Biden 'willfully retained' classified documents, but no criminal charges warranted: Special counsel

The Justice Department special counsel investigating President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documentson Thursday (Feb 8) said they found evidence that he “willfully retained” materials but no criminal charges were warranted.

What did the report say?

“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified information after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” said special counsel Robert Hur in his report.

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“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” said the report, adding that the “evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

However, the long-anticipated report also criticised Biden’s conduct and handling of the documents saying that it posed “serious risks to national security given the vulnerability of extraordinarily sensitive information.”

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It added, “But addressing those risks when pursuing criminal charges, the only means available to this office, is not the proper remedy here.”

The US president had come under fire last year when his attorneys first acknowledged that he had been in possession of classified documents from when he served as the vice president in the Barack Obama administration from 2009 to 2017.

The special counsel’s 345-page report offers details about Biden’s final days as the VP and the years that followed. It further lists the reasons why he should not be charged with the crime.

The report comes after a yearlong investigation into the improper retention of classified documents by Biden, which included material about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other sensitive national security matters.

The investigators conducted 173 interviews with 147 witnesses, including Biden himself who was interviewed by Hur last October.

‘Well-meaning elderly man with poor memory’

Hur in his argument to not prosecute the incumbent president also said that he was concerned jurors would not believe that Biden “willfully” kept classified documents.

“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 special counsel wrote.

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Hur also directly compared Biden’s response to the federal investigation with former president Donald Trump’s saying that the incumbent president sat for interviews and was cooperative with investigators.

“Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” the special counsel wrote. He added, “According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal counts that he allegedly retained classified documents and resisted efforts by the Justice Department to retrieve them.

Biden and White House welcome decision

The US president said he was pleased to see the conclusion that he knewwould be reached all along and how he “cooperated completely”.

Biden also said that he was so determined that he sat for five hours of in-person interviews over two days on October 8 and 9 after Hamasattacked Israel on October 7. “I was in the middle of handling an international crisis,” he added.

The US president also insisted that the “matter is now closed”.

Meanwhile, the White House said Thursday it was “pleased” by the decision but said “we disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the special counsel’s report,” seemingly referring to Hur’s “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” remark.

(With inputs from agencies)