Former President Joe Biden is in an uphill battle to stop the Justice Department from sharing recordings it collected of him speaking to his ghostwriter in 2016 and 2017, during which his speech and memory faltered.

Court Decisions Loom

Court decisions on Friday and into next month are poised to revive questions over Biden’s mental acuity during his presidency — and even in the years before. The Justice Department is set to provide about two hours of recordings of Biden speaking to writer Mark Zwonitzer to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in the next three weeks, unless a court steps in to block the move, which would be unusual.

The conservative Heritage Foundation already won a judge’s initial endorsement last week for the public release of the tapes. However, Biden is appealing, and a federal trial-level judge has paused the release of the tapes for three weeks to allow the appellate court in DC time to weigh in.

Privacy Concerns

DC District Judge Dabney Friedrich — siding with the Heritage Foundation — wrote that the Justice Department was within its abilities to decide to release the tapes now. She also said the Justice Department plans to redact parts of the tapes, and she decided “that Biden’s privacy arguments largely overlook the Department’s recent redactions and reasonings.”

Friedrich agreed that Biden’s interest in keeping the tapes private was somewhat diminished by the publication of his resulting memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” among other reasons. The remaining materials largely contain Biden’s discussion of foreign policy — including his references to what may have been classified material in his possession — and his decision not to run for President in 2016.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.