Confidants of both President Biden and former President Donald Trump deleted or tried to delete evidence pertinent to both men’s hoarding of sensitive national security information, federal investigators say.
But while Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, will not face criminal charges, two Trump employees stand accused along with the former president.
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s Thursday report, in which he concluded Biden, 81, “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials,” also revealed that Zwonitzer expunged audio of the commander-in-chef that had “significant evidentiary value.”
Zwonitzer made the recordings while talking to Biden to gather material for the now-president’s 2017 memoir “Promise Me, Dad,” the second collaboration between the ghostwriter and the chief executive.
The 61-year-old told investigators he “was aware that there was an investigation” at the time he scrubbed the material, and replied, “I’m not going to say how much of the percentage it was of my motivation.”
“When asked whether he deleted the recordings to try and prevent investigators from obtaining them, Zwonitzer said that he did not,” the report explained, noting that the author claimed he didn’t think investigators would approach him for information.
Biden’s Delaware garage, where a storage closet contained sensitive documents. DOJ
Authorities later