WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his private conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, which are scheduled for public disclosure on June 15. The materials stem from interviews conducted at Biden’s home in 2016 and 2017 for his 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose," which recounted the year beginning during the Thanksgiving holiday in 2014—a period Biden described in the legal filing as among the most consequential of his political life and the most painful of his personal life.

The lawsuit follows a 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Heritage Foundation, which later filed its own legal action seeking access to Biden’s remarks to Zwonitzer. The Justice Department initially withheld the recordings and transcripts, citing FOIA exemptions, but reversed course in February by notifying Biden of its intent to release the materials without providing a formal explanation for the policy shift. On May 5, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General informed Biden’s legal team that the department had finalized its decision to release the recordings and transcripts—with limited redactions—to both the Heritage Foundation plaintiffs and Congress on June 15.

Biden argues the personal nature of the conversations qualifies them for exemption from public disclosure under FOIA. “Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” attorney Amy Jeffress wrote in the lawsuit.

Former President Donald Trump commented on the lawsuit on Truth Social, calling Biden “a Crooked Politician.” Without court intervention, the Justice Department will proceed with the scheduled release of the materials on June 15.