Joe Biden's ghostwriter admitted to deleting audio recordings after a special counsel was appointed to investigate Biden's handling of classified documents. 

A transcript of Mark Zwoniter's interview with federal agents confirms Special Counsel Robert Hur's conclusion that the author erased evidence.

Biden's ghostwriter

Zwoniter erased the recordings shortly after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur. During an interview, Zwoniter said he was afraid of getting hacked.

"Look, the outside observer is going to look at this and say Mark Zwonitzer...learned of the special counsel's investigation, saw this happening and then deleted all these audio recordings," an investigator told Zwonitzer.

Zwoniter declined to say how much the investigation weighed on his decision.

"I'm not going to say how much of the percentage it was of my motivation. I was aware that there was an investigation," he said.

Hur pondered obstruction charges for Zwoniter but concluded he "offered plausible, innocent reasons for why he deleted the recordings."

"Innocent reasons"

In February, Hur released a report that concluded Biden "willfully retained" classified documents that he shared with Zwoniter. The documents were stored haphazardly among Biden's personal belongings.

Hur declined to charge Biden citing his age and "poor memory." He said a jury would not be able to find Biden had the intent to commit a crime.

The report's unflattering description of Biden's age infuriated Democrats. Hur also angered Republicans by failing to bring charges against Biden.

Hur found a recording in which Biden told Zwoniter that he "found the classified stuff downstairs."

"Evidence supports...[Biden] was referring to the same marked classified documents about Afghanistan that FBI agents found in 2022 in his Delaware garage," Hur wrote.

Hidden audio recordings

President Trump has similarly been accused of retaining classified documents and showing some of them to people without authorization to see them. However, Trump is facing charges, and Biden isn't.

The deleted recordings of Biden's talks with his ghostwriter are not the only example of hidden Biden audio.

The Justice Department has refused to release a recording of Biden's interview with Hur, the transcript of which showed Biden struggling to recall critical dates like the year of his son Beau's death.

This week, the Republican House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt over the recording, but the DOJ has refused to prosecute.