President Biden’s ghostwriter is at risk of being held in contempt of Congress in the coming days after refusing to turn over subpoenaed records and documents to the House Judiciary Committee regarding the president’s handling of classified information. 

Mark Zwonitzer first became a focus of House Republicans’ classified documents inquiry after Special Counsel Robert Hur disclosed in his report that Mr. Biden shared with Mr. Zwonitzer a number of classified documents related to American policy on Afghanistan during the Obama administration. 

Mr. Hur concluded that the president held onto those records after leaving the vice presidency in 2017 and shared them with Mr. Zwonitzer because Mr. Biden believed he would be proven right by history after dissenting from President Obama’s policy goals in Afghanistan. 

Mr. Zwonitzer worked with Mr. Biden on his 2007 and 2017 memoirs. 

“After Zwonitzer declined to provide the relevant documents and records, the Committee issued a subpoena on March 22, 2024, to Zwonitzer compelling the production of six specific categories of documents and records, including audio recordings and transcripts of his interviews with President Joe Biden relating to his ghostwriting work,” the committee writes. 

In February, the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Mr. Zwonitzer to request six sets of documents related to his ghostwriting work, including audio recordings of conversations, communications between the president and his staff and Mr. Zwonitzer himself, contracts, records of payment, and all communications with the White House about Mr. Hur’s probe. 

The resolution states that the Judiciary Committee wanted the documents “to determine if legislation is needed to codify procedures governing clear statutory guidelines related to the handling, storage, and disclosure of classified materials or modify criminal penalties for the unauthorized dissemination and disclosure of classified materials.”

“To date, Zwonitzer has refused to produce any of the requested documents or materials,” the committee says. 

The chairman, Congressman Jim Jordan, calls the records Mr. Zwonitzer has in his possession “crucial” to the congressional inquiry into Mr. Biden’s “mishandling and unlawful disclosure” of classified material. 

“Zwonitzer continues to withhold all documents and materials in his possession that are responsive to the subpoena from the Committee,” the panel writes. “The materials requested from Zwonitzer are crucial for the Committee’s understanding of the manner and extent of President Biden’s mishandling and unlawful disclosure of classified materials, as well as Zwonitzer’s use, storage, and deletion of classified materials on his computer.”

The House has already held Attorney General Garland in contempt of Congress after he refused to turn over the audio recordings of Mr. Biden’s interview with Mr. Hur and his investigators. 

One Republican, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, says she will soon bring a resolution of inherent contempt to the floor, which would direct the Sergeant at Arms to detain Mr. Garland until he provides the audio to the House.