A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Department of Justice may release heavily redacted versions of former President Joe Biden’s conversations with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, to the conservative Heritage Foundation, but temporarily stayed the order to allow for possible appellate review.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich found that the materials — interviews Zwonitzer conducted with Biden for his 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose” — are of significant public interest and that the DOJ’s redactions sufficiently protect Biden’s privacy. Friedrich reviewed the documents in camera and wrote that “the privacy interests in this case — though substantial — are mitigated by the Department’s extensive redactions.” She added that, as redacted, the Zwonitzer materials contain no information about Biden’s family or other private persons.
The records were sought by the Heritage Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act as part of a broader effort to obtain documents from former special counsel Robert Hur’s probe into Biden’s handling of classified materials after his vice presidency. Hur’s investigation found evidence that Biden “willfully retained” classified documents but did not recommend criminal charges.
After issuing the ruling that the DOJ may produce the redacted files, Friedrich immediately entered a three-week temporary stay to permit the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit time to consider whether to grant an injunction pending appeal. The stay pauses any release while the appellate court weighs next steps.
A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment to ABC News on the ruling or the stay. Separately, Biden last month filed a suit against the DOJ seeking to block release of recordings and transcripts from the same interviews, arguing release would infringe on privacy and other protections.
The dispute highlights tensions between public interest in the conduct of high-profile officials and privacy claims tied to memoir material used by investigators. The appellate court’s decision on whether to maintain the stay will determine if and when the redacted Zwonitzer interviews become public, potentially shaping further litigation over access to records tied to the Hur investigation.
