Newly released materials from a conservative think tank reveal that Joe Biden acknowledged keeping classified information from his time serving as vice president. On July 27, the Oversight Project, a branch of the Heritage Foundation, published three hours of audio recordings and 117 pages of transcripts.
These documents were made public shortly after Biden’s legal team filed a notice of voluntary dismissal on July 24 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, effectively ending his attempt to block the release of his conversations with Mark Lewis Zwonitzer, a ghostwriter for his memoir.
The release follows a June 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who determined that the public’s interest in the materials and the government’s transparency obligations under the Freedom of Information Act outweighed Biden’s privacy concerns. In a statement, the Oversight Project celebrated the outcome, noting that they had defeated both the Biden-led Justice Department and his private legal counsel, asserting that the tapes should have been made public much earlier.
The recordings originate from 2017 interviews conducted for a memoir regarding the death of Biden’s son, Beau Biden. During an October 2016 interview, Biden discussed sensitive foreign policy matters from his time in the Obama administration. Referring to a 40-page handwritten memorandum he had written to then-President Barack Obama regarding troop deployments to Afghanistan, Biden told Zwonitzer, "They didn't even know I had this." He further remarked, "I just found all the classified stuff downstairs."
These materials were originally obtained by the Department of Justice during Special Counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. While Hur declined to pursue criminal charges against Biden in February 2024, his report noted that the former president had shared classified information during these specific conversations.
Hur suggested that a jury would likely view Biden as a sympathetic figure, citing his age—74 at the time—and what the counsel described as a "poor memory." Longtime Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo did not immediately respond to requests for comment but has previously characterized the Oversight Project's release as politically motivated.
Beyond the classified documents, the audio provides a window into Biden’s political deliberations during the 2016 election cycle. Biden recalled discussions with Obama regarding a potential presidential run, noting that Obama questioned his ability to secure the Democratic nomination over Hillary Clinton, describing it as an "uphill battle." Biden ultimately decided not to run in 2016, waiting until 2020.
The recordings also capture advice from an aide who suggested Biden held a unique advantage as a "unifier," contrasting his "reassuring skill" with Clinton, whom the aide called "divisive," and Bernie Sanders, whom the aide labeled "too angry."
The transcripts also document internal concerns regarding Biden’s political vulnerabilities. One aide discussed the issue of his frequent public gaffes, comparing them to a "virus" that would remain dormant until a new mistake triggered renewed scrutiny. Oversight Project President Mike Howell criticized the content of the recordings, claiming they demonstrate that Biden was in decline, noting that the frequent "pauses and ums" made it sound as though the former president was "buffering like a dial-up Internet connection."
