Joe Biden appeared confused, struggled to remember facts and lost his train of thought during a series of meandering conversations with his ghostwriter roughly four years before he was elected president.
The former commander-in-chief also repeatedly made reference to retaining classified information in the discussions with his biographer Mark Zwonitzer, according to newly-released audio tapes.
The heavily-redacted recordings of Biden working on his 2017 memoir with Zwonitzer were released Monday to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Oversight Project nonprofit after a two-year-long court battle.
“We now know what has been long assumed: the autopen scandal extends far back beyond just when Joe Biden ‘ran’ for president from his basement,” Oversight Project President Mike Howell said in a statement.
“These tapes have so many pauses and ‘ums’ that it sounds like Biden is buffering like a dial-up Internet connection,” Howell added.
In one part of an interview with Zwonitzer, Biden says, “Alright — what was I going to ask you? Something else… Uh… um. Oh gosh. I can’t think of anything else.”
In another moment, Biden asks his ghostwriter to “Hang on a second,” while he apparently studies his notes. “Um … it’s confusing me,” the former president later says.
The tapes were previously scrutinized by former special counsel Robert Hur as part of his 2023-2024 investigation into Biden’s retention of classified documents after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.
According the Oversight Project, the recordings prove “Biden was already demonstrating significant cognitive decline” when he began meeting with Zwonitzer – just a few months after leaving the Obama administration – for the 2017 book, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.”
“In the sections of the audio tapes that were not redacted, Biden references his confused state of mind on many days,” the group said in a statement. “As we know occurred during his Presidency, Biden was clearly experiencing good days and bad days as far back as 2017.”
During Zwonitzer interviews with Biden the former president read “nearly verbatim” from notebooks that contained sensitive national security and foreign policy, according to Hur’s 2024 report on the classified documents investigation.
“So this was, I early on, um, in ’09 I just found all the classified stuff downstairs,” Biden is heard telling Zwonitzer in one snippet from the roughly 70 hours of recordings.
“Some of this may be classified so be careful with it,” the 46th president warns his ghostwriter at one point. “I’m not sure … It’s not marked classified but —”
On the tapes, Biden could be heard discovering classified material in real time as he leafed through papers with Zwonitzer nearby.
“The next thing I have here is, um, this is classified …” Biden says in another snippet.
The former president also described potentially classified White House meetings with Zwonitzer, according to CBS News, which first-reviewed the tapes, including “a big meeting with the CIA and everyone,” “a big meeting down in the Situation Room,” and “a long meeting where DOD brief … POTUS.”
In an Oct. 10, 2016, recording, Biden brags that he retained notes without anyone being aware.
“I have extensive notes over this period of time… They didn’t know I have this,” he said, according to the outlet.
Hur found that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after leaving the vice presidency but refused to charge the then sitting president because he would “likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The Oversight Project argued that the extent of Biden’s disclosure of classified information is “much more egregious than previously disclosed” by Hur.
“At several points in the tapes, Biden references the information he is reviewing is likely classified, which is followed by significant audio redactions for classified information,” the group said in a statement. “This was not just once or twice, these classified redactions cover significant portions of the audio files released.
“The listener shouldn’t overlook the audio redactions because those redactions are intended to cover the disclosure of classified information.”
Oversight Project Vice President Jeff Clark fumed that Biden “clearly gives away secret after secret to someone not authorized to hold such secrets.”
“And he did it all for personal and family profit to the tune of $8 million!” Clark continued, referencing a lucrative book deal Biden inked with his publisher.
“Americans want to see accountability. Now you know why Biden’s lawyers fought so hard to keep these tapes and transcripts out of the public’s watchful eye!” he added.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
