Special Counsel Robert Hur concluded his investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents and declined to pursue criminal charges.
Hur found Joe Biden willfully kept classified documents related to U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and handwritten notebook entries concerning sensitive national security matters, his special counsel report states. Nonetheless, he concluded criminal prosecution is not warranted for now-President Biden, who kept the documents as a private citizen after his vice presidency concluded.
“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” Hur said in the executive summary. The Daily Caller initially obtained a copy of the report’s executive summary prior to its disclosure by the Department of Justice (DOJ).(RELATED: ‘Well Received’: Trump Details Supreme Court Challenge Over Colorado 14th Amendment Ballot Case In Mar-A-Lago Remarks)
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 08: U.S. President Joe Biden walks towards to the Marine One prior to a South Lawn departure from the White House on February 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. President Biden was traveling to Leesburg, Virginia, to address the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference at the Lansdowne Resort. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. These materials included (1) marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and (2) notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods,” Hur added.
FBI agents recovered the materials from Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware estate. Hur cited the DOJ policy surrounding prosecuting a president to justify his decision not to prosecute President Biden.
The classified materials spanned President Biden’s decades-long career in the Senate and his vice presidency under former President Obama. In 2009, then-Vice President Biden notably opposed Obama’s surge of U.S. troops into Afghanistan and retained classified materials documenting his opposition to the troop surge, Hur’s report says.
Biden’s notes during the Obama administration regularly covered materials from daily briefings and National Security Council meetings. He kept the notebooks in unauthorized spaces inside his Delaware and Virginia estates, Hur’s investigation found.
Some of the materials from his notebooks were used in his book, “Promise Me Dad,” and Biden appears to have shared classified information with the book’s ghostwriters. Hur’s team does not believe classified information was included in the book.
DOVER, DELAWARE – FEBRUARY 02: U.S. President Joe Biden attends the dignified transfer for fallen service members U.S. Army Sgt. William Rivers, Sgt. Breonna Moffett and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders at Dover Air Force Base on February 02, 2024 in Dover, Delaware. U.S. Army Sgt. William Rivers, Sgt. Breonna Moffett and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders were killed in addition to 40 others troops were injured during a drone strike in Jordan. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“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,” President Biden said in a statement after the documents were released.
“I cooperated completely, threw up no roadblocks, and sought no delays. In fact, I was so determined to give the Special Counsel what they needed that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on October 8th and 9th of last year,” he continued. “I just believed that’s what I owed the American people so they could know no charges would be brought and the matter closed.”
The DOJ is prosecuting former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump kept sensitive information covering national security matters during his administration and faces 40 criminal charges as a result of an investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the classified documents charges and awaits trial.
“THIS HAS NOW PROVEN TO BE A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL SELECTIVE PROSECUTION,” Trump said in a statement.
“The Biden Documents Case is 100 times different and more severe than mine. I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more,” Trump continued.
“Deranged Jack Smith should drop this Case immediately. ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
Henry Rodgers contributed to this report.