WASHINGTON D.C. – A trove of private audio recordings featuring Joe Biden, from his time as Vice President and shortly after, has been released to the public, offering new insight into his interactions with a ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad." The nearly three hours of recordings capture Biden speaking candidly with Mark Zwonitzer in 2016 and 2017, during which he appears to acknowledge handling sensitive government material while speaking with a private citizen without security clearance.
"Some of this may be classified so be careful with it." — Joe Biden, Former Vice President
The existence of these recordings first became public through the House Judiciary Committee Republicans, who announced they had secured access to the tapes. Committee members credited officials within the current administration for the release, specifically acknowledging "the transparency of President Trump and Todd Blanche at DOJ." The recordings had previously been collected by Special Counsel Robert Hur's team as part of their investigation into whether Biden improperly retained or disclosed classified records after leaving the vice presidency.
During one taping session on November 3, 2016, Biden can be heard flipping through material and remarking, "and then, uh, the next thing I have here is, um, this is classified." A second instance, roughly six months later on April 24, 2017, features Biden directly cautioning Zwonitzer, stating, "Some of this may be classified so be careful with it." These direct statements from the tapes underscore the central concern of the Special Counsel's investigation regarding the handling of sensitive information.
House Judiciary Republicans highlighted findings from Hur’s original report, noting that investigators determined Biden had read from classified notes "nearly verbatim on at least three occasions" while speaking with Zwonitzer. The committee further suggested that these tapes, including segments where Biden's memory appeared to falter, were a significant factor in Special Counsel Hur's decision not to prosecute Joe Biden. Hur's report, issued in February 2024, characterized Biden as an elderly man with significant memory lapses, a description that generated considerable political discussion.
Beyond the discussions of classified material, several segments of the recordings capture Biden struggling mid-conversation to maintain focus or recall specific details. In one 2017 session, Biden appeared to lose his train of thought entirely, telling Zwonitzer, "I was going to ask you something else. Uh. Um. Oh gosh. I can’t think what it is." A separate recording taken just days later depicts Biden attempting to reconstruct memories of an earlier meeting, remarking, "It’s confusing me," before an aide intervened to redirect the conversation.
These newly surfaced audio clips provide the public with direct access to material that was previously only summarized in Hur’s written findings. The controversy surrounding Biden's handling of classified documents initially arose from discoveries in 2022 and 2023 of classified materials at his Delaware residence and a former office space he used after his vice presidency concluded. Federal investigators spent months examining the circumstances of these documents' storage and whether Biden had knowingly retained or shared them.
Mark Zwonitzer, an experienced author known for ghostwriting for other public figures, collaborated closely with Biden throughout the interview process for "Promise Me, Dad." The memoir, published in November 2017, primarily focused on the death of Biden's son Beau and his decision not to pursue a presidential run in 2016.
Neither Mr. Biden nor his representatives have issued a public response since the recordings became available. It remains uncertain whether the House Judiciary Republicans plan to release additional portions of the audio beyond what has already been made public, or if these releases will prompt further congressional action or public debate. The release of these tapes adds a new dimension to the ongoing public discourse surrounding classified document handling by high-ranking officials and the implications for national security.
