The months-long legal battle over the release of former President Joe Biden\u2019s recordings from interviews with his memoir ghostwriter \u2014 obtained during special counsel Robert Hur\u2019s classified documents investigation \u2014 came to an end on Monday.
\nBiden\u2019s attorneys filed a motion last week to drop their case blocking the release of the audio recordings and transcripts after fighting to keep the material under wraps, noting that Biden is now a private citizen and is not seeking public office.
\nObama-appointed Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accepted the voluntary dismissal.
\nBIDEN\u2019S FIGHT TO KEEP HUR INTERVIEW TAPES UNDER WRAPS SUFFERS FRESH COURT BLOW<\/p>\n
The Justice Department obtained recordings of Biden\u2019s 2016 and 2017 conversations with Mark Zwonitzer, his ghostwriter for the memoir \u201cPromise Me, Dad.\u201d Hur\u2019s team, meanwhile, prepared transcripts during its investigation into Biden\u2019s handling of classified information.
\nNow, the Department of Justice can release the audio recordings and transcripts to the House Judiciary Committee after the Friday motion was accepted.
\nHur investigated Biden\u2019s handling of classified documents dating from his time as vice president in the Obama administration and as a U.S. senator from Delaware. He declined to pursue criminal charges because he concluded prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden willfully retained or disclosed the material.
\nHe also said, in shocking reasoning for the lack of prosecution, that Biden could appear to a jury as a \u201csympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory\u201d rather than an intentional violator of classified document laws.
\nHUNTER BIDEN RESURFACES IN LA, REACTS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT BIDEN TAPES, UFO FILES<\/p>\n
The plaintiff, Mike Howell formerly with conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and now at Oversight Project, has fought for more than two years to obtain the materials through FOIA requests, arguing that the public has an interest in reviewing the recordings and transcripts on which Hur based his decision.
\n\u201cWe are looking forward to reviewing these tapes that Joe Biden and his administration were allowed to hide for too long. They should show his mental decline as far back as 2016\/2017. Yet his Party ran him as President,\u201d said Oversight Project\u2019s Vice President for Litigation Jeff Clark in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
\nA previous ruling favored Heritage after Biden\u2019s attorneys filed an emergency request last week to block the release of the tapes.
\n\u201cWe conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure,\u201d a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in its ruling.
\nBIDEN SCORES TEMPORARY COURT VICTORY AS TRUMP-APPOINTED JUDGE DELAYS RELEASE OF HUR INVESTIGATION MATERIALS<\/p>\n
Hur\u2019s report repeatedly referenced Biden\u2019s recorded conversations with Zwonitzer and described some exchanges as \u201cpainfully slow.\u201d
\nHe said Biden, at times, struggled to recall events and relay information, which further fueled scrutiny of Biden\u2019s cognitive abilities during a time when he was still running for re-election for president.
\nThe Justice Department reversed its earlier position in February and said it intended to disclose redacted versions of the recordings and transcripts to the plaintiffs and the House Judiciary Committee.
\nBiden\u2019s attorneys did not respond to Fox News Digital\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on https:\/\/www.foxnews.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"