Release of Biden Classified Documents Report Is Imminent

President is not expected to face charges following special counsel probe
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 7, 2024 7:58 AM CST
Release of Biden Classified Documents Report Is Imminent
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Outlets including the Washington Post are confirming reports that President Biden will face criticism but not charges in the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents. The Justice Department is expected to release Robert Hur's report within days, as early as this week. Intelligence officials have spent recent weeks poring over the report, deciding "how much to reveal" about the roughly 25 classified documents dating to Biden's tenure as vice president, per the Post. According to the outlet, aides "believe the documents unintentionally ended up at Biden's home and office because of sloppy staff work."

An attorney found about 10 documents in a closet at Biden's former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, DC, on Nov. 2, 2022. The White House informed the National Archives, prompting the Justice Department to investigate. Over the two subsequent months, Biden representatives found about 10 more files in the garage and an adjoining room at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware. All documents were turned over. Dozens of current and former Biden staffers have since been interviewed. Biden himself was interviewed by Hur over two days in early October "even as his administration grappled with the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war," per the Post.

The conclusion is that "the improper handling of classified documents was more likely a mistake than a criminal act," per ABC News. Republicans are likely to be skeptical of the finding, especially as former President Trump is scheduled to face trial in May on 40 felony counts related to his mishandling of classified documents. But Trump was discovered to have some 300 files, per the Post. He also "repeatedly resisted requests from the National Archives," "initially turned over only a portion of what he had taken when he left office," "failed to fully respond to a subpoena to return the rest and ultimately was subjected to a search of his home and office by FBI agents with a warrant," per the New York Times. (More classified information stories.)

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