After a lengthy investigation into Joe Biden improperly retaining classified documents pertaining to national security, Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur said he will not bring criminal charges.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur last year after Biden’s lawyers informed the federal government he was in possession of classified documents from his time as vice president.

According to the report, Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”

“He knew he kept classified information in notebooks stored in his house and he knew he was not allowed to do so,” Hur wrote.

Yet, Hur won’t bring criminal charges against Biden.

However, the special counsel’s reasons for not bringing charges won’t bode well for the White House resident.

Hur cited Biden’s advanced age and poor memory as reasons not to charge him.

“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,” the report read.

According to the 388-page report, Biden “did not remember when he was vice president.”

It said Biden’s memory also appeared to have “significant limitations.”

CNBC reports:

“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” the report said. “We reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.”

The special counsel said that Biden had shared some classified information with his ghostwriter for his second memoir, “Promise Me, Dad,” published in 2017, which Hur said did not appear to contain any classified information. The report also said there was no evidence that Biden shared classified material with foreign nationals.

Hur was blunt in detailing lapses in Biden’s memory when he was interviewed for the probe.

“In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse,” Hurg wrote.

“He 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?’),” the report said.

“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him,” Hur wrote.

From Business Insider:

In Hur’s yearlong investigation, his team found several classified documents improperly stored outside the White House stemming from Biden’s time in the Senate and vice presidency.

And while Biden’s likely 2024 presidential challenger, former President Donald Trump, was charged with 37 felony counts in 2023 for similarly holding onto documents, Hur’s report cited several reasons not to charge the sitting president, such as his age and declining memory.

“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,” the report said, noting potential jurors would likely want to give him the benefit of the 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.”

Responding to the report, White House counsel Richard Sauber emphasized the fact that charges weren’t recommended.

“We disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the Special Counsel’s report,” Sauber said. “Nonetheless, the most important decision the Special Counsel made—that no charges are warranted—is firmly based on the facts and evidence.”

After the report, calls have begun to invoke the 25th Amendment:

Read the full report HERE.

 

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