Report: Biden DOJ Won't Charge Biden for Mishandling Classified Documents

The Justice Department is preparing to release a special counsel report in coming days that is critical of President Biden and his aides for mishandling classified documents in Biden's private home and former office, but prosecutors do not plan to pursue criminal charges in the case.

The long-awaited decision by special counsel Robert K. Hur will probably roil the presidential contest as Republicans seek to paint Biden as a criminal — and as Donald Trump, the president's likely GOP rival for the White House, faces trial for allegedly keeping boxes of classified papers at his Florida home and obstructing officials' attempts to retrieve them.

[...] In recent weeks, the report has been reviewed by intelligence officials to navigate how much to reveal about the classified materials found in 2022 at Biden's Wilmington, Del., home and his former office, given that the report must be sent to Congress and released to the public. The documents in question dated to Biden's time as vice president during the Obama administration.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur in January 2023 after aides to Biden found the sensitive government materials. The discovery came as a separate special counsel was investigating Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents -- an investigation that led to 40 federal criminal charges against Trump, including willful retention of national defense secrets and obstruction of justice.

Garland said at the time that special counsels were necessary because both Trump and Biden had indicated they would be running for president in 2024.

Biden was interviewed at the White House by Hur over a two-day period in early October -- even as his administration grappled with the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war. Dozens of current and former Biden staffers, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, were interviewed as part of the investigation.

Some aides to the president have expressed frustration that Hur's investigation lingered on for months after the Biden interview. The aides spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.