By Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - Former Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden has asked a federal judge in Washington to block President Donald Trump’s administration from publicly releasing audio recordings and transcripts of his private conversations with his biographer in 2016 and 2017.

The Justice Department obtained the recordings in 2023 during then-Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. Hur declined to bring criminal charges.

The conservative Heritage Foundation sued the Justice Department in 2024 seeking materials from Hur’s investigation. The recordings, made in Biden’s home, were part of the writing process for his 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad."

The Justice Department previously defended withholding the recordings and transcripts, but under the Republican Trump administration, it reversed course and now plans to release material to the plaintiffs and to Congress by June 15.

Biden, in a court filing on Tuesday, asked to intervene in the case to prevent disclosure.

“The Department is now abandoning the core tenets of American justice and forsaking its duty to protect law enforcement files,” Biden’s lawyer Amy Jeffress of law firm Hecker Fink said in the filing.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Oversight Project, a Heritage spinoff group that is now pursuing the lawsuit, said it was confident it would prevail. In a statement, Oversight Project president Mike Howell said, "Joe Biden told the court that he is still hiding. We aren't surprised by this, although it is quite outrageous."

In a filing last week, the plaintiffs said they plan to oppose Biden’s motion as untimely.

Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo, in a statement, said the former president cooperated with Hur's investigation and agreed to provide audio of his conversations with his biographer on the condition that they would not be made public. "What's happening now isn't about transparency. It's about politics," Ducklo said.

Jeffress said Biden discussed “a range of sensitive topics” with his writing partner, including his late son Beau's battle with cancer. Biden argues he has a privacy interest in the recordings and that the department’s reversal is politically motivated.

Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department said in a 2024 filing that releasing the recordings “would constitute a severe invasion of privacy.” In a recent filing, however, the department said it plans to release the materials following a March request from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.

Biden's lawyers called the congressional request "pretextual."

The case is Heritage Foundation v. Department of Justice, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:24-cv-00645-DLF.

For plaintiffs: Samuel Dewey of Chambers of Samuel Everett Dewey

For defendant: John Halloran Jr. of the Justice Department

Read more:

US prosecutor says classified document report does not exonerate Biden

Special counsel report on Biden memory, Trump, Afghanistan troops

Biden classified docs prosecutor Robert Hur rejoins law firm King & Spalding

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