No charges for Biden in classified docs case, but DOJ report says his memory is ‘severely limited’
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President Joe Biden will not face charges over his storage or use of classified documents, but in the Department of Justice report released Thursday, Biden’s memory and mental acuity were questioned.
The report, produced by special counsel Robert K. Hur, says he believes “no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” and he would say the same even if Biden wasn’t the sitting president.
Hur wrote “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The report also makes multiple references to Biden’s inability to recall key dates and details, at times referring to his memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy” and “faulty,” as pointed out by The Associated Press.
At a press conference Thursday evening, Biden reacted to the report, saying, “my memory is fine.” He also took responsibility for any mishandling of classified documents, saying his staff should not bear any responsibility.
“I was pleased to see (the special counsel) reached the conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case,” Biden said.
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Why wasn’t Biden charged?
Like former President Donald Trump, Biden had classified documents at his home.
Included among the classified documents that were kept by Biden in his garage and home office were memos relating to the handling of the war in Afghanistan when he was vice president, according to the report.
The report also says Biden shared classified information with the ghostwriter of his memoir published in 2017.
While he was president and vice president, he was allowed to have classified documents at home, the report says, but then he “willfully” kept documents in the years after leaving the vice presidency before he was elected president.
But the storage of the documents in the garage of Biden’s Delaware home “in a badly damaged box surrounded by household detritus — suggests the documents might have been forgotten,” Hur writes.
Hur also says questions about Biden’s memory make it less likely that prosecutors would be able to make charges stick against the former president.
Questions about Biden’s memory
Hur writes, “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.”
It says his 2017 conversations with an investigator were “often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”
In his 2023 interview, Biden’s “memory was worse,” the report says. Biden could not remember the year his son Beau died, or the years his vice presidency started or ended, or some of the key details of the 2009 debate over whether to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan.
The report says Biden’s attorneys could use these “limitations in his recall” as part of his defense if he was charged.
According to Fox News, Biden’s personal lawyers criticized Hur for including Biden’s memory lapses in his write-up, and for his characterization of the president’s memory. The lawyers said the report’s language has “no place in a Department of Justice report.”
“We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate,” Biden’s attorneys said. “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events.”
The attorneys also claimed the timing of the interview played a part — in his 2023 interview, Biden spoke to investigators shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.
Donald Trump’s reaction
Trump had an immediate reaction to the report, saying it was evidence of a “two-tiered system of justice,” and claiming it was “election interference,” according to a statement on his Truth Social account.
He also called on special counsel Jack Smith to drop the charges against him for his mishandling of classified documents.
