US President Joe Biden “wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials”, a special counsel has found, but he will not face charges.
The investigation began more than a year ago after several secret documents were found at Mr Biden’s home and former private office.
The files were immediately returned to US officials when discovered.
“We conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the report reads.
“Prosecution of Mr Biden is also unwarranted based on our consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors,” says justice department Special Counsel Robert Hur.
Mr Hur’s 345-page report was released publicly on Thursday after the White House said it would not request any redactions.
Investigators conducted 173 interviews with 147 witnesses, including President Biden himself.
He answered questions in the Hur inquiry over the course of two days in October.
The special counsel’s report says that it would be difficult to convict Mr Biden of improper handling of files because “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”.
“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his 80s of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
For the oldest president in American history, being characterised as an “elderly man with a poor memory” will be seen as politically unhelpful to Mr Biden as he seeks another four years in office.
His Republican critics picked up on this line in the report.
“They didn’t want to bring charges against President Biden for the classified documents case because he’s too old and has a bad memory,” the House of Representatives judiciary committee posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“They’re admitting what we all see every day.”
