Biden won't be charged over handling of classified documents: Special counsel

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Justice Department Special counsel Robert Hur announced Thursday that he will not prosecute President Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents even though he “retained and disclosed classified materials” after his vice presidency.

"Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen," Hur wrote in a report, adding however that it "does not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

According to the report, "Biden's memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017 and in his interview with our office in 2023.”

"And his cooperation with our investigation, including by reporting to the government that the Afghanistan documents were in his Delaware garage, will likely convince some jurors that he made an innocent mistake rather than acting willfully -- that is, with the intent to break the law -- as the statute requires," it said.

The investigators also concluded that it “would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Biden said in a statement that he was "pleased to see" that there would be no charges brought in the classified documents case.

"I cooperated completely, threw up no roadblocks and sought no delays. In fact, I was so determined to give the Special Counsel what they needed that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on Oct. 8 and 9 of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on Oct. 7 and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis. I just believed that’s what I owed the American people so they could know no charges would be brought and the matter (would be) closed," Biden said.

Hur was appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland in January as a special counsel to determine why documents with classified markings were found at Biden's Wilmington home in the state of Delaware. Additional classified papers were found last November by officials cleaning out a University of Pennsylvania office in Washington, D.C. that Biden used after the end of the Obama administration.

Biden has maintained that he did nothing wrong and that his lawyers notified the Justice Department to disclose the discovery of the documents.

Former President Donald Trump was indicted in June on 37 counts regarding nearly 300 classified documents taken from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office and his alleged efforts to cover up the information from federal investigators. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Classified documents were also found at the Carmel, Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence during his time in office. However, the Justice Department cleared Pence of any wrongdoing after its investigation.