U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Tuesday that the House Judiciary Committee can intervene in Joe Biden’s lawsuit seeking to block the Department of Justice from releasing audiotapes and transcripts from his interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer.
The lawsuit aims to stop the Trump administration’s DOJ from providing the materials to Congress before a June 15 deadline. During a hearing in Washington, D.C., Chutkan said the committee has a “legally cognizable interest” in enforcing its subpoenas and that Biden is seeking a preliminary injunction that could impair that interest. She said that basis was sufficient to allow the committee to intervene in the proceedings and set a June 8 deadline for it to file its opposition to Biden’s request.
Biden argues the recordings should remain private, citing the confidential nature of conversations he had with Zwonitzer while working on his memoir, Promise Me, Dad.
