Biden Tapes Reveal Sensitive Talks With Ghostwriter—Here’s What We Learned
The Oversight Project, an arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, released audio tapes of private conversations between former President Joe Biden and his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer from 2016-2017. The recordings, obtained through a FOIA lawsuit, were part of special counsel Robert Hur's investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents. In the tapes, Biden discusses keeping extensive notes from his vice presidency, mentions finding 'classified stuff downstairs,' and struggles to recall names of advisers. The release reignites criticism of Biden's mental acuity and his handling of classified materials, which were major issues during the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden's spokesperson condemned the release as political retribution, while Heritage Foundation officials mocked Biden's speech patterns. The tapes also reveal Biden's explanation for not running for president in 2016 and his awareness that verbal gaffes would be a political liability.
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Reports are grouped by semantic similarity and deterministic rules. Language models may assist titles, summaries, translation and cross-source analysis; the page itself is projected from evidence records.
- Current automated evidence projection