Oversight Project Releases Recordings of Biden Interviews with Ghostwriter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 27, 2026

Washington, D.C.– The Oversight Project has finally received the recording of President Joe Biden’s interview with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. The interviews occurred in 2016 and 2017 while the pair was writing Biden’s memoir, Promise Me, Dad. Special Counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute Biden for mishandling classified information because he determined that a jury was unlikely to convict Biden because he presented as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Biden’s conduct in these interviews contributed to Hur’s determination.

Today’s release of the tapes caps more than two years of litigation to bring transparency to the American People about the Autopen President. Since March 2024, the Oversight Project and the Heritage Foundation fought tooth and nail to bring these tapes to light. Together, we defeated both the Biden-led Justice Department and his high-price private attorneys. These tapes we are releasing today should have come out a long time ago. The Oversight Project will never stop fighting for transparency in government. These records belong to you, because It’s Your Government.

Key takeaways:

  • The extent of Biden’s disclosure of classified information is much more egregious than previously disclosed by Special Counsel Hurr. At several points in the tapes, Biden references the information he is reviewing is likely classified, which is followed by significant audio redactions for classified information. This was not just once or twice, these classified redactions cover significant portions of the audio files released. The listener shouldn’t overlook the audio redactions because those redactions are intended to cover the disclosure of classified information, so the silence of the redactions loudly demonstrates that Biden knowingly and willfully disclosed classified information to his ghostwriter. As confirmed by the redaction code in the transcripts, Biden disclosed classified CIA, DOD, and other serious national security information to his ghostwriter as part of the process of writing his book.
  • Within six months of leaving office, either Biden’s decline was already so progressed that he didn’t recognize the limitations of sharing extensive classified information, some of it highly compartmentalized national security information, or his decline was already well underway in early 2017.
  • Biden was already demonstrating significant cognitive decline. In the sections of the audio tapes that were not redacted, Biden references his confused state of mind on many days. As we know occurred during his Presidency, Biden was clearly experiencing good days and bad days as far back as 2017. From forgetting the name of Congressman Jim Clyburn to multiple statements of “I’m so confused” and “I can't remember”, it was clear that Joe Biden was not sharp in 2017.
  • This 2017 audio proves why his campaign used the cover of Covid to hide Biden in the basement because if he was forced to speak in public and off the cuff throughout the campaign, Biden’s cognitive decline would have been as obvious as it was in his debate with President Trump in 2024.
  • Not only do these audio tapes prove that Biden lied when he previously claimed that “[he] did not share classified information” with his ghostwriter, but it proves the entire Biden White House orchestrated a willful coverup of the facts to the American people when they tried to discredit the Hurt report in 2024.

Oversight Project Vice President of Litigation Jeff Clark gave this statement:

“Two and half years ago, the Oversight Project began a lonely project trying to get access to Biden’s ghostwriter tapes where he disclosed classified information to writer Marc Zwonitzer. To date, Biden has paid zero consequences for betrayal of the country. The release of the tapes today, after the Oversight Project won pitched battles with the Biden DOJ and then against Joe Biden’s white-shoe lawyers in D.C., should cause a thorough reexamination of the non-prosecution recommendation of Special Counsel Robert Hur in February 2024. On the tapes, (in audio gaps/transcript redactions) Biden clearly gives away secret after secret to someone not authorized to hold such secrets. And he did it all for personal and family profit to the tune of $8 million! Americans want to see accountability. Now you know why Biden’s lawyers fought so hard to keep these tapes and transcripts out of the public’s watchful eye!”

Oversight Project President Mike Howell gave this statement:

“The tapes have always belonged to the American People, the Oversight Project just delivered them to their rightful owner. We now know what has been long assumed: the autopen scandal extends far back beyond just when Joe Biden “ran” for president from his basement. These tapes have so many pauses and “ums” that it sounds like Biden is buffering like a dial-up Internet connection. The knowledge of his deterioration was well-established. The sin of the autopen administration is corporate and accountability should be had on all enablers. We can never have a presidential administration run by machinized fiat again. Only one person can be president at a time, and ideally that person should actually win a credible election.”

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Listen to the interviews here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ-4dWVwWsFI

Read the transcripts here: https://static.itsyourgov.org/Biden_Zwonitzer_Interview_Transcripts.pdf