JOE BIDEN:
00:00:37
Some of this may be classified, so be careful.
WEIJIA JIANG:
00:00:41
The newly released audio recordings reveal that in 2016 and 2017, as then former Vice President Biden was writing a memoir, he told his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, on several occasions that he had classified documents in his possession. Biden said this in reference to volumes of notes he kept in his home.
JOE BIDEN:
00:01:03
I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.
WEIJIA JIANG:
00:01:06
Biden would later publicly criticize President Trump for his handling of classified material after classified documents were discovered at Mar-a-Lago. How that could possibly happen, how anyone could be that irresponsible.
WEIJIA JIANG:
00:01:22
The Biden tapes were first referenced by Special Counsel Robert Hur in a 2024 report that summarized Hur's investigation of Biden's handling of classified materials after classified documents were found in Biden's home and private office. As part of the probe, Her interviewed Biden in 2022 and ultimately did not recommend charges, in part arguing the jury would not convict, likely viewing Biden as, quote, "a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory." Hur described Biden in these older audio recordings as exhibiting, quote, "diminished faculties."
JOE BIDEN:
00:02:00
I was going to ask you something else. Oh, gosh. I can't think of what it is. President Biden had previously denied sharing classified information. A spokesman told us, quote, "President Biden's conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way. Reversing course and making them public is just the latest example of this administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution." Vlad. All right, Weijia, thank you very much.
