ABC News18%

Appeals court rejects Biden bid to block release of ghostwriter interview recordings 12%

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press5%

7/21/2026, 12:12:07 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Genetic Fallacy, and Primacy Effect, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 18.9% saturation with 64 hits. Analysis detected 355 faulty-reasoning hits from 339 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 28.6% and a BS Rank of 12% (18,250 of 20,518 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 88.90% of the article peer group.

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court has rejected a request by Joe Biden to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of his interviews with a memoir ghostwriter before he was elected president. 
A divided three-judge panel from the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit suspended its decision until Aug. 3 to allow more time for Biden to consider another appeal. 
The panel's 2-1 ruling late Monday found there is a “substantial” public interest in disclosing the material that Biden wants to keep under wraps. 
Redactions to the recordings would help protect Biden's privacy, the majority noted. 
“We conclude that any remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure,” the court wrote. 
Mark Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on his two memoirs, interviewed the Democrat at his home in 2016 and 2017. 
Biden’s lawyers say the conversations were candid, personal and intended to remain private. 
The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as a senator from Delaware and as vice president. 
Republicans in Congress demanded the material after Hur declined to file charges against the then-president. 
Biden sued and sought an injunction to prevent the Justice Department under President Donald Trump, a Republican, from releasing the recordings to Congress and the conservative Heritage Foundation. 
The department previously argued that the recordings were exempt from disclosure under public records law. 
Biden appealed after U.S. 
District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled in June that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had. 
Friedrich was nominated by Trump. 
The appeal was heard by D.C. 
Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judges Gregory Katsas and Florence Pan. 
Pan, who was nominated by Biden, dissented from the majority opinion. 
Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat who chose Biden as his vice president. 
Katas was nominated by Trump. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 3.8%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 1.6%ABC News: 2.2%Confirmation Bias3.8%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.8%ABC News: 3.1%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 1.6%ABC News: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 1.1%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 18.9%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 4.9%ABC News: 6.8%Framing Effect18.9%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.2%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 2.2%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 1.1%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 13.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 4.2%ABC News: 7.8%Negativity Bias13.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 1.5%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 7.7%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 1.3%ABC News: 0.8%In-Group Bias7.7%This article: 4.4%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 1.3%ABC News: 0.4%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias4.4%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 2.2%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 1.3%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 10.6%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 1.2%ABC News: 0.4%Primacy Effect10.6%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.5%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Straw Man0.0%This article: 2.9%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 2.4%ABC News: 3.4%Appeal to Authority2.9%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.9%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.2%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 2.8%Hasty Generalization0.0%This article: 8.3%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 2.0%ABC News: 0.4%Red Herring8.3%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.5%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.8%ABC News: 4.3%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 2.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 4.4%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.5%ABC News: 0.3%Burden of Proof4.4%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 1.2%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 8.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.9%ABC News: 1.9%Ambiguity (Equivocation)8.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 10.9%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 2.4%ABC News: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy10.9%This article: 8.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 3.0%ABC News: 1.8%Unattributed Quote8.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 1.1%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 3.8%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 1.8%ABC News: 3.2%Biased Writer Voice3.8%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.6%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.8%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.0%ABC News: 0.2%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press: 0.7%ABC News: 1.1%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

339 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker5.9%attributed speech319writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 100.0% coverageMark Zwonitzer • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Mark Zwonitzer

100%flagged-word coverage
20 attributed words100% of attributed speech60% writer coverage
0%5.0%10.0%Unattributed Quote-8.5 ptsWriter: 8.5%Mark Zwonitzer: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-4.1 ptsWriter: 4.1%Mark Zwonitzer: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.