make the recordings public.
“President Biden’s conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private, and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way,” Biden’s spokesperson, TJ Ducklo, said in a statement to CBS News. “Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution. It’s wrong, and while President Biden disagrees with today’s decision, he also respects the courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in a healthy democracy.”
At the time Hur’s report was released, Biden flatly denied sharing classified information with Zwonitzer.
“I did not share classified information. I did not share it with my ghostwriter.”
He also said he did not know how boxes containing classified documents ended up in his garage.
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But the newly released recordings include Biden describing potentially classified meetings, including “a big meeting with the CIA and everyone,” “a big meeting down in the Situation Room,” and “a long meeting where DOD brief … POTUS.”
In an Oct. 10, 2016, recording, Biden told Zwonitzer that he had notes the White House did not know about.
“I have extensive notes over this period of time… They didn’t know I have this,” he said.
In a Feb. 16, 2017, recording, Biden also said, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
Hur cited that comment as evidence Biden had classified material at his Virginia rental home after leaving office.
Hur described Biden’s tone as “matter-of-fact” and said he may have quickly forgotten about the documents.
Other recordings show Biden being more careful.
On Nov. 3, 2016, while he was still vice president, Biden referred to the “non-classified part of my discussion with POTUS.”
Hur investigated whether Biden illegally stored and shared classified information.
His report cited examples, including Biden, then 75, showing Zwonitzer “classified notes from a National Security Council meeting” during the Obama administration.
But Hur concluded the Justice Department would be unlikely to secure a conviction, in part because jurors might see Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Hur wrote that “Mr. Biden’s recorded conversations with Zwonitzer from 2017 are often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”
“For these jurors, Mr. Biden’s apparent lapses and failures in February and April 2017 will likely appear consistent with the diminished faculties and faulty memory he showed in Zwonitzer’s interview recordings and in our interview of him,” the report said.
The Justice Department previously released audio from Biden’s 2023 interview with Hur’s team.
In that interview, Biden spoke in a hoarse and halting tone and struggled at one point to remember the year his son Beau died and the year Trump was first elected.
Questions about Biden’s age and mental fitness followed him throughout his presidency.
The White House repeatedly dismissed those concerns, even as clips of Biden stumbling, slurring words and appearing confused circulated across the country.
His 2024 reelection campaign collapsed after a disastrous June debate against Trump, when Biden appeared slow, confused and unable to reassure voters he was fit for another term.
The classified-documents issue also exposed a glaring double standard.
Biden called Trump’s handling of classified documents “totally irresponsible” in a “60 Minutes” interview after materials were found at Mar-a-Lago.
But months later, classified documents were found at Biden’s home and private office.
Trump was charged by a separate special counsel, though the case was later dismissed.
Hur said there were “several material distinctions” between the cases, including allegations that Trump obstructed justice.
The Heritage Foundation, the Oversight Project’s sister nonprofit, filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Feb. 9, 2024, seeking records Hur used for passages in his report about Biden’s memory and mental faculties.
When the Biden Justice Department did not turn over the files for a month, the Oversight Project sued in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Jeff Clark, the Oversight Project’s vice president of litigation, told CBS News that once Donald Trump returned to power, the Justice Department agreed to hand over the files.
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Biden’s lawyers then joined the case and blocked disclosure until a federal appeals court ruled against Biden on July 20.
The Oversight Project called the ruling a “complete and total victory.”
Biden received an $8 million advance for “Promise Me, Dad.”
He is also planning a sequel, “Promise Me, America,” set for November, about his presidency, his 2024 campaign and his decision to step aside.
The newly released tapes are damaging because they cut through the polished statements and legal spin.
Americans can now hear Joe Biden in his own voice discussing material he himself suggested might be classified.
For years, the media and Democratic establishment insisted the real classified-documents scandal belonged to Trump.
But Biden’s own recordings show a former vice president sitting with a ghostwriter, talking through sensitive notes and admitting some of it may have been classified.
That is not a right-wing fever dream.
It is on tape.
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[ H/T Trending Politics ]
