Judicial Watch: Justice Department Pays $10,000 To Settle Judicial Watch Biden Audio Tapes Lawsuit

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a settlement in which the government agreed to pay $10,000 for attorneys’ fees and other costs associated with Judicial Watch’s successful lawsuit that forced release of the audio tapes of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24 CV-700-TJK)).

Judicial Watch filed the first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in July 2024 for the audio recordings (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:24-cv-00700)). Judicial Watch lawsuit forced the release of the tapes in May, which has resulted in criminal and congressional investigations into the Biden White House

“Judicial Watch’s heavy lifting ended the cover-up of the Biden-Hur tapes. Our lawsuit caused the release of the tapes and multiple new official investigations of exactly who was running the Biden White House,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The modest settlement of $10,000 is a fraction of the value to the public interest from Judicial Watch’s lawsuit.”

In June 2024, this lawsuit forced the Biden administration to admit that the transcripts of audio recordings of Biden’s interviews with Special Counsel Hur had been altered and are not accurate. The transcripts were altered in a way, as the actual audios show, to minimize evidence of Joe Biden’s cognitive failure.

In February 2025, a federal court ordered the Trump Justice Department to declare whether it intended to continue denying Judicial Watch’s request for audio of former President Joe Biden’s interviews with Special Counsel Robert Hur, which led to today’s release.

In April 2025, Judicial Watch uncovered Justice Department records showing White House staffers suggesting edits to transcripts of President Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding his handling of secret documents. The Justice Department also recently turned over to Judicial Watch 49 pages of records detailing pressure asserted by the Biden White House and Joe Biden’s personal lawyers on Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding the interviews of then-President Biden. Non-disclosure agreements signed by the president’s lawyers were also included in the records. 

###