DOJ Faces Deadline to Release Biden Audio That Shook 2024 Election

The Department of Justice has until May 20 to determine whether it will release audio from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s October 2023 interview with Joe Biden, following multiple lawsuits and mounting public pressure over transparency.

The audio recording, central to the DOJ’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, has become a focal point for questions about the former president’s mental fitness and the circumstances leading to his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.

Hur’s written report, released in early 2024, described Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” a conclusion many viewed as a turning point in his decision not to seek reelection.

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A judge in Washington, D.C., gave the Trump administration’s DOJ until May 20 to respond to legal efforts demanding the recording’s release.

The Oversight Project—formerly part of the Heritage Foundation—filed the initial lawsuit in March under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Judicial Watch filed its own suit days later, and CNN launched a separate case in April, eventually joined by a dozen other media outlets.

These cases have since been consolidated.

“The audio recording will lend additional answers to a fundamental question that the country has been grappling with, [which] is: Who was running the country for the last few years?” said Kyle Brosnan, vice president of legal at the Oversight Project.

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The White House has not yet made a final decision about whether the audio will be released.

However, a source familiar with the matter told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) that the administration is “considering” allowing the public to hear it.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously commented on the matter when asked by a Daily Caller reporter, saying, “The American people would be quite interested to hear that tape.”

Daily Caller White House Correspondent @reaganreese_: “Is the White House considering releasing the audio of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur to the public, which [Biden] had previously blocked?”

LEAVITT: “I think the American people would be quite interested to… pic.twitter.com/JnBgtIKHry

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 8, 2025

Judicial Watch Senior Attorney Michael Bekesha told the DCNF that “the American public as a whole is interested in” hearing how Biden responded and sounded during the interview.

Bekesha noted that the written transcript released in March may not reflect the full context, particularly in areas where Biden reportedly stuttered, repeated words, or had answers clarified by attorneys.

This is a much-discussed portion of Robert Hur’s interview with Joe Biden in which Biden piles on the misstatements. Biden stumbles on the year Donald Trump was elected president. He suggests he, Biden, was leaving the Senate in 2017 when in fact he was leaving the vice… pic.twitter.com/bnf4YilQtf

— Byron York (@ByronYork) March 12, 2024

President Biden said at a press conference that the special counsel raised the issue of Beau’s death.

“Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?

According to the transcript, Biden first brought up the issue. Per WaPo: pic.twitter.com/fyiBURrbzT

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) March 12, 2024

Joe Biden literally said “My Corvette go BRRRRR” while Robert Hur pleaded with him to answer actual questions pic.twitter.com/7dSk53VG3Y

— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) March 12, 2024

According to emails obtained by Judicial Watch, the White House asked a court reporter to edit out certain responses during the transcription process.

Bekesha said the edits removed instances where attorneys allegedly answered on Biden’s behalf before he repeated the answers.

“The court reporter seemed to think that there were instances where Biden’s attorneys were the one to answer the question and then the president repeated the answer, and the Biden attorneys were saying, ‘That’s not what happened. He just [said] his answer twice,’” Bekesha said.

The DOJ has claimed that executive privilege protects the audio from being released.

In court filings, the department also raised concerns that the tape could be manipulated using artificial intelligence or deepfake technologies.

Special Counsel Hur was appointed in January 2023 after classified documents were discovered at Biden’s private residence.

Hur concluded that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency,” but opted not to recommend charges, citing Biden’s memory issues and the potential difficulty of securing a conviction.

Following Hur’s report, Biden formally exited the 2024 race in July. In a recent interview, the former president said stepping down was “hard” because of what he described as a “successful” presidency.

The House Judiciary Committee also filed a separate lawsuit for the recording in July 2024.

That case is ongoing.

Brosnan expressed support for the broad legal coalition seeking the tape, noting that several traditionally left-leaning media organizations have joined the effort.

“It’s important to get this to the American public, and the more allies we have in the fight, the better,” he said.

A source close to Biden told the DCNF that the release of the audio would not change public perception significantly.

“The transcript has been out for more than a year so I’m not sure there’s much new there,” the associate said.

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