Special Counsel Does Not Charge Biden in Classified Docs Probe, Finds He ‘Willfully Retained’ Materials

Among the reasons stated for not pressing charges was that Biden would present to the jury “as sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

President Joe Biden will not be criminally charged for allegedly mishandling documents, announced Special Counsel Robert Hur on Feb. 8.

“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” wrote Mr. Hur in a 388-page report to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The materials, stated the report, 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.” The FBI collected these items during a search of President Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, last year.

The FBI also searched President Biden’s Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home last year where they also found classified materials.

Nonetheless, said Mr. Hur, “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” and that “prosecution of Mr. Biden is also unwarranted based on our consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors set forth in the Department of Justice’s Principles of Federal Prosecution.”

The decision to pass on charging President Biden for allegedly mishandling classified materials contrasts with former President Donald Trump allegedly doing so after leaving the White House in January 2021, leading to a raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022. Special Counsel Jack Smith charged President Trump last year for allegedly mishandling classified documents. President Trump has pleaded not guilty; the trial will begin on May 20.

The classified documents are from President Biden’s over four-decade career in politics that has included the Senate, the vice presidency, and now the presidency.

Mr. Hur interviewed President Biden over the span of two days last year.

Findings

In deciding not to charge the president, Mr. Hur said that a jury would likely not convict the president in part due to his cognitive issues.

“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” wrote Mr. Hur.

By Jackson Richman

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