Joe Biden's ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, admitted to the FBI early last year that he deleted numerous audio recordings of interviews with the 81-year-old Democrat partly due to the special counsel investigation.
At the time, Department of Justice special counsel Robert Hur was investigating whether Biden had mishandled and illegally retained classified documents after leaving the vice presidency. Allegedly, some of these classified documents were shared with Zwonitzer, breaching national security.
According to the transcript of Zwonitzer’s FBI interview, agents asked if the special counsel's appointment and the existence of the recordings influenced his decision to delete them. Zwonitzer initially tried to deflect, stating he was aware of the investigation when the deletions occurred.
An agent highlighted the potential appearance of impropriety, suggesting an outside observer might view Zwonitzer's actions as a direct response to the investigation.
Pressed further for clarity, Zwonitzer admitted that the investigation did influence his actions to some degree but declined to specify the extent of its impact. “I’m not going to say how much of the percentage it was of my motivation,” Zwonitzer said.
Zwonitzer explained that erasing audio files was a routine procedure for him, not a practice unique to Biden's situation. He did however confess to deleting the files once he learned of the investigation. Following this action, he neither notified anyone nor was contacted about the deletions.
Allegations have surfaced that Biden disclosed the contents of classified documents to Zwonitzer during their interviews, potentially violating national security protocols. In March, Hur testified that Zwonitzer “attempted to destroy the evidence.”
Special counsel Hur ultimately decided not to charge Zwonitzer with obstruction of justice.
