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CNN 6/22/2026
DOJ may be able to release potentially embarrassing Biden audio recordings unless courts step in
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Updated: 7:00 AM EDT, Mon June 22, 2026
Source: CNN
Former President Joe Biden is in an uphill battle to try to
stop the Justice Department from sharing recordings it collected of him speaking to his ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017, during which his speech and memory faltered.
Court decisions on Friday and into next month are poised to revive questions over Biden’s mental acuity during his presidency — and even in the years before.
The Justice Department is set to provide about two hours of recordings of Biden speaking to writer Mark Zwonitzer to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in the next three weeks, unless a court steps in to block the move, which would be unusual.
Before the House committee’s request for the tapes is resolved, the conservative Heritage Foundation already won a judge’s initial endorsement last week for the public release of the tapes.
The foundation hasn’t yet received the recordings or transcripts of them, however, because Biden is appealing. A federal trial-level judge has already paused the release of the tapes for three weeks, to allow the appellate court in DC time to weigh in.
DC District Judge Dabney Friedrich — siding with the Heritage Foundation on Friday after listening to the tapes for herself — wrote that the Justice Department was within its abilities to decide to release the tapes now. She also said the Justice Department plans to redact parts of the tapes, and she decided “that Biden’s privacy arguments largely overlook the Department’s recent redactions and reasonings.”
Friedrich agreed that Biden’s interest in keeping the tapes private was somewhat diminished by the publication of his resulting memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” among other reasons."
lite.cnn.com
Just how demented was the 46th president? The tapes will show who the Democrats decided to keep in control of the nation's defense and nuclear arsenal.
