Newly released Biden audio recordings highlight memory struggles

Former president discusses notes from his vice presidency with his biographer, while referencing classified foreign policy matters

Audio recordings released Monday appear to reinforce former Special Counsel Robert Hur's 2024 assessment that former President Joe Biden struggled with memory. The recordings, released by the conservative Oversight Project, include Biden discussing notes from his vice presidency with his biographer, Mark Lewis Zwonitzer, while referencing allegedly classified foreign policy matters, according to CNN. “They didn’t even know I had this,” Biden said while apparently showing the ghostwriter his old notes as reference points in their discussion of allegedly classified foreign policy matters during his vice president days. The information is still redacted in the audio clips. The recordings were released after the Oversight Project, part of Heritage Foundation, sued the Justice Department. Biden opposed their release but dropped his legal challenge on Monday. A Biden spokesman declined to comment on the recordings, instead referring to a previous statement from former White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo: “President Biden’s conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private, and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way. Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution.” The recordings include several moments where Biden struggles to recall dates and details, consistent with Hur’s description of him as an elderly man “with a poor memory.” Hur ultimately declined to prosecute, citing Biden’s cooperation, the lack of evidence of intentional wrongdoing, and how his memory issues could influence a jury. The Oversight Project said it fought "tooth and nail to bring these tapes to light." "These tapes we are releasing today should have come out a long time ago," it added. In one clip, Biden says he had recently discovered classified documents before discussing his 2009 opposition to sending more troops to Afghanistan. “So this was – I, early on, in ’09 – I just found all of the classified stuff downstairs. I wrote the President a handwritten 40-page memorandum arguing against deploying additional troops to Iraq – I mean, to Afghanistan on the grounds that it wouldn’t matter, that the day we left would be like the day before we arrived,” Biden said. In another recording, he briefly references classified material without further explanation. “And then — and then the next thing I have here is — this is classified,” Biden said.