A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday denied former Joe Biden’s emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal that sought to block the Justice Department from releasing redacted transcripts and audio recordings of his private conversations with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
The 2-1 order, in Heritage Foundation and Mike Howell v. United States Department of Justice, was signed by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan (Obama appointee) and Judge Gregory Katsas (Trump appointee). Judge Florence Pan (Biden appointee) dissented and would have granted the injunction.
The materials at issue are hours of recordings and transcripts from 2016 and 2017 sessions in which Biden spoke with Zwonitzer while preparing his memoir Promise Me, Dad.
Special Counsel Robert Hur obtained the recordings during his investigation into Biden’s unauthorized retention and disclosure of classified documents.