The House Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance a resolution that would hold President Biden’s ghostwriter in contempt of Congress for failing to provide transcripts and recordings of his conversations with the commander-in-chief.
The possible contempt charges against Mark Zwonitzer, which can now be considered by the full House of Representatives, come after federal investigators revealed the author had classified material disclosed to him by Biden, 81.
Zwonitzer, 61, would be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution if the full House were to pass the resolution.
Zwonitzer was subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee in March for transcripts, audio and video recordings and other materials from his work on Biden’s 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad” and the president’s 2021 book “Promises to Keep.”
Special Counsel Robert Hur revealed earlier this year that classified material was disclosed to the ghostwriter by the former vice president as they worked on the manuscripts — during which Biden read “nearly verbatim” from notebooks that contained sensitive national security and foreign policy material.
Zwonitzer deleted the recordings sometime after Hur was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2023 to investigate whether the president had mishandled the classified material.
The author was not charged by Hur despite the special counsel acknowledging in his report that the recordings had “significant evidentiary value.”
In a transcript of one of the bombshell recordings – which Zwonitzer did keep – Biden tells him that he “just found all the classified stuff downstairs,” referring to the home he was then renting in Virginia after leaving office.
Zwonitzer, a private citizen, was not authorized to receive classified information, raising legal questions against Biden.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) argued Thursday that the material Zwonitzer has refused to turn over to Congress is crucial for understanding the manner and extent of Biden’s handling and disclosure of classified materials and would also shed light on the president’s cognitive abilities.
“We need the audio recordings and the transcripts,” Jordan said during the hearing. “Put simply, they are the best evidence of the president’s mental state.”
Hur declined to bring charges against Biden in part because of concerns that a jury would perceive the octogenarian as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Zwonitzer has argued that he cannot comply with the subpoena because the documents and materials sought by the Judiciary Committee “contain the President’s highly personal information,” according to the Jordan.
