Special Counsel Robert Hur has found President Joe Biden to have “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials.” [Source]
Despite the damning findings detailed in a 388-page report, Hur recommended against pressing criminal charges, citing concerns that a jury might perceive Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
This conclusion emerges from an exhaustive investigation into Biden’s handling of sensitive documents, which he kept in various unsecured locations, including cardboard boxes in his Wilmington, Delaware garage, amidst household clutter. This practice spanned his 36 years in the Senate and continued after his vice presidency.
The report highlights a particularly revealing recording from April 2017, where Biden admits to his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, “I didn’t want to turn them in.”
The investigation uncovered that a dozen official documents and additional personal notes contained information classified up to the “Top Secret” level, including sensitive compartmented information.
This situation has led to comparisons with Trump’s legal battles, with Trump himself accusing the legal system of a “two-tiered” approach to justice, emphasizing the disparity in treatment between him and Biden.
Hur’s report painstakingly documents Biden’s lapses in memory and confusion during interviews, which could have played a role in the decision not to pursue charges.
The report narrates instances where Biden forgot significant dates and details about his tenure as vice president and other political matters, potentially framing him as less culpable in the eyes of a jury.
Despite the Special Counsel’s findings, the White House has defended Biden’s mental fitness for office, with White House lawyer Richard Sauber criticizing Hur for including “inaccurate and inappropriate comments” in the report.
Critics, including Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for the pro-Trump PAC Make America Great Again, argue that Biden’s mental state should preclude him from the presidency, stating, “If you’re too senile to stand trial, then you’re too senile to be president.”
The report also delves into Biden’s motivations for keeping the classified documents, suggesting a desire to document his legacy and bolster his presidential qualifications.
As the political arena grapples with the implications of the report, Biden has maintained his cooperation with the investigation and stressed the differences between his case and Trump’s, pointing to his prompt handover of documents to the National Archives.
However, the inclusion of sensitive intelligence in personal memoirs and the deletion of audio files by his ghostwriter amid the investigation paints a different picture of Biden’s intentions and awareness.