WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Joe Biden worked so closely with the ghostwriter with whom he is accused of sharing classified secrets that he once declared that he'd trust the author with his life.
Mark Zwonitzer worked with Biden on two memoirs, 2007's 鈥淧romises to Keep鈥 and 鈥淧romise Me, Dad," which was published 10 years later. According to a report released Thursday by , Biden found at his home and former office, and shared classified information contained in some of them with Zwonitzer while the two were working on the Biden's second book.
Hur's report says no criminal charges are warranted against Biden. It says his office considered charging Zwonitzer with obstruction of justice because the ghostwriter destroyed recordings of interviews he conducted with Biden while they worked on his second memoir together once he learned of the documents investigation. But Hur also said Zwonitzer offered 鈥減lausible, innocent reasons鈥 for having done so and cooperated with investigators subsequently, meaning the evidence against him was likely 鈥渋nsufficient to obtain a conviction.鈥
Hours after the report was released, Biden addressed reporters at the White House and spoke to what he shared with Zwonitzer, saying, 鈥淚 did not share classified information鈥 adding he didn't do so "with my ghostwriter. Guarantee you I did not.鈥
Zwonitzer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Years earlier, in an interview Biden conducted as part of the Audible audiobook version of 鈥淧romise Me, Dad,鈥 Biden called Zwonitzer a 鈥済reat, great guy" and said, "I trust him with my life.鈥
He added that Zwonitzer 鈥渉elped me organize; that was his great asset to me.鈥
It may feel like less of one now.
Hur's report says Biden from his time as vice president that contained classified information and used them to help Zwonitzer put together his memoir 鈥 sometimes reading from them verbatim for more than hour at a time. Biden did that, the report says, despite being aware from when he once suggested that Zwonitzer could be hired as historian for the Office of the Vice President, that the author did not have security clearance.
The report details one of the boxes recovered by federal investigators was labeled 鈥渕ark Z,鈥 and that one recorded conversation with Zwonitzer in 2017 had Biden saying that he鈥檇 鈥渏ust found all the classified stuff downstairs鈥 of a home he was then renting in Virginia.
Biden spoke to that incident Thursday night and, when pressed that Hur鈥檚 reports suggested he had read classified documents to his ghostwriter responded, 鈥淚t did not say that.鈥
鈥淲hat I didn鈥檛 want repeated, I didn鈥檛 want him to know 鈥 and I didn鈥檛 read it to him 鈥 was, I had written a long memorandum to President (Barack) Obama, why we should not be in Afghanistan and it was multiple pages,鈥 Biden said of his discussions with Zwonitzer. 鈥淎nd so, what I was referring to when I said classified, I should have said it should be private because it was a contact between the president and vice president as to what was going on.鈥
Biden added, "it was not classified information in that document. That was not classified.鈥
Though the report concludes that the published finished product of 鈥淧romise Me, Dad鈥 did not contain classified information, it says that Zwonitzer deleted recordings he made during his previous conservations with Biden after he learned about the special counsel's probe.
But it also says that Zwonitzer offered explanations for his deletions and made available transcripts of the recordings. Additionally, he gave investigators his notes and the computer and external hard drive from which the recordings were removed, which allowed authorities to recover most of what had been deleted.
Biden is a well-known fan of 鈥淲hat It Takes,鈥 Richard Ben Cramer鈥檚 exhaustive account of the 1988 Democratic and Republican presidential primaries. Biden was then a Delaware senator mounting his first White House run.
In 2006, when he wanted to begin work on what became his first memoir, Biden contacted Zwonitzer, who was Ben Cramer鈥檚 researcher on 鈥淲hat it Takes."
After opting not to run for president in 2015, Biden again contacted Zwonitzer and the two reunited to work on 鈥淧romise Me, Dad.鈥
