Biden ghostwriter tapes put classified documents fight back in view
New audio from Joe Biden’s memoir sessions captures warnings about possibly classified material, according to the Oversight Project.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Newly released Biden ghostwriter tapes have pushed the classified-documents controversy back into the spotlight, with audio capturing former President Joe Biden warning during memoir sessions that some material in front of him may have been classified.
The recordings, released by the conservative nonprofit Oversight Project, come from Biden’s 2016 and 2017 interviews with Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter who worked with him on the memoir Promise Me, Dad. A ghostwriter helps draft a book for someone else, often by recording long interviews and shaping the material into a manuscript.
In the audio, Biden can be heard handling papers while discussing material from his time in the Obama administration, according to the released recordings. In one exchange, he tells Zwonitzer that some of what they are looking at “may be classified” and adds that it is not marked that way.
Another recording captures Biden introducing a document by saying, “The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified.”
What is on the Biden ghostwriter tapes?
The recordings include Biden discussing papers and notes during work on Promise Me, Dad, including references to high-level government settings and agencies. According to the audio, Biden talks about meetings involving the CIA, the Situation Room and the Department of Defense.
The most direct moment cited from the tapes comes from February 2017, one month after Biden left the vice presidency. In that recording, Biden tells Zwonitzer, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
Biden also says in the recordings that the White House did not know he had extensive notes from his years as vice president, according to the released audio.
The tapes were later examined by Special Counsel Robert Hur as part of his investigation into Biden’s handling of classified materials. Hur’s 2024 report found evidence that Biden retained and disclosed classified material after leaving office.
Hur did not seek criminal charges. His report cited possible defenses, Biden’s cooperation with investigators and concerns that a jury could see Biden as an elderly man with a poor memory.
What did Biden say about the ghostwriter?
Biden publicly said in 2024 that he did not share classified information with Zwonitzer. The completed version of Promise Me, Dad did not include classified material, according to the reporting on the recordings.
The Oversight Project released the audio after a years-long court fight over access to the recordings. The result is that private book interviews from Biden’s post-vice-presidential period are now part of the public record.
The new release does not change Hur’s charging decision as reported, but it gives the public a direct listen to the moments investigators reviewed. For Biden, the tapes revive a politically loaded episode that had already drawn scrutiny over what he kept, what he said aloud and what reached his ghostwriter.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.