Trump is weighing whether to release audio of Biden’s interview with prosecutors, where his apparent memory issues were on display

The Trump administration is considering releasing the audio of former president Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents and released a report questioning the former president’s mental acuity.

No plans have been finalized, as President Donald Trump and his advisers have not made a concrete decision, two Republicans briefed by Trump officials told Politico.

But Biden’s team is reportedly preparing for the audio to be released.

The audio would likely negatively contribute to Biden’s image, given Hur’s final report, released last year, depicted the former president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Hur, who was tapped to investigate Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, said Biden “appeared to have significant limitations” and could not remember key moments of his life, such as when he was vice president or when his son Beau Biden died. Hur said Biden also had a “hazy” memory when recalling the events of Afghanistan.

Biden defended himself, saying the interview was “exhaustive” and asked him to recall events going back more than 40 years. The former president highlighted his cooperation with investigators, saying he provided the special counsel with at least 10 hours of interviews over two days.

But Republicans clung to Hur’s findings about Biden’s memory and demanded former attorney general Merrick Garland release the audio tapes – a request that the White House rejected.

At the time, politicians were preparing for the 2024 presidential election, and Biden’s physical and mental fitness were a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats.

For refusing to turn over the audio files, Republicans accused Democrats of staging a “cover-up” to make Biden appear more fit than he was.

"We all know why they don't want to turn over the audio because it will ... show exactly what we all saw on the debate stage a couple weeks ago," Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said in July – a reference to Biden’s poor debate performance against Trump.

The White House contended it did not release the tapes to prevent future witnesses from cooperating in high-profile cases out of fear of later retribution.

The Independent has reached out to the White House and a representative for Biden for comment.

The Trump administration will need to decide relatively soon because a judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by the House Judiciary Committee to compel the Justice Department to release the tapes has ordered the parties to file a joint motion by the end of May to resolve the matter without further litigation.

However, if the Trump administration does choose to release the tapes, it would be bypassing Biden’s claim that executive privilege shields the audio from being released. That could set a precedent for other judges to point to if there were to be a similar matter involving Trump, who often points to executive privilege to justify his own actions.