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After an extensive period of inquiry into accusations against the current President of retaining classified documents improperly, Special Counsel Robert Hur has reached a conclusion. The investigation which spanned several months centered on President Joe Biden’s alleged mismanagement of important documents.
There were suspicions that among the assortment of records about international policy and state defense, documents bearing classified status related to military strategy and foreign policy in Afghanistan were found. These documents were believed to include ‘sensitive intelligence sources and methods.’
The ultimate decision from the long-winded investigation reigns in favor of the President: no criminal charges are recommended. ‘The results of our probe do not warrant laying criminal charges in this instance,’ declares the official release. Additionally, should the Department of Justice policy prevent criminal charges against a sitting president, this verdict would remain consistent. This decision reflects not just on the law but also the principle at the heart of our Justice system.
In a move that garners respect for its humaneness, the Special Counsel paints a picture of Biden as ‘a sympathetic elder statesman who struggles with remembering details,’ reminiscent of the description by Fox News. ‘He comes across as a man full of good intentions, albeit suffering forgetfulness due to his advanced age,’ the report highlights. ‘It is very likely that the audience of a potential trial would identify reasonable doubt due to Mr. Biden’s presentation of himself, the same way he did during our interrogation.’
Hur further elaborates on potential courtroom developments stating, ‘This will make it challenging to persuade a jury to convict a former president in his late eighties of a grave felony that necessitates the mental state of intent.’ Yet Hur also posed that the investigation ‘unraveled evidence that President Biden intentionally kept and released classified materials post his Vice Presidency when he was a civilian.’
These materials feature ‘marked classified documents relating to military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, including notebooks with Mr. Biden’s handwritten notes on national security and foreign policy matters impacting sensitive intelligence sources.’
The critical evidence was reclaimed by FBI agents from the private zones of Mr. Biden’s life; ‘his garages, offices, and his basement office at his abode in Wilmington, Delaware,’ as per Hur. Regardless, the Special Counsel maintains that the evidence ‘does not vindicate Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.’ The grounds behind this stance being ‘consideration of the negative and positive factors listed in the Department of Justice’s Federal Prosecution Principles.’
This stern but fair assessment solidifies the report’s conclusion: ‘Given these factors, we decide not to pursue prosecution against Mr. Biden.’ The initial unearthing of the classified documents was from the Penn Biden Center think tank’s offices in Washington, D.C. on November 2, 2022. However, it wasn’t until the early days of January 2023 that these findings came into the public eye.
Recent events inform us of a second stash of classified documents found in the President’s Wilmington garage; this sparked Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint former U.S. Attorney Rob Hur as Special Counsel. More classified documents surfaced a few days later from the President’s Delaware home. After a marathon search by the FBI that lasted over half a day, further classified records were acquired from the president’s residence in Delaware.
However, intrigue didn’t stop there. On November 18, 2022, Garland announced an appointment of Jack Smith, a seasoned former Department of Justice employee. His mission was to explore the theory of former President Trump improperly possessing secretive documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Smith’s task to investigate Trump ran parallel to an internal probe into President Biden’s handling of classified information, orchestrated by Garland and high-ranking DOJ officials.
There was a significant delay in the public acknowledgment of the aforementioned investigations. In response, there was an explosion of anger from the Republican corner and ex-allies of Trump. They levelled criticism at the Justice Department, accusing it of operating with bias. Every single of the 37 felonies emerging from Smith’s probe met with a not-guilty plea from Trump. The charges ranged from constructing false narratives, conspiracy to obstruct justice, to the deliberate withholding of confidential national defense details.
Succeeding the main indictment from Smith’s probe, Trump, the leading GOP contender for 2024, received three additional charges: two extra counts of obstruction and one more account of willingly retaining defense-related information. Trump’s response was consistent with his previous pleas, asserting his innocence once again. The trial is scheduled for May 20, 2024.
With an intense election face-off on the horizon in 2024, Biden’s team expressed anxieties to Axios regarding the potential misuse of these images by Trump’s campaign. They fear that these visuals could expose Biden’s methods of handling sensitive documents which could be a negative portrayal in the upcoming campaign. The classified dossiers in question trace back to Biden’s vice presidential days under the former President Barack Obama.
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