A trove of secretive audio tapes showcasing former President Joe Biden's 'poor memory' and 'diminished faculties' have been released. The recordings were made by the ghostwriter who assisted in the publication Biden's 2017 book Promise Me, Dad. They were shared by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, who began publishing the audio files for the first time Monday evening. The conversations, and Biden's recall issues at the time, were on stark display. In one of the sit-downs, Biden struggled to speak at all for several minutes, and only after he was prompted by the ghostwriter, Marc Zwonitzer. 'It strikes me that there were three big things going on,' he told Biden, after several painful moments passed. 'I think Iraq, Central America, and Ukraine seemed to be the things that were chewing up a lot of a lot of your time.' Biden, in response, muttered quietly and struggled to string together complete or decipherable sentences. His first audible response detailed a discussion with Kevin McCarthy, who 'it looked like was going to be speaker, or ... the number two guy.'

Biden then launched into a lengthy diatribe about energy infrastructure, while Zwonitzer listened on – at times, chiming in with specific dates or details to ostensibly aid the struggling lawmaker. In another portion, Biden, prompted by Zwonitzer about a previous subject they discussed, struggled to remember any of the details or subjects discussed in the earlier sit-down. ‘The next thing I have here is classified,’ Biden said at one point. 'Some of this may be classified ...' Biden can be heard telling Zwonitzer in another discussion. 'It's not marked classified, but ...' Biden said, his voice trailing off.

No classified materials were published in the book, but the discussions, and the documents, were cited in an explosive 2024 special counsel report. 'It's confusing me,' he said, before an assistant steered the conversation back on track. The audio comes as Republicans in Congress had pushed to make the tapes public after the Justice Department obtained them during a high-profile probe into Biden's mishandling of classified documents when he served as Vice President and in the US Senate. The transcripts of the discussions were published in 2024, but audio had never before been shared in full.

The 2024 report, authored by former Special Counsel Robert Hur, stirred controversy around Biden when he questioned the ex-president's diminished mental acuity and forgetfulness, leaving many to wonder what the attorney found in the tapes. Hur decided against bringing charges against Biden for mishandling sensitive documents, in part, because he was a 'sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.' He also noted the former president's 'diminished faculties in advancing age.' Hur said the evidence included a recorded conversation between Biden and his ghostwriter in which the former president stated that he had just 'found all the classified stuff downstairs.' Biden's push to keep the tapes hidden ultimately failed in court due to 'substantial' public interest in the documents.

The interviews were recorded at Biden's home in 2016 and 2017 with author Marc Zwonitzer. They took place when Biden was vice president and before his 2020 campaign, and were meant to remain private, the former president's legal team has argued. Zwonitzer admitted to deleting the audio files during Hur's investigation, claiming he was afraid of getting hacked. The conservative Heritage Foundation began a public disclosure legal battle with the Department of Justice to release the files in 2024 shortly after Hur's report was published. Last week, Judge Florence Pan, a Biden-appointed judge, argued that the former president has shown 'substantial' interest in keeping the files private.

'The conversations at issue took place in Biden's home, and the recordings of them were obtained by the government in the course of a criminal investigation that did not lead to an indictment,' Judge Florence Pan wrote in her dissent. Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee, ruled against the motion to keep the files hidden. The panel stayed an opinion until August 3, allowing further time for Biden's legal team to appeal. Biden announced earlier this month that he would be releasing another memoir titled Promise Me, America. It is expected to be published later this year.