House Panel Advances Contempt Resolution Against Biden’s Ghostwriter

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) questions Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a hearing of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus in Washington on June 3, 2024. Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee advanced a resolution on June 27 to hold President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena to provide materials relating to his work on the president’s memoirs.

Over the objections of Democrat members, the committee approved the resolution in a 13–11 vote. The resolution will now head to the House floor, though it is unclear if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will bring it up.

The panel subpoenaed Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter who authored President Biden’s memoirs “Promise Me, Dad” and “Promises to Keep,” in March for documents related to his work for the president, including audio recordings of their interviews.

The development comes less than two weeks after the House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt in a near party-line vote over his refusal to provide audio tapes of the president’s interviews with special counsel Robert Hur. After the Justice Department declined to pursue charges against Mr. Garland, Mr. Johnson said House Republicans intend to file a lawsuit next week to enforce the subpoena.

To date, Mr. Zwonitzer has not produced any of the requested records.

In his communications with the committee, the author challenged the legislative purpose of the subpoena and raised concerns about potential infringements on his freedom of speech, according to a committee report outlining its contempt resolution. Mr. Zwonitzer also suggested that he should not have to produce the requested materials because they “contain the President’s highly personal information.”

Committee leadership held those objections to be “unfounded.”

The Judiciary Committee made its initial request of Mr. Zwonitzer in February after Mr. Hur wrapped up his investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents.

In his report, Mr. Hur concluded that, as a private citizen, Mr. Biden “willfully” retained classified information and disclosed some of it to Mr. Zwonitzer. The special counsel ultimately declined to recommend charges against the president. One of the reasons cited was an assessment that the president would present to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Mr. Zwonitzer’s records were crucial to the panel’s oversight work. The committee, he said, must learn the extent of President Biden’s classified disclosures to Mr. Zwonitzer and the intent behind them.

“In order to do so, and to determine whether special counsel Hur appropriately carried out justice by not prosecuting the president, we need the audio recordings and the transcripts,” he said.

Committee Democrats, however, criticized the contempt proceedings as a political stunt.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the committee’s top Democrat, suggested that Republicans’ true purpose in seeking Mr. Zwonitzer’s recordings was to weaken President Biden ahead of the November election.

“To achieve that goal, this committee is willing to put a target on the back of an American citizen, a private American citizen who has already been cleared of wrongdoing in this very matter,” Mr. Nadler said.

Mr. Jordan countered by noting the special counsel’s finding that Mr. Zwonitzer attempted to destroy evidence upon learning of the investigation into the president—the same evidence the committee now seeks.

Mr. Hur managed to recover the files in question and opted not to charge Mr. Zwonitzer.

Mr. Zwonitzer’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment by press time, nor did the White House or the Biden campaign.