Special Counsel Robert Hur will not recommend criminal charges against President Biden for mishandling classified documents, according to his report after a months-long investigation into the president’s alleged improper retention of classified records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hur has been investigating Biden\u2019s improper retention of classified records since last year. Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, among other records related to national security and foreign policy which Hur said implicated “sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” the report states. “We would reach the same conclusion even if the Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.”<\/p>\n
GARLAND SAYS SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBING BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS HAS SUBMITTED REPORT, UNDER WHITE HOUSE REVIEW<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Hur said his investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”<\/p>\n The materials included “marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Mr. Biden\u2019s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Hur said FBI agents recovered the materials from “the garages, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden\u2019s Wilimington, Delaware home.”\u00a0<\/p>\n But Hur said that the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden\u2019s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” :<\/p>\n “Prosecution of Mr. Biden is also unwarranted based on our consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors set forth in the Department of Justice\u2019s Principles of Federal Prosecution,” the report states. “For these reasons, we decline prosecution of Mr. Biden.”<\/p>\n The White House was given the opportunity to review the report for privilege after Hur initially submitted his report on Feb. 5, and did not seek any redaction to the report. The report was transmitted to Congress Thursday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Damning photos were included in the report \u2014 photos that the Biden campaign reportedly feared could have a negative impact on his 2024 re-election bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Classified records<\/a>\u00a0were first found inside the Washington, D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank on Nov. 2, 2022, but only disclosed to the public in early January 2023.<\/p>\n BIDEN CAMP REPORTEDLY FEARS PHOTOS FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL CLASSIFIED DOCS PROBE COULD DEVASTATE REELECTION BID<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n A second stash of\u00a0classified documents<\/a>\u00a0was also found inside the garage of the president\u2019s home in Wilmington in December, but revealed to the public earlier this month, prompting Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint former U.S. Attorney Rob Hur to serve as special counsel.<\/p>\n Days later, additional classified documents were found in the president\u2019s home in Delaware. The FBI conducted a more than 12-hour search of Biden\u2019s Delaware home Friday, seizing additional classified records.<\/p>\n Biden has defended the storing of classified documents in the past.<\/p>\n “By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” he once said.<\/p>\n But Garland, on Nov. 18, 2022, appointed former DOJ official Jack Smith to serve as special counsel to investigate whether Trump was improperly retaining classified records at Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n When Smith was appointed to investigate Trump, Garland and top DOJ officials were simultaneously conducting an internal review of President Biden\u2019s mishandling of classified records. That review, and the discovery of classified records at Biden\u2019s office, was not disclosed to the public until January.<\/p>\n BIDEN INTERVIEWED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL ABOUT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Republicans and allies of former President Trump were outraged, blasting the Justice Department for a double standard.<\/p>\n Trump pleaded not guilty<\/a>\u00a0to all 37 felony charges out of Smith’s probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.<\/p>\n Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, was then charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of Smith\u2019s investigation \u2013\u00a0an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts. Trump pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n That trial is set to begin on May 20, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Biden’s aides told Axios earlier this week that they are fearful former\u00a0President Trump’s<\/a>\u00a0campaign could use the photos against the Democrat incumbent ahead of their likely 2024 rematch.<\/p>\n COMER DEMANDS ANSWERS ON WHETHER BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS MENTION COUNTRIES RELATED TO FAMILY BUSINESS DEALS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, accused the Biden team of slow-walking discovery in the president\u2019s classified records case, versus the handling of the Trump probe.<\/p>\n “Against the backdrop of former President Trump’s indictment on charges of willful and deliberate retention of classified documents, the Biden team’s drip, drip, drip of information made the discoveries seem even worse,” he wrote in an op-ed.<\/p>\n Before Hur\u2019s findings were released, reports suggested the Biden campaign was concerned about potentially embarrassing photos included in Hur’s expected report that could be released as soon as this week.<\/p>\n The campaign was concerned that the images would show how Biden stored classified materials. The classified documents were carried over from Biden’s time as former President Obama’s vice president.<\/p>\n Hur interviewed Biden at the White House \u2013 an interview that lasted two days. The White House said the president\u2019s interview with Hur was “voluntary.”<\/p>\n Last year, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who is co-leading the impeachment inquiry against President Biden, began investigating whether the sensitive, classified documents<\/a> Biden retained involved specific countries or individuals that had financial dealings with Biden family members or their related companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Comer questioned why Biden would have kept certain classified materials and asked Hur to provide his committee with a list of the countries named in any documents with classification markings recovered from Penn Biden Center, Biden\u2019s residence, including the garage, in Wilmington, Delaware, or elsewhere; and a list of all individuals named in those documents with classification markings; and all documents found with classified markings.<\/p>\n It is unclear if Hur cooperated with Comer’s request.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Special Counsel Robert Hur will not recommend criminal charges against President Biden for mishandling classified documents, according to his report after a months-long investigation into the president’s alleged improper retention of classified records.\u00a0 Hur has been investigating Biden\u2019s improper retention of classified records since last year. 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