Biden Recordings Reveal 'Secret Documents', Disagreements with Obama, and Decision to Run

The CNN report highlighted the audio recordings of former U.S. President Joe Biden that were released Monday, bringing the classified documents case back to the forefront and revealing new details about his relationship with former President Barack Obama, as well as the inside story of his decision to run for president.

The recordings date back to interviews Biden conducted with his biographer Mark Zwonitzer while preparing his memoirs, before they were published by the right-leaning group "Oversight Project" after a legal battle with the U.S. Department of Justice, which sought to force its release.

In the audio recordings, Biden can be heard speaking in a nonchalant manner about the notes he kept during his tenure as vice president, while reviewing those notes with Zwonitzer.

Biden said, "They didn't even know I had this," as he appeared to be showing his old notes to the writer (writing on his behalf) to use as references in their discussion of foreign policy matters — allegedly classified — during his time as vice president.

The Classified Documents Case

According to the report, the recordings appeared consistent with the findings of former special counsel Robert Hur's 2024 report, which concluded not to charge Biden in the classified documents case but described him as an elderly man with memory problems.

During one interview, Biden was heard reviewing notes he kept from his time as vice president, saying, "They didn't even know I had this," while showing them to his biographer for reference in discussing foreign policy files, while the classified portions were redacted when the recordings were published.

In another recording, Biden said, "It was like this... early in 2009 — I just found all that classified material in the basement, and I wrote the president a handwritten 40-page memo arguing against deploying additional troops in Iraq — I mean Afghanistan — on the basis that it wouldn't make a difference, and that the day we leave would be exactly like the day before we arrived."

The recordings also showed another moment when, while reviewing his papers, he said, "Then... then the next thing I have here is... this is classified," before stopping to continue discussing the content of the document.

The recordings also captured Biden hesitating to recall certain dates and events, as well as stumbling in more than one place, reigniting debate over the special counsel's assessment that his mental state would be a factor in any potential trial before a jury.

Disagreements with Obama

The recordings revealed disagreements within the administration of former President Barack Obama, as Biden said the president was "furious" with him due to differing views on how to handle the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

He added, "I was really a lone voice on the housing issue, and a lone voice on the middle class... I thought we should have taken stronger action."

He also attributed the failure to adopt those policies to what he described as the influence of big tech companies, saying, "I think Barack and his team were beholden to Silicon Valley, at least subconsciously, and the Valley guys didn't want the things I wanted."

Biden also talked about Obama's decision not to appoint economist Lawrence Summers to the Federal Reserve Board, considering that the controversy surrounding him made him a "burden or an embarrassment" to the administration.

The Decision to Run for President

The recordings included a lengthy discussion about a meeting he had with Obama before the 2016 elections, during which they discussed the possibility of his running for president.

Biden said Obama told him the decision was his, but he thought winning the Democratic Party nomination against Hillary Clinton would be "a very tough battle."

Biden added, "The truth is, he didn't think it was possible at the time, or that I could actually go ahead and win the nomination. That was my assessment of the situation then."

The former president also reviewed meetings he held with his advisors to discuss the timing of his candidacy announcement, noting that one of them told him, "You have the ability to unify the ranks, and you have a reassuring quality; whereas Hillary is a divisive figure, and Bernie seems too angry."

Biden also discussed the political challenges he faced, chief among them his verbal gaffes, saying, "The issue of gaffes is like a virus; it lies dormant, but once you make a new mistake, they bring it up again."

At the end of one recording, Biden discussed with his aides the challenges he might face as a candidate, where one of them pointed to his verbal gaffes as one of the many obstacles he would have to overcome, and Biden — apparently reading from his notes — said, "The issue of gaffes is like a virus; it lies dormant, but once you make a new mistake, they bring it up again." At one point, the former president said, "I can't read my handwriting."