A US federal appeals court has rejected former President Joe Biden's emergency bid to keep sealed the audio recordings and transcripts of his interviews with a ghostwriter, which were obtained during special counsel Robert Hur's investigation into his handling of classified documents. The ruling, delivered on Monday, marks a fresh legal setback for Biden as he seeks to prevent the material becoming public, and comes amid continuing political scrutiny over his mental fitness while in office.

The court found that any remaining intrusion on Biden's personal privacy from releasing the recordings was outweighed by other considerations, though the full text of its reasoning was not detailed. The case has drawn wider political attention, with Republican figures such as Representative Jim Jordan commenting on both the recordings dispute and separate remarks by former First Lady Jill Biden regarding her husband's fitness for office.