{"id":15302,"date":"2024-02-09T00:46:15","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T00:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/09\/no-charges-for-biden-after-special-counsel-probe-into-improper-handling-of-classified-documents\/"},"modified":"2024-02-09T00:46:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T00:46:15","slug":"no-charges-for-biden-after-special-counsel-probe-into-improper-handling-of-classified-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/09\/no-charges-for-biden-after-special-counsel-probe-into-improper-handling-of-classified-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"No charges for Biden after Special Counsel probe into improper handling of classified documents"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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\u2019s 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 \u2018sensitive intelligence sources and methods.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,\u2019 the report states. \u2018We would reach the same conclusion even if the Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.\u2019<\/p>\n

The special counsel also described Biden as \u2018a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,\u2019 Hur wrote in the report. \u2018Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him\u2014by then a former president well into his eighties\u2014of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.\u2019<\/p>\n

But Hur said his investigation \u2018uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.\u2019<\/p>\n

The materials included \u2018marked 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.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hur said FBI agents recovered the materials from \u2018the garages, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden\u2019s Wilmington, Delaware home.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Hur said that the evidence \u2018does not establish Mr. Biden\u2019s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.\u2019 :<\/p>\n

\u2018Prosecution 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,\u2019 the report states. \u2018For these reasons, we decline prosecution of Mr. Biden.\u2019<\/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\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

A second stash of\u00a0classified documents\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

\u2018By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it\u2019s not like they\u2019re sitting out on the street,\u2019 he once said.<\/p>\n

In a statement after Special Counsel released the report, Biden said he was \u2018pleased to see they reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach \u2013 that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018This was an exhaustive investigation going back more than 40 years, even into the 1970s when I was a young Senator. 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. I just believed that\u2019s what I owed the American people so they could know no charges would be brought and the matter closed,\u2019 Biden\u2019s statement continued.<\/p>\n

\u2018Over my career in public service, I have always worked to protect America\u2019s security. I take these issues seriously and no one has ever questioned that,\u2019 he added.<\/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

Republicans and allies of former President Trump were outraged, blasting the Justice Department for a double standard.<\/p>\n

Trump pleaded not guilty\u00a0to all 37 felony charges out of Smith\u2019s 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\u2019s aides told Axios earlier this week that they are fearful former\u00a0President Trump\u2019s\u00a0campaign could use the photos against the Democrat incumbent ahead of their likely 2024 rematch.<\/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

\u2018Against the backdrop of former President Trump\u2019s indictment on charges of willful and deliberate retention of classified documents, the Biden team\u2019s drip, drip, drip of information made the discoveries seem even worse,\u2019 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\u2019s 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\u2019s time as former President Obama\u2019s 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 \u2018voluntary.\u2019<\/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 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\u2019s request.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","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\u2019s alleged improper retention of classified records.\u00a0 Hur has been investigating Biden\u2019s improper retention of classified records since last year. Those records included classified documents about military and foreign <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}