Robert Hur, the Special Counsel for Biden’s mishandling of classified documents is not recommending criminal charges. This follows a lengthy investigation into President Biden’s alleged improper storage of classified documents.

Hur has been investigating Biden’s improper retention since last year. These records included documents classified about the military and foreign policies in Afghanistan and other records related to foreign and national policy, which Hur said implicated “sensitive sources and methods” of intelligence.

The report concludes that “no criminal charges are justified in this case.” We would still reach the same conclusion if the Department of Justice policy didn’t prohibit criminal charges against an incumbent president.

The special counsel described Biden also as “a well-meaning and sympathetic elderly man with poor memory”.

In the report, Hur stated that “we have also taken into consideration that Mr. Biden, during trial, would present himself as an elderly, sympathetic man with a bad memory, just as he presented himself in our interview.” Based on our observations and direct interactions with him, many jurors would want to find reasonable doubt. It would be hard to convince a juror that he should be convicted of a serious crime that requires mental state willfulness, as he was a former President well into his 80s.

Hur, however, said that his investigation had “uncovered evidence” that Biden knowingly retained and released classified material after he left the vice presidency to become a private citizen.

The materials included “marked-classified documents about military and Foreign Policy in Afghanistan and notebooks containing M. Biden’s handwritten entries on issues of national and foreign security and policy implicating sensitive sources and methods of intelligence.”

Hur said FBI agents recovered materials from “the garages and basement den of Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware house.”

Hur, however, said that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.” :

The report also states that “Prosecution of M. Biden would be unwarranted, based on the factors of aggravation and mitigation set out in the Department of Justice Principles of Federal Prosecution.” “For this reason, we decline prosecution against Mr. Biden.”

Hur submitted his initial report on February 5 but did not request any redactions. The report was sent to Congress on Thursday afternoon.

The report included some shocking photos, which the Biden campaign was reportedly concerned could negatively impact his reelection bid in 2024.

The first classified records found in the Washington, D.C., office of the Penn Biden Center thought tank were discovered on November 2, 2022, and only made public early in January 2023.

In December, a second stash of classified papers was found in the garage of President Obama’s house in Wilmington. The documents were revealed to the public this month. This prompted Attorney General Merrick G. Garland to name former U.S. attorney Rob Hur as a special counsel.

Additional classified documents were discovered in the home of the president in Delaware a few days later. The FBI searched Biden’s Delaware house for more than 12 hours on Friday and seized additional classified documents.

In December, a second stash of classified papers was found in the garage of President Obama’s house in Wilmington. The documents were revealed to the public this month. This prompted Attorney General Merrick G. Garland to name former U.S. attorney Rob Hur as special counsel.

Additional classified documents were discovered in the home of the president in Delaware a few days later. The FBI searched Biden’s Delaware house for more than 12 hours on Friday and seized additional classified documents.

Republicans and allies of former President Trump were indignant, blasting the Justice Department for its double standard.

Trump has pleaded no contest to all 37 charges of felony arising from Smith’s investigation. These charges include conspiracy to obstruct the justice system, false statements, and willful retention of information about national defense.

Trump, the GOP’s front-runner for 2024, was then indicted on three additional counts, as part of an overriding indictment arising from Smith’s investigation. These included an additional charge of willful retention and two obstruction counts. Trump pleaded guilty.

The trial will begin on 20 May 2024.

Biden’s aides said to Axios this week they were afraid that the former Trump campaign would use the photos as a weapon against the Democrat incumbent in the upcoming rematch.

Anthony Coley is a former Garland senior advisor who accused Biden’s team of being slow to discover the truth in the case of President Obama’s classified documents, as opposed to the way the Trump investigation was handled.

In an op/ed, he said that the Biden team’s slow drip-drip-drip of information, in comparison to the indictment of former president Trump on charges of willful, deliberate retention of classified materials, made the findings seem worse.

Reports suggested that the Biden campaign had concerns about embarrassing photos in Hur’s report, which could be released this week.

The campaign was worried that the pictures would reveal how Biden kept classified documents. Biden had kept the classified documents from his time as Vice President of former President Obama.

Hur conducted a two-day interview with Biden at the White House. White House officials said that the President’s interview with Hur had been “voluntary”.

James Comer of the House Oversight Committee, who is leading the impeachment investigation against President Biden began an investigation last year to determine if the classified, sensitive documents that Biden kept were related to specific countries or individuals with financial ties to the Biden family or companies.

Comer asked why Biden kept classified material and Hur was requested to give his committee a complete list of countries that were mentioned in documents recovered with classification markings from the Penn Biden Center or Biden’s home, including the garage in Wilmington, Delaware; a full list of individuals who are named in the documents; and any documents marked classified.

It’s unclear whether Hur complied with Comer.