Joe Biden faces a setback in his ongoing legal battle. The former U.S. president’s appeal to keep memoir audio recordings private has been rejected by the court. The decision comes after months of efforts by his legal team to block the release of the recordings.
Judges ruled the remaining privacy interests do not outweigh the public’s interest in Biden’s recordings
Joe Biden’s legal team appealed to the court to keep his interview recordings with his memoir ghostwriter private. However, the court rejected the appeal, saying the public deserves to hear those recordings.
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected Biden’s appeal to stop the Department of Justice from releasing the recordings. The court said that there is “substantial” public interest in hearing those recordings.
The former president’s legal team appealed to the court to keep the recordings private, citing that releasing the recordings will lead to an invasion of the privacy of an individual. Earlier, the Department of Justice decided to exempt the recordings under the public records law. However, the latest ruling overturned that decision, according to TMZ.
Dabney Friedrich, a U.S. District Judge who was nominated by Donald Trump, ruled on the disclosure of recordings in June 2026.
In May, Biden sued the Department of Justice to stop them from releasing recordings, stating that the recordings contain private information. House Republicans requested the memoir interview records in 2024. The DOJ decided to release them in June, prompting Biden to file a lawsuit. The recordings are from his 2017 memoir Promise Me, Dad, written with co-writer Mark Zwonitzer.
The memoir focuses on the death of his elder son. The recordings have become the major talking point, as they are referenced in discussions about his mental acuity during the classified documents investigation. However, Joe Biden has not issued any public comment following the court decision.
LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE COURT’S DECISION TO REJECT BIDEN’S REQUEST TO KEEP RECORDINGS PRIVATE.
Originally reported by Aman Sharma for Mandatory
