Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 9 (Xinhua) -- Robert Hull, the special prosecutor in charge of investigating the "documentgate" of the United States ** Joseph Biden, released a report on the 8th, saying that Biden will not face charges for mishandling classified documents due to insufficient evidence and other factors.
Despite being able to "get out" at the legal level, Biden has found himself in another embarrassing situation because of the report. The report specifically mentions that the 81-year-old has a "poor memory" and can't remember many things. Some Republicans have taken advantage of this to claim that this shows that Biden is "unfit" for the office.
On April 24, 2023, Biden attended an event at the White House in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Aaron) Memory is "limited".
In the 388-page report, Hull detailed how Biden mishandled classified documents. He wrote that the FBI** found the material in "the garage, office and basement study of Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware," which included classified documents related to Afghanistan's military and foreign policy, some marked with the highest level of top secret or sensitive information.
But Hull said he chose not to bring criminal charges against Biden after a 15-month investigation because he was "cooperating and difficult to convict." In addition to listing factors such as insufficient evidence, Hull also mentioned that "poor memory" could be a reason why Biden cannot be convicted.
Hull said in the report that when Biden was questioned, his memory was "severely limited", forgetting the start and end of his term as deputy in former Barack Obama, and even forgetting the year his eldest son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died of illness.
This is an exterior view of the U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on December 21, 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie "We have also considered that (if) we face trial, Biden may appear before the jury as a sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a poor memory, as we did when we questioned him. That could lead some jurors to believe that Biden didn't intentionally keep the documents, but may have forgotten they existed, the report said.
The United States** disclosed on January 9 last year that Biden's personal lawyer found a batch of classified documents on November 2, 2022, when cleaning up the office used by Biden at the Pennsylvania Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a Washington think tank. The White House and Biden confirmed the report the next day. Biden used the office after stepping down as deputy in 2017 and before he began his campaign in 2019. Biden also admitted that classified documents were also stored at his residence.
This is the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie The U.S. Archives Act stipulates that all documents must be retained during the term of office and handed over to the National Archives and Records Administration when they leave office. The White House and Biden stressed at the time that the classified documents stored in his former office and home were "small in number" and "locked," and that they immediately notified the National Archives and Records Administration or the Department of Justice when they were discovered, handed over the documents in a timely manner, and cooperated with the Justice Department's investigation.
The opponent is sarcastic. House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republicans called Hull's report "deeply troubling," according to AFP. In a statement, they said that "a person who cannot take responsibility for the mishandling of classified information is certainly not suitable" to serve as **.
Biden is the oldest incumbent in U.S. history, and is currently running for re-election, and is likely to face off against his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, in the November election. Trump supporters used the report to highlight concerns about Biden's age.
This is the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie "If you're too old to stand trial, then you can't be a ** Trump makes America great again," said Alex Faiver, a spokesman for the committee.
It is worth mentioning that Trump is implicated in another "documentgate". In 2022, he was found to have stored a large number of ** documents at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, hundreds of which were secret. As a result, he was charged in Florida with mishandling classified documents and attempting to obstruct relevant documents** when he left office. In June, Trump denied the allegation, and he is scheduled to go on trial in May.
Hull pointed out that there are clear differences between Biden and Trump's "documentgate". By contrast, Biden submitted classified documents to the National Archives and Records Administration and the Department of Justice, agreed to search multiple locations, including his home, voluntarily accepted questioning, and otherwise cooperated with the investigation. ”
This is part of the written testimony that the FBI filed with the court when it applied to search Mar-a-Lago, the former Trump's residence, taken on August 26, 2022. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie In a speech at the White House on the 8th, Biden accused Hull of mentioning the death of his son in the report, angrily denounced "how dare he say that", and insisted that he had a "good memory" and that the accusation that he deliberately kept classified materials was "completely false".
Biden's personal lawyer, Bob Power, said: "It is clear that there was no reason to bring criminal charges in the first place. In a letter to Hull, Ball and White House counsel Richard Sauber also said that the report mentioned that Biden's memory was "completely redundant."
It's just that Biden made another slip of the tongue when he was asked by reporters after his speech at the White House, calling Egypt's Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi "Mexico" Liu Xi).