**CLAIM:** *The Biden DOJ secretly deleted thousands of audio recordings of high-profile criminal defendants—including Hunter Biden—to avoid turning them over in a new federal lawsuit.*
**VERDICT: FALSE/MISLEADING**
**Why it’s spreading:**
Headlines and social media posts are claiming the Department of Justice "destroyed evidence" in a deliberate cover-up, with users sharing audio snippets that they claim are "missing" from the case file.
**What’s actually happening:**
The lawsuit centers on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by a conservative watchdog group. They sought audio recordings of courtroom proceedings involving Hunter Biden. The DOJ responded that the court reporter's audio files were routinely overwritten after transcription—a **standard federal procedure** to save storage space. The DOJ has provided complete written transcripts in their place.
**Where the real issue lies:**
- The DOJ has admitted the raw audio was not retained, but this is common policy in most federal districts.
- No "secret deletion" occurred; the policy predates the Biden administration.
- The claim that the audio contained "exculpatory evidence" or "exonerating statements" has not been backed by any specific example from the transcripts.
**Expert note:** "Without a specific claim of an error in the written transcript that differs from the audio, this is a procedural dispute, not a evidence-tampering scandal," says former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann.
**Bottom line:** The DOJ did not *delete* sought-after audio in response to a lawsuit—it was never preserved under a long-standing, public policy. The lawsuit is ongoing, but the "cover-up" framing is exaggerating standard record-keeping.