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WASHINGTON – The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges against President Joe Bien over his handling of classified documents, but the report includes comments that could heighten public concerns about the 81-year-old president’s age and memory. was.
Special Counsel Robert Hur said in a report released Thursday that classified documents found in his former office in Washington, D.C., and his home in Delaware do not warrant criminal charges.
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden knowingly retained and disclosed classified materials while he was a civilian after becoming vice president,” the report said, “particularly regarding military policy in Afghanistan.” and confidential documents related to foreign policy.
The report concluded that the evidence did not establish Biden’s “guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The report also said the president’s writing practices “pose a serious risk to national security” and that Biden presents himself as a “sympathetic and well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” Stated.
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Report finds problems with Biden’s approach
Biden’s lawyers, Richard Sauber and Bob Bauer, disputed Herr’s comments about Biden’s age and memory. Letter to the Special Prosecutor. “We do not believe that President Biden’s handling of the memory report is accurate or appropriate,” Sauber and Bauer wrote. “The report uses very prejudicial language that describes an event that is common among witnesses: an inability to remember events that occurred many years ago.”
Mr Hoare said that after considering both the aggravating and mitigating factors in the case, he had concluded that criminal prosecution was unwarranted. The department had previously declined to press charges against former Vice President Mike Pence for keeping classified documents at his Indiana home.
“Throughout my career in public service, I have always worked to keep America safe,” Biden said in a statement after Xu’s report. “I take these issues seriously and no one has ever questioned that.”
Mr. Hsu’s investigation into Mr. Biden’s classified documents was conducted in parallel with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into former President Donald Trump. But although Mr. Biden alerted authorities to the sensitive records, most of Mr. Trump’s records were seized during a subpoena and FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires the National Archives and Records Administration to take ownership of all White House records on Inauguration Day after the end of the administration. Additionally, some laws prohibit the removal of sensitive records from secure government facilities.
In Biden’s case, his personal lawyers discovered a “small number” of classified documents on November 2 while vacating the former offices of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and International Engagement. Biden used this office after retiring as vice president in 2017 until the 2020 presidential election.
The White House announced in January that a second set of documents had been recovered from a storage space in the garage of his Wilmington home.
In an implicit contrast with Trump, Biden’s statement said he “cooperated fully and did not erect any obstacles or seek delays.”
“I had a strong determination to give the special counsel what they needed, so even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th, on October 8th and 9th last year, “We held five hours of face-to-face interviews over two days. We are dealing with an international crisis,” he added.
FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence after Trump’s lawyers certified that all classified records had been returned under subpoena, but the former president kept additional records. Was. FBI agents seized 11,000 records from Mar-a-Lago last year, through a letter to the National Archives in January 2023, a subpoena last June, and a search last August. Over 300 confidential records were recovered.
Biden slams Donald Trump over reports
Speaking to the House Democratic Caucus at a rally in Leesburg, Virginia, Mr. I was happy,” he said.
“I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing. I’m going to continue to focus on my job, just like you do. My job as president is to work with you every day to the best of my ability,” Biden told lawmakers. means,” he said.
Biden did not discuss other parts of the report.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He claimed he was negotiating with the National Archives over which presidential records could be kept and had declassified secret records, even though he lacked the documentation to prove it.
“I have the absolute right to do whatever I want to them,” President Trump said at a CNN town hall on May 10.
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