Biden Lawyers Plan to Block DOJ Release of Redacted Tapes with Ghostwriter

President Joe Biden's lawyers plan to object to the Justice Department's release of redacted written transcripts and audio recordings from Biden's 2017 interactions with his book ghostwriter, a new court filing shows.

Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Brett Shumate wrote in a filing tied to a Freedom of Information Act request from Heritage Foundation's Mike Howell that "President Biden, through counsel, has advised the Department that he intends to seek to intervene to prevent any such disclosures." The Department does not oppose the intervention.

Biden's lawyers face a Tuesday deadline to respond to the DOJ's planned release in answer to Howell's FOIA request. Any response would come shortly after Tuesday if there is no objection. Shumate noted the release of 70 hours of redacted recordings would be delayed until June 15 if Biden objects before the deadline.

The filing states the DOJ intends to disclose the redacted written transcript and audio recordings to Congress, pursuant to a request from the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, as well as to the plaintiffs.

The interactions involved Biden and his ghostwriter for the 2017 book "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose." Special counsel Robert Hur obtained the audio and transcript during his investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents after the Obama administration ended. Those documents had been stored in his garage and at the Penn Biden Center.

Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklo told Politico in a statement Sunday that "President Biden cooperated fully with special counsel Hur, and agreed to provide audiotapes of conversations with his biographer for a book about his deceased son on the condition that they would not be made public." Ducklo added, "The DOJ themselves have said these tapes serve no public interest. What’s happening now isn’t about transparency. It’s about politics."

Ducklo continued, "If this Administration were genuinely committed to transparency, they would release Volume 2 of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump’s own alleged mishandling of classified documents. That report contains information Americans actually deserve to see."

Fox News reached out to Ducklo for independent confirmation and has not heard back.

Howell, president of Heritage's Oversight Project, told Politico, "These tapes will further prove the massive lie regarding Biden’s fitness for office and the fact Biden revealed classified information. The shenanigans aren’t over: At the last possible second, and after every delay tactic possible, the autopen is objecting to the American People receiving transparency."

Hur concluded his investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents, citing longstanding DOJ policy against indicting a sitting president. He said a jury would be sympathetic to the oldest sitting American president, 82, as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Shumate's Friday filing added, "It appears that after lengthy negotiation covering several months — at no point seeking to intervene into this case on a timely basis — President Biden has changed position and now seeks to even enjoin release of the portions of transcripts that match exact phrases quoted in the Hur Report."

The filing raises issues over Biden's potential intervention and a discretionary release to the House Judiciary Committee in response to their March 23, 2026 letter. "As Plaintiffs understand the matter, President Biden would need an order barring release in this case and an order enjoining the Department from producing to the House Judiciary Committee all by June 15, 2026."

The DOJ accuses Biden's lawyers of slow-walking responses and rejecting deadlines. "President Biden’s lead counsel was unable to provide any information about President Biden’s submissions arguing that such discussion was somehow premature (whereas, in reality it is 16 months late) and incredibly indicating that despite the June 15, 2026 production date, the motion to intervene would not be filed until mid-next week and that President Biden would seek up to three days after a ruling granting a motion to intervene to submit a proposed schedule for substantive relief," the filing read.

"That is no way to conduct litigation and smacks of kicking the can down the road to justify delaying the June 15, 2026 production by some form of administrative injunction."

The DOJ reiterated the Tuesday deadline warning. Shumate's filing concluded, "The public deserves to hear the tapes and read the transcripts as redacted by President Donald J. Trump’s Department of Justice." Plaintiffs regret they cannot assist the court due to "the repeated failure of counsel for President Biden to engage with Plaintiffs on this matter, putting off even initial substantive conversations until next week."