Biden Cleared of Charges in Classified Docs Case
A Justice Department probe has determined that President Joe Biden did not violate any laws in his handling of classified documents found at his home and office.
In a 388-page report released on Thursday, Special Counsel Robert Hur revealed that the department had “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” but that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“We decline prosecution of Mr. Biden,” the report says.
In January of last year, following the discovery of scores of classified documents at the home of former President Donald Trump, lawyers for Biden conducted a search of his office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement uncovered roughly 10 documents bearing classification markings. Additional documents were found in a second search of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the materials were turned over to the national archives.
Hur, a Trump-appointed former federal prosecutor, was tapped to serve as special counsel on the case in January of last year. Hur had previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland and an aide to former FBI director Christopher Wray.
In the report, Hur writes that Biden presented himself as a “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. 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,” Hur wrote.,
The special counsel added that Biden “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’).” Hur also wrote that Biden did not remember “even within several year” when his son Beau died. Beau Biden died in 2015.
The case was particularly notable given the ongoing Justice Department case against Trump, which has charged the former president with more than 40 federal counts related to his mishandling of classified documents. The charges include conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a record or document, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, false statements and representations.
Hur distinguished Biden’s case from Trump’s in the report, writing that Trump “not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it. In contrast, Mr. Eiden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview. and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
A Justice Department probe has determined that President Joe Biden did not violate any laws in his handling of classified documents found at his home and office.
In a 388-page report released on Thursday, Special Counsel Robert Hur revealed that the department had “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” but that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“We decline prosecution of Mr. Biden,” the report says.
In January of last year, following the discovery of scores of classified documents at the home of former President Donald Trump, lawyers for Biden conducted a search of his office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement uncovered roughly 10 documents bearing classification markings. Additional documents were found in a second search of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the materials were turned over to the national archives.
Hur, a Trump-appointed former federal prosecutor, was tapped to serve as special counsel on the case in January of last year. Hur had previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland and an aide to former FBI director Christopher Wray.
In the report, Hur writes that Biden presented himself as a “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. 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,” Hur wrote.,
The special counsel added that Biden “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’).” Hur also wrote that Biden did not remember “even within several year” when his son Beau died. Beau Biden died in 2015.
The case was particularly notable given the ongoing Justice Department case against Trump, which has charged the former president with more than 40 federal counts related to his mishandling of classified documents. The charges include conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a record or document, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, false statements and representations.
Hur distinguished Biden’s case from Trump’s in the report, writing that Trump “not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it. In contrast, Mr. Eiden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview. and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
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