AP News53%
Appeals court rejects Biden’s bid to block release of recordings of ghostwriter interviews 2%
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN11%
7/21/2026, 3:50:48 PM
Keywords: Biden Special Counsel Heritage Foundation Ghostwriter, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Sri Srinivasan, Courts, U S Department Of Justice, Md State Wire, Maryland, Dc Wire, District Of Columbia, Indictments, Robert Hur, U S Republican Party, Politics, U S Democratic Party, Entertainment, Florence Pan, Business, Gregory Katsas, Delaware, Mark Zwonitzer
BS Summary: This article contains 2 faulty reasoning types, including Self-Serving Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 10.8% saturation with 48 hits. Analysis detected 74 faulty-reasoning hits from 444 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 10.8% and a BS Rank of 2% (19,388 of 19,667 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 98.60% of the article peer group.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has rejected a request by Joe Biden to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his interviews with a memoir ghostwriter before he was elected president.
A divided three-judge panel from the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit suspended its decision until Aug. 3 to allow more time for Biden to consider another appeal.
The panel’s 2-1 ruling late Monday found there is a “substantial” public interest in disclosing the material that Biden wants to keep under wraps.
Redactions to the recordings would help protect Biden’s privacy, the majority noted.
“We conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure,” the ruling says.
Judge Florence Pan, who was nominated by Biden, a Democrat, wrote a dissenting opinion in which she said Biden has shown a “substantial privacy interest” in keeping the material hidden.
“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,” she wrote.
The appeal also was heard by D.C.
Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Gregory Katsas.
Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat who chose Biden as his vice president.
Katsas was nominated by President Donald Trump, a Republican who as president lost to Biden in 2020 but was elected again to the White House in 2024.
Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on two memoirs, 2007’s “Promises to Keep” and 2017’s “Promise Me, Dad,” interviewed him at his home in 2016 and 2017.
Biden’s lawyers say the conversations were candid, personal and intended to remain private.
Biden appealed after U.S.
District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated by Trump, ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had.
Pan noted that the majority is effectively ruling in favor of immediately disclosing the material by denying Biden’s request for an injunction pending appeal.
“That, of course, will moot this case,” she wrote.
Biden’s lawyers say the conversations were candid, personal and intended to remain private.
Biden appealed after U.S.
District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated by Trump, ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had.
Pan noted that the majority is effectively ruling in favor of immediately disclosing the material by denying Biden’s request for an injunction pending appeal.
“That, of course, will moot this case,” she wrote.
Analysis
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