One of the key findings from Hur was based on audio the investigators obtained from Mark Zwonitzer, who co-wrote Biden’s 2017 book with him.
In that audio, the special counsel report says, Biden told Zwonitzer that he had found classified information in his possession. Marc Krickbaum, who along with Hur interviewed Biden last October, asked the president if he remembered finding classified information.
According to the transcript, Biden said he didn’t remember finding classified information. But he suggested what he was really conveying to Zwonitzer was that a particular document, a memo Biden had written to then-President Barack Obama about Afghanistan, should not be included in the book they were writing together.
“I didn’t want any of that mentioned, it was confidential. I didn’t — not confidential in the classification sense, but don’t, don’t write about that. That’s off the record,” Biden said.
During the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan highlighted the role of Zwonitzer as he suggested Biden’s motivation in retaining classified information was so he could write a book.
Biden, during his interview with Hur, said he believed the notebooks he maintained as VP, and which he would share contents of with Zwonitzer, were his own and not subject to government retention regulations. He also explained why the notebooks were important in writing the book.
“Look, what I was doing, I was writing a book about how the family responded to a son we knew was dying,” he said, according to the transcript, noting that the diaries helped refresh his memory.
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