WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden on Friday dropped a lawsuit in which he sought block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his interviews with a memoir ghostwriter before the Delaware Democrat was elected president, paving the way for the material to be released to a Republican-led congressional committee.
Biden's attorneys filed the notice of voluntary dismissal less than a week after a divided panel of appeals court judges rejected his bid to block the material's release. Biden could have petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene or asked for a rehearing by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
In a 2-1 ruling on Monday, a three-judge panel from the circuit court found a “substantial” public interest in disclosing the material that Biden wants to keep under wraps. The panel had suspended its decision until Aug. 3 to allow more time for Biden to consider his appellate options.
Circuit Judge Florence Pan wrote a dissenting opinion in which she said Biden has shown a “substantial privacy interest” in keeping the material hidden. The appeal also was heard by D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Gregory Katsas.
Pan was nominated to the court by Biden, a Democrat. Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack Obama, also a Democrat. Katsas was nominated by President Donald Trump, a Republican.
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.
The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents from his time as a senator from Delaware and as Obama’s vice president. Republicans in Congress demanded the material after Hur declined to file charges against the then-president.
Biden sued and sought an injunction to prevent the Justice Department under Trump from releasing the recordings to Congress and the conservative Heritage Foundation. The department previously argued that the recordings were exempt from disclosure under public records law.
Biden appealed after U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump nominee, ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had.
FILE - President Joe Biden waits to speak about foreign policy at the State Department in Washington, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Friday, in a race with Abdul El-Sayed that has become a focal point for the party's fight between its moderate establishment and progressive wings.
Whitmer remains popular in the battleground state, where she has twice won by substantial margins, and her endorsement gives Stevens a significant boost a day before early in-person voting begins. Whitmer also has history with El-Sayed, whom she defeated in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor.
The second-term governor appeared with Stevens and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn in Detroit on Friday, repeating her endorsement in front of more than 100 people at a Teamsters hall. She said Steven has “what it takes to win.”
"Michiganders need a fighter in Washington and there are few leaders with more fight in ’em than Haley Stevens,” Whitmer said, who left the event without taking questions from reporters.
Stevens has pitched herself as a Democrat who has won tough elections, including flipping a Republican-held House seat. She has been backed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a two-term Democrat who is retiring from the seat.
She's in a tight race for the Democratic nomination against El-Sayed, a progressive whose supporters include Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
“The corporate establishment has closed ranks and made their pick – now, Michigan voters will get to make theirs,” said Roxie Richner, a spokesperson for El-Sayed.
The winner of the Aug. 4 primary will face Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in November for a critical, battleground Senate seat. Democrats are hoping to flip the Senate in November, and Michigan remains a key part of their plan.
Stevens is a four-term congresswoman from the Detroit area. Her candidacy has benefited from tens of millions in spending by outside political groups, including nearly $30 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supports pro-Israel candidates.
El-Sayed, who accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, has criticized Stevens for taking money from AIPAC.
Whitmer is a term-limited governor who isn’t on the ballot this fall, though she has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. She is the best-known politician in Michigan.
Whitmer had long weighed the decision. Stevens’ success winning in a competitive district, including converting the GOP-held seat for Democrats in 2018, was among the factors in the endorsement, according to a person who was familiar with the governor’s deliberations but was not authorized to discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.
From left foreground, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT. join hands together following a campaign rally, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
FILE - Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers the State of the State address at the Michigan state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., Feb. 25, 2026. (Devin Anderson-Torrez/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP, File)
