Biden tapes released after legal battle, with references to classified material

Audio recordings that former President Joe Biden fought for years to keep private have now been released.

The roughly 70 hours of audio recordings, shared with CBS News, were cited in a 2024 special counsel's report, which said Biden kept volumes of notes at his home that included classified information.

Biden, now 83, is at one point in the recordings heard telling his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer: "Some of this may be classified … So, be careful. I'm not sure ... It's not marked classified but —"

At another point in the recordings he says again: "The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified …"

The recordings were made while Biden worked with his ghostwriter on his 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose." No classified material was ever alleged to be in the published book.

The tapes first became the topic of intense scrutiny and controversy when they were referenced by Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur in a February 2024 report on Biden's handling of classified documents. Hur began investigating after documents that were marked classified, dating back to his time as vice president, were found in his home and private office. He ultimately did not recommend charges.

Hur also characterized Biden as "struggling to remember events," exhibiting "diminished faculties" and having "painfully slow" conversations as early as 2016. On the tapes, Biden speaks haltingly at times. If he is struggling with his memory during that period, the signs of it are subtle.

At one point, Biden seems to lose his way, saying: "Alright — what was I going to ask you? Something else… Uh… um. Oh gosh. I can't think of anything else."

The recordings were released after a two-year court battle by the Oversight Project, a conservative nonprofit that says its goal is to "expose and root out corruption in government."

Biden's legal team had initially sought to enjoin the release, but after a series of adverse rulings, declined to pursue the matter further.

CBS News has reached out to an attorney for Biden on the matter. At the time of the Hur report, Biden told reporters: "I did not share classified information. I did not share it with my ghostwriter." He added that he wasn't aware how boxes containing classified documents ended up in his garage.

Recordings shared with CBS News include Biden describing to Zwonitzer potentially classified meetings, including "a big meeting with the CIA and everyone," "a big meeting down in the Situation Room," and "a long meeting where DOD brief … POTUS."

In an Oct. 10, 2016, recording, he tells Z