President Joe Biden said Thursday that he was pleased with the results of a 388-page report from a special counsel on his handling and sharing of classified documents.
“The Special Counsel released today its findings about its look into my handling of classified documents,” the president said in a statement. “I was pleased to see they reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach – that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed.”
The 388-page Justice Department report found that Biden was careless with classified documents, but didn’t commit a crime.
“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” according to the report. “We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.”
Special counsel Robert Hur found evidence that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” but said the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Biden said he cooperated with the investigation despite his busy schedule.
“This was an exhaustive investigation going back more than 40 years, even into the 1970s when I was a young Senator,” the president said. “I cooperated completely, threw up no roadblocks, and sought no delays.
“In fact, I was so determined to give the Special Counsel what they needed that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on October 8th and 9th of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis,” Biden continued. “I just believed that’s what I owed the American people so they could know no charges would be brought and the matter closed.”
He added: “Over my career in public service, I have always worked to protect America’s security. I take these issues seriously and no one has ever questioned that.”
Former President Donald Trump faces criminal charges after the FBI raided his Florida home and found classified documents there. Trump told Fox News Digital Thursday that the charges against him should now be dropped.
“They should immediately drop the case against me,” Trump told the outlet. “I am covered by the Presidential Records Act – he wasn’t. He had many, many times more documents – totally unguarded. Mine were always surrounded by Secret Service and in locked rooms.”
The report raised fresh questions about Biden’s memory as the 81-year-old seeks another four-year term.
“Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023,” according to the report. “And his cooperation with our investigation, including by reporting to the government that the Afghanistan documents were in his Delaware garage, will likely convince some jurors that he made an innocent mistake, rather than acting willfully-that is, with intent to break the law-as the statute requires.”
