Secret Trove of Biden Tapes Finally Released Despite His Desperate Plea to Keep Them Hidden

Secret Trove of Biden Tapes Finally Released Despite His Desperate Plea to Keep Them Hidden

A trove of private audio has entered the public record, pulling back the curtain on conversations once thought confined to a memoir-writing process.

Nearly three hours of recordings feature Joe Biden speaking candidly with Mark Zwonitzer, the writer who helped him craft his 2017 memoir, “Promise Me, Dad.” The sessions were taped in 2016 and 2017.

At the time, Biden held the office of vice president for part of the recordings and had recently left it by the time later sessions occurred.

Across multiple exchanges, Biden’s own words indicate he understood he was handling sensitive government material while sitting across from a private citizen with no security clearance.

One such moment came during a taping session on November 3, 2016. Biden can be heard flipping through material and remarking, “and then, uh, the next thing I have here is, um, this is classified.”

A second instance followed roughly six months later. On April 24, 2017, Biden cautioned his ghostwriter directly, telling him, “Some of this may be classified so be careful with it.”

Word of the recordings’ existence reached the public through House Judiciary Committee Republicans, who announced they had secured access to the tapes.

Committee members credited officials within the current administration for the release, crediting the material to cooperation “thanks to the transparency of President Trump and Todd Blanche at DOJ.”

The tapes are not new to federal investigators. Special Counsel Robert Hur’s team collected the recordings years ago while probing whether Biden improperly retained or disclosed classified records after leaving the vice presidency.

House Judiciary Republicans pointed to findings from Hur’s original report, noting that investigators determined Biden had read from classified notes “nearly verbatim on at least three occasions” while speaking with Zwonitzer.

The committee went further, linking the recordings to Hur’s ultimate decision to close the investigation without filing charges. Republicans stated that “these tapes, including Biden’s poor memory, were a key reason that Special Counsel Hur declined to prosecute Joe Biden.”

Classified material was not the only subject captured on tape. Several segments show Biden struggling mid-conversation to retain his focus or recall specific details.

During one 2017 session, Biden appeared to lose track of a thought entirely, telling Zwonitzer, “I was going to ask you something else. Uh. Um. Oh gosh. I can’t think what it is.”

A separate recording taken just days afterward shows Biden attempting to reconstruct memories of an earlier meeting. He told Zwonitzer, “It’s confusing me,” prompting an aide in the room to step in and steer the conversation back on course.

These newly surfaced clips give the public direct access to material that, until now, existed only in summarized form within Hur’s written findings.

Hur’s report, issued in February 2024, drew national attention for its characterization of Biden as an elderly man with significant memory lapses, a description that fueled political debate throughout that election year.

The controversy stemmed originally from the 2022 and 2023 discoveries of classified documents at Biden’s Delaware residence and at a former office space he used after his vice presidency ended.

Federal investigators spent months examining how the documents came to be stored improperly and whether Biden had knowingly retained or shared them.

Zwonitzer, an experienced author who has ghostwritten for other public figures, worked closely with Biden throughout the interview process that produced “Promise Me, Dad.”

The finished memoir, released in November 2017, focused heavily on the death of Biden’s son Beau and Biden’s choice to forgo a 2016 presidential run.

Neither Biden nor his representatives have issued a public response since the recordings became available.

It remains unclear whether House Judiciary Republicans intend to release further portions of the audio beyond what has already surfaced.

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