WASHINGTON D.C. — Joe Biden filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice on Tuesday, urging a federal judge to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his private conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer. The materials relate to the writing of Biden’s 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose” and are scheduled for disclosure on June 15, 2026.

The Heritage Foundation submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2024 for records related to Biden’s conversations with Zwonitzer and later filed a lawsuit to obtain the materials. The Department of Justice initially withheld the documents, asserting they were exempt from disclosure under FOIA, but reversed its position during Donald Trump’s second term as president. In February 2026, the department notified Biden of its intent to release the recordings and transcripts to the Heritage Foundation plaintiffs without providing a formal explanation for the change.

On May 5, 2026, the Office of the Assistant Attorney General informed Biden’s attorney that the Justice Department had finalized its decision to disclose the materials—with limited redactions—to both the Heritage Foundation and Congress on June 15. Biden argues that the personal nature of the conversations qualifies them for exemption from FOIA disclosure.

“Every American, including a sitting or former vice president, has a right to privacy in personal conversations held in their own home,” wrote Biden’s attorney Amy Jeffress in the lawsuit.

The conversations with Zwonitzer covered the year beginning on Thanksgiving 2014. The Heritage Foundation’s FOIA request sought records underlying passages in former special counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. However, the recordings at issue in Biden’s current lawsuit are distinct from those referenced in Hur’s investigation. Hur’s report described Biden as “painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to recall facts and at times struggling to read and recount his own notes in the notebook.” Hur ultimately declined to file criminal charges against Biden.