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Topline
President Joe Biden won’t face charges over his handling of classified documents he “willfully retained” after his presidency, with a report from Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Hur noting differences between Biden’s case and that of former President Donald Trump’s, who allegedly mishandled classified and defied subpoenas demanding their return.
Hur wrote in his report that Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice and consented to the search of his office and homes after the records were discovered.
Hur compared Biden’s cooperation to Trump’s alleged uncooperative conduct in his own classified documents case, which resulted in a raid on Mar-a-Lago that produced hundreds of documents.
“Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite” of what Biden did, Hur wrote in the report, citing an indictment against the former president accusing him of refusing to return the materials for months and obstructing justice by asking others to destroy the evidence and lie about it.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor, told Forbes the distinction Hur made shows how Trump missed multiple opportunities to avoid criminal prosecution.
Crucial Quote
“[Trump’s indictment] provides extremely strong evidence that the retention of classified documents by former President Trump was willful, whereas President Biden’s surrender of the documents upon inquiry and complete cooperation with voluntary searches suggests the innocent explanation that he retained classified documents inadvertently,” Epner told Forbes, citing accusations that Trump falsely told his counsel all of the classified materials were in a location despite knowing it didn’t hold all of the documents.
Chief Critic
Trump accused the federal government of a “TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE” in a Truth Social post after the report’s release, claiming he was cooperative with prosecutors. The former president urged Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution of Trump in the classified documents case, to “immediately drop the totally discredited Documents Hoax” against him.
Tangent
Several Republican lawmakers made calls to invoke the 25th Amendment against Biden on Thursday, citing Hur’s notes about Biden’s “significantly limited” memory and the president’s old age. The amendment involves presidential succession and disability—there is no indication Biden’s cabinet is considering invoking it.
Key Background
Hur, who was appointed to lead the probe into Biden last year, pointed to the president’s alleged memory problems as a large factor in his determination, writing that Biden could present himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory” to a jury. Hur cited two interviews to back his concern about the president’s memory, one with a ghostwriter in 2017 and an interview the two had together. The special counsel also said Biden had the authority to keep classified documents at his Delaware home. The best case for charges against the president, according to the report, would rely on Biden’s possession of classified documents in his Virginia home in February 2017, when he was a private citizen and had informed his ghostwriter he had just found the material. However, Hur noted several defenses were likely to create reasonable doubt over such charges, providing an example wherein Biden could have found the documents at his Virginia home in 2017 and forgotten about them after, something the special counsel believed could convince some “reasonable jurors that he did not retain them willfully.”
Further Reading
‘Elderly Man With A Poor Memory’: Special Counsel Explains Why Biden Won’t Face Charges Over Classified Docs (Forbes)
Here’s How Biden’s Memory Has Faded, According To Classified Documents Report (Forbes)
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