Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
President Joe Biden will not face charges for “willfully” holding onto classified documents after he left office as vice president, according to a report released by Special counsel Robert Hur.
On Thursday, Mr Hur released his report from the investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified Obama-era materials at two locations tied to the president.
In the report, Mr Hur said that Mr Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen”.
These materials included: “marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Mr Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods”.
However, the report concluded that Mr Biden should not face criminal charges.
Mr Hur was appointed to lead the investigation after classified documents was found at his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, DC, and in the garage of his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Following the discovery, Mr Biden cooperated with investigators – unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, who is now facing charges for his mishandling of classified documents since leaving the White House.
House GOP group claims ‘double standard’
The Republicans of the House Judiciary Committee condemned the investigation’s recommendation against charges.
“Special Counsel Robert Hur recommends no criminal charges against President Biden in classified documents case,” the group posted on X. “Despite the fact that Hur acknowledges Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. DOUBLE STANDARD.”
Katie Hawkinson8 February 2024 20:47
President says he’s ‘pleased’ with results of investigation
Mr Biden praised the results of the investigation and emphasized his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Hur in a statement Thursday.
“I cooperated completely, threw up no roadblocks, and sought no delays,” Mr Biden said. “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 October 8th and 9th of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis.”
Katie Hawkinson8 February 2024 20:38
Investigation says Biden’s memory has ‘significant limitations’
Robert Hur’s report alleged that President Joe Biden appeared to have “significant limitations” to his memories.
“Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations…Mr. Biden’s recorded conversations with [Mark] Zwonitzer from 2017 are often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”
Mark Zwontizer was Mr Biden’s ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir.
“In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse,” the report said. “He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended…and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began…He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”
Katie Hawkinson8 February 2024 20:37
Personal Counsel to Joe Biden gives statement on investigation
Bob Bauer, personal counsel to President Joe Biden, criticised the investigation in a statement Thursday.
“The Special Counsel could not refrain from investigative excess, perhaps unsurprising given the intense pressures of the current political environment,” Mr Bauer said in a statement. “Whatever the impact of those pressures on the final Report, it flouts [Department of Justice] regulations and norms.” Mr Bauer also said Mr Biden gave his “unprecedented” cooperation to the investigation.
“The Special Counsel also noted the President’s complete cooperation, including the President’s unprecedented decision to open up every room of his family home and beach house to comprehensive FBI searches as well as a voluntary interview conducted over two days,” Mr Bauer said.
Katie Hawkinson8 February 2024 20:30
Special Counsel to President Biden commends lack of charges, disagrees with some parts of document
Richard Sauber, Special Counsel to President Joe Biden, gave a statement following the release of prosecutor Robert Hur’s report.
“As the Special Counsel report acknowledges, mistakes when packing documents at the end of an Administration or when Members of Congress leave office are unfortunately a common occurrence,” Mr Sauber said in a statement. “It’s happened with every Administration, Republican and Democrat, for the past 50 years. Now that this investigation has concluded, President Biden plans to take new, substantive action to help prevent such mistakes in the future and will announce it soon.”
“We disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the Special Counsel’s report,” Mr Sauber continued, not specifying the comments referenced. “Nonetheless, the most important decision the Special Counsel made—that no charges are warranted—is firmly based on the facts and evidence.”
Katie Hawkinson8 February 2024 20:24
BREAKING: Special counsel says Joe Biden ‘wilfully’ held on to classified material
President Joe Biden “wilfully” held on to classified materials that were discovered at his home in Delaware and the office of a think tank in Washington DC, a special prosecutor appointed by the attorney general found in a report released on Thursday.
But the prosecutor, Robert Hur, did not recommend that Mr Biden face criminal charges or anywhere close to the kind of judgement that the agency is seeking against Donald Trump, the former president and likely 2024 opponent to Mr Biden who is accused of mishandling documents and displaying them to guests.
Read the full story here:
Rachel Sharp8 February 2024 20:18
