Joe Biden retained and disclosed classified materials, investigation finds

Joe Biden “willfully” retained and disclosed highly classified materials when he was a private citizen, an investigation by the special counsel has found.

Robert Hur, who put together the report, said Mr Biden’s actions “present serious risks to national security” after he concluded the president had “wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials”.

The materials including documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other sensitive national security matters, were found in “the garage, offices, and basement” of Mr Biden’s home in Delawar, US ,the report said.

 But Mr Hur said President Biden, who was interviewed by the special counsel, will not face charges because he he would be difficult to convict because a jury may perceive him as an “elderly man with a poor memory”.

Mr Hur said: “We have 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.”

Mr Hur mentioned multiple times in his report that the president failed to recall specific dates or times.

Robert Hur wrote that he was concerned jurors would not believe that Biden “willfully” kept classified documents, and that was one of the reasons why he does not think the president should face charges.
“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,” Mr Hur wrote.
“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.”
Biden could not have been prosecuted as a sitting president, but Mr Hur’s report states that he would not recommend charges against him regardless.
“We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president,” the report said.

Evidence suggests that many of the classified documents recovered by investigators at the Penn Biden Centre, in parts of Biden’s Delaware home, and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by “mistake”.

Biden said in a statement the was “pleased” the special counsel had “reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach – that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed”.

“I just believed that’s what I owed the American people so they could know no charges would be brought and the matter closed,” he added.

The findings represents a harshly critical assessment of Mr Biden’s handling of sensitive government materials, but also details the reasons why he should not be charged with the crime.

They will blunt his ability to forcefully condemn Donald Trump, Mr 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.

Mr Hur wrote in the report: “Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”

A group allied with Trump’s campaign seized on Hur’s comments about Biden’s memory.

“If you’re too senile to stand trial, then you’re too senile to be president,” said Alex Pfeiffer, communications director for Make America Great Again Inc. “Joe Biden is unfit to lead this nation.”

Hur wrote that Biden’s memory was “significantly limited” when he was interviewed by members of his prosecution team.

Biden’s lawyers said he had engaged in honest mistakes, not wrongdoing, and had cooperated with the investigation. They criticized Hur for overreach.

“It was plain from the outset that criminal charges were not warranted,” his personal lawyer Bob Bauer said. “Yet the special counsel could not refrain from investigative excess.”

Additional reporting by AP.

This breaking news story is being updated.