Special Counsel Won't Charge Biden, Uses 'Elderly' Reference

In classified docs case, he says president presented himself as 'an elderly man with a poor memory'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 8, 2024 2:33 PM CST
No Criminal Charges for Biden Over Classified Documents
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)

President Biden won't face criminal charges over his handling of classified documents. The special counsel handling the case said Thursday that he will not seek prosecution of Biden, though he did criticize the president, reports Politico. The misdeeds took place when Biden was a private citizen, after he finished serving as vice president to Barack Obama, per the New York Times. The 345-report specifically faults Biden for sharing classified information with the co-author of his 2017 memoir, Promise Me, Dad, and for taking classified material related to US troop deployments in Afghanistan in 2009.

"Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen," wrote Robert Hur, per the AP. The outlet suggests the findings will limit Biden's ability to criticize Donald Trump over the latter's criminal indictment over his own handling of classified information. Hur said his decision to forego a criminal case would have been same even if the Justice Department did not prohibit the prosecution of sitting presidents. "We conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," he wrote.

Part of Hur's argument for skipping a criminal case likely won't sit well with the 81-year-old president:

  • "Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory," wrote Hur.
(More President Biden stories.)

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