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After a yearlong probe, special counsel Robert Hur released his report on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, finding that he "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen."
Hur is not bringing criminal charges, however, writing that "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.”
In response to the release of the report, Biden issued a statement saying, "I was pleased to see they 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."
Biden's lawyers also released a letter to the special counsel, sent earlier in the week, in which they take issue with the characterization of the president's mental state: “We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate” and that the "report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events," NBC News reports.
Hur was appointed special counsel in January 2023 to investigate how Biden and his staff handled classified government records dating to his time as vice president and senator. The White House revealed in November 2022 that one batch of documents had been found at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and a month later said a second set of classified material had been discovered at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Hur interviewed Biden over the course of two days in October. The Wall Street Journal reported that Hur also spoke to hundreds of Biden’s aides, colleagues and family members, including Hunter Biden. Based on the line of questioning and the lack of grand jury activity toward the end of the probe, criminal charges were not expected, CNN reported in October.
The Justice Department also opened separate investigations into former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence into their handling of classified documents. The Pence probe was closed in June with no charges filed.
Trump, on the other hand, has been charged with improperly withholding classified documents and obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently scheduled to go on trial in May 2024 in Florida.