Heritage Foundation releases Biden tapes with ghostwriter on classified documents

Topline

Audio tapes disclosing private conversations between former President Joe Biden and a biographer were released by conservative activists this week, revealing talks from 2016 and 2017 about classified documents and Biden’s time as vice president.

Key Facts

• The recordings were part of special counsel Robert K. Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents and were secured and released by The Oversight Project, an arm of conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit Biden failed to block this year.
• The recordings feature conversations between Biden and ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer while they worked on “Promise Me, Dad,” a memoir detailing how Biden navigated the death of his son Beau while working as vice president.
• In a recording from October 2016, Biden talks about notes he kept from his terms alongside President Barack Obama, saying, “There was a lot of stuff going on at the same time in foreign policy” and that he had “extensive notes” and “a lot of other notes too,” adding, “They didn’t even know I had this.”
• A November 2016 recording included Biden naming lawmakers he communicated with and later talking to Zwonitzer about “the non-classified” part of a talk he had with Obama.
• Biden is heard telling Zwonitzer in a 2017 conversation he “just found all the classified stuff downstairs” in addition to seemingly talking to the biographer about a diary entry concerning a security council meeting.
• Biden could be heard having trouble remembering the names of two economic advisers, noting he “should write the names down because I keep forgetting them.”

Key Background

The release of the recordings revitalizes criticisms and concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and his handling of classified documents, all of which dominated headlines during his run in the 2024 presidential election. The former president had a series of public gaffes during White House appearances and his debate against President Donald Trump in 2024 in which he corrected himself repeatedly. Hur, following his investigation into Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, released a lengthy report in February 2024 that concluded no criminal charges were warranted against Biden. Hur noted Biden’s "memory was significantly limited" during interviews and that in the case of a trial, the former president would present himself as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Biden On Why He Did Not Run For President In 2016

The recordings also revealed Biden’s explanation for why he did not run for president in 2016, saying he and his allies had concerns he did not have a good shot at securing the nomination, which was won by Hillary Clinton. “The fact is that he didn’t think it was doable at that time, that I could, that I could actually go out and get the nomination,” Biden said about Obama. “That was my read at the time.”

Biden Addresses His Verbal Gaffes

Biden noted his gaffes would be an obstacle if he ran for president in 2016, saying in one of the recordings the “Gaffe issue is like a virus. It’s dormant, when you make a mistake again they’ll bring it up.” Biden also said, “I can’t read my own writing” during the recording.

Crucial Quote

"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 spokesperson TJ Ducklo told multiple outlets. "Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution.”

Chief Critic

“These tapes have so many pauses and ‘ums’ that it sounds like Biden is buffering like a dial-up Internet connection,” Mike Howell, president of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, said in a statement.