House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is asking President Biden’s ghostwriter to appear for a transcribed interview and hand over any transcripts or recordings related to his work on Biden’s memoirs. Author Mark Zwonitzer was put in the spotlight when special counsel Robert Hur submitted his final report to Attorney General Garland on Biden’s handling of classified information.
Zwonitzer helped Biden write two books: “Promise Me, Dad” and “Promises to Keep.”
The special counsel determined no criminal charges were warranted in the matter. The report also stated that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency as a private citizen. Those disclosures include sharing some notes with Zwonitzer that were classified.
Jordan is requesting:
- All documents and communications shared between Zwonitzer and President Biden relating to ghostwriting work on memoirs.
- All contracts or agreements relating to ghostwriting work.
- All documents evidencing payments relating to ghostwriting work.
- All audio recordings of any interviews or conversations between Zwonitzer and Biden.
- All transcripts of any interviews or conversations between Zwonitzer and Biden related to his memoirs.
“Special Counsel Hur noted that once FBI agents contacted you relating to your ghostwriting work on President Biden’s memoirs, you ‘provided investigators records that included near-verbatim transcripts and . . . audio recordings.’” Jordan said in a letter to Zwonitzer. “Special Counsel Hur also noted that shortly after Special Counsel Hur began his investigation, you took steps to conceal some of these recordings and transcripts.”
Hur’s report shared specifics of Biden’s work with Zwonitzer.
“Based on our review of the notebooks and recorded interviews, when Mr. Biden came to potentially classified material in his notebook entries, he appears to have sometimes stopped at or skipped over the potentially classified material,” the Hur report said. “At other times, however, Mr. Biden read his notes from classified meetings to Zwonitzer nearly word-for-word.”
Jordan also wants to schedule an interview with Zwonitzer to discuss the matter. He’s asking Zwonitzer to reach out to the committee by Feb. 23.
