President Joe Biden “willfully” retained and disclosed highly classified materials while a private citizen, including documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other sensitive national security matters, according to a Justice Department report.
However, no criminal charges are warranted against him or anyone else, the Special Counsel report stated.
The report from Special Counsel Robert Hur, issued Thursday, is sharply critical of Biden’s handling of classified government data, but it also explains why he should not be charged with the crime.
We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter. We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.
Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private>citizen. These materials included (1) marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and (2) notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods. FBI agents recovered these materials from the garage, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home.
However, for the reasons summarized below, we conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 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. For these reasons, we decline prosecution of Mr. Biden.
The Associated Press notes that “The findings will likely blunt his ability to forcefully condemn Donald Trump, Biden’s likely opponent in November’s presidential election, over a criminal indictment charging the former president with illegally hoarding classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.”
Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported on photos included in the filing.
BREAKING: These are some photos of the classified docs President Biden stored in the garage in Delaware, according to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report. Some of these documents included classified information about Afghanistan, the report says. No criminal charges recommended. pic.twitter.com/IvMQbJglse
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 8, 2024
Special Counsel Robert Hur does not recommend prosecution of President Joe Biden because “the fundamental interests of society” do not “require” criminal charges against Biden.
Thus, the DOJ is thus not basing its decision on the law but on political considerations.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump faces 40 criminal counts in his own case, although it is unclear that he actually committed a crime, because of the Presidential Records Act and other laws that pertain to the executive branch.
