Feds discover transcripts of Biden chats with biographer

The Justice Department told a national judge precocious Monday that it has located transcripts it antecedently denied having of President Joe Biden’s talks pinch a biographer that played a domiciled successful nan precocious completed criminal investigation into Biden’s handling of classified worldly earlier he became president.

In nan aftermath of a study typical counsel Robert Hur issued successful February that described Biden arsenic “a well-meaning, aged man pinch a mediocre memory,” nan Justice Department has been swamped pinch Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits demanding entree to various records related to Hur’s probe.

Some of nan requests came from news outlets, while others originated pinch blimpish groups apparently seeking to get accusation that could reenforce doubts astir Biden's intelligence acuity and fittingness for nan presidency. Nagging concerns astir those issues, peculiarly aft a disastrous statement capacity against Donald Trump past month, helped thrust Biden's announcement Sunday that he is dropping his bid for reelection.

It's unclear whether his exit from nan title will impact nan handling of Hur’s materials by nan Justice Department, which has based on that nan merchandise of audio of Biden's interviews pinch Hur would break nan president’s privacy, lead to imaginable maltreatment — specified arsenic deepfakes — and deter different witnesses from agreeing to recorded interviews. Biden asserted executive privilege complete nan audio recordings of his interviews successful a bid to caput disconnected House Republicans’ effort to clasp Attorney General Merrick Garland successful contempt of Congress for refusing to merchandise nan recordings.

At a proceeding past month, DOJ lawyers handling 1 Freedom of Information lawsuit told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that it would beryllium highly time-consuming to process different audio files containing Biden’s interviews pinch writer Mark Zwonitzer. The attorneys said those recordings stretched to 70 hours and reviewing audio for imaginable classified worldly is acold much difficult than written material.

“We don’t person immoderate transcript that’s been created by nan typical counsel that we tin attest to its accuracy,” Justice Department lawyer Cameron Silverberg told Friedrich astatine nan June 18 proceeding connected a suit brought by nan blimpish Heritage Foundation.

However, Silverberg said successful a tribunal filing Monday nighttime that nan section “in nan past fewer days” confirmed that Hur’s agency had transcripts made of a information of Biden’s discussions pinch Zwonitzer, which occurred arsenic Biden worked pinch him connected memoirs published successful 2007 and 2017. Prosecutors wished that immoderate of those conversations contained classified information, though they were barred by Justice Department argumentation from pursuing charges against a sitting president and said they would not person done truthful successful immoderate arena because of nan imprecision of Biden’s representation and different factors.

“In nan past fewer days…the Department located six physics files, consisting of a full of 117 pages, that appeared to beryllium verbatim transcripts of a mini subset of nan Biden-Zwonitzer audio recordings created for nan SCO by a court-reporting service,” Silverberg wrote successful nan caller filing.

In its efforts to wade done nan records being demanded by blimpish groups and news organizations, nan Justice Department besides reversed itself connected different matter, nan caller filing reveals.

DOJ officials had resisted requests from Heritage to interaction Hur and find retired what materials he relied upon for cardinal portions of his report, but amidst nan disorder complete nan transcripts, it reached retired to different unnamed personification progressive successful Hur's probe, according to nan filing.

When that personification was unavailable, nan Justice Department relented and contacted Hur directly, nan caller submission says.

In a speech pinch nan erstwhile typical counsel, Hur acknowledged relying connected nan Biden-Zwonitzer audio — arsenic good arsenic a information of Biden’s handwritten notes pertaining to a memo astir Afghanistan — to compile his report. Silverberg said he would confer pinch nan parties seeking entree to Hur’s materials astir whether they would for illustration Biden’s notes processed for imaginable merchandise arsenic well.

Friedrich has group a proceeding successful nan lawsuit for Tuesday morning.