Biden Expected to Avoid Charges in Classified Documents Case: Report
President Joe Biden is not expected to be charged for his retention of classified documents stemming from his time as vice president and U.S. senator.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that special counsel Robert Hur and his team are preparing a detailed report that will be critical about the president’s mishandling of classified materials, but no criminal charges will be filed following a nearly year-long investigation.
Since his appointment in January, Hur “has interviewed roughly 100 of Biden’s aides, colleagues and family members, including his son, Hunter, culminating in a two-day interview with the president last month,” the Journal reported.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur after classified documents were found in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home, as well as at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.
Others who Hur’s team spoke to regarding Biden’s retention of classified documents are Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was an aide to Biden while he was vice president; White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan; and former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president.
The classified documents Biden had reportedly stemmed from his time as vice president during the Obama administration and from his time as a U.S. senator from Delaware.
The Biden Justice Department has charged the Democrat president’s political rival, former GOP President Donald Trump, with mishandled classified materials.
In June, special counsel Jack Smith hit Trump with a 37-count indictment regarding the handing of classified documents and allegedly obstructing the FBI’s investigation into the matter.
The charges came following an FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.
Trump has argued that as president, he had full authority to declassify any documents.
He posted on Truth Social following the FBI raid, “Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago.”
“It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request,” Trump said. “They could have had it anytime they wanted — and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK.”
Unlike Trump, Biden did not have the authority to declassify documents, except those documents he classified himself as vice president.
The Journal noted that Biden supporters say a distinction between the Democrat president’s and Trump’s cases is that Biden quickly turned the materials in question over once it was discovered he had them, and he has been more cooperative with the FBI.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer sent a letter to Hur last month, seeking further information about the documents Biden retained.
The Oversight Committee is investigating the Biden family’s overseas business dealings while Joe Biden was vice president, including allegations of bribery and influence peddling.
“Of the many classified documents he reviewed over his lengthy career, why did President Biden keep these specific documents in his home and office?” Comer asked.
“The Committee is concerned that President Biden may have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business [dealings],” he added.
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