Judge rules DOJ can release Biden audio recordings, transcripts to Heritage Foundation in special counsel probe
Key takeaways
- She also asserted that the DOJ s extensive redactions have mitigated potential privacy concerns because there was now no information about Biden s family or other private persons in the materials.
- Biden s attorneys quickly filed a motion to pause the judge s order while the D.C.
- The Justice Department, then under former Attorney General Merrick Garland, released transcripts of the recordings but refused to share the audio files, citing executive privilege exemptions.
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
Judge Dabney Langhorne Friedrich denied Biden s attempt to block the release of his decade-old conversations with his memoir ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, finding that the significant public interest in the disclosure outweighed the former president s substantial privacy claims.
She also asserted that the DOJ s extensive redactions have mitigated potential privacy concerns because there was now no information about Biden s family or other private persons in the materials.
And while public figures maintain certain privacy rights, the Department did not abuse its discretion in finding that nothing in the remaining Zwonitzer materials is sensitive enough to outweigh the public s unusually strong interest, Friedrich, a Trump appointee, wrote in a 26-page order.