Joe Biden voluntarily preserved and disclosed highly classified materials when he was a private citizen, including documents on military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other sensitive national security issues: this is the conclusion of the report by special prosecutor Robert Hur who, while criticizing the management of the documents by of the president, believes that he should not be indicted.
The AP reports this on his website.
The results of the investigation, while not criminally relevant, are embarrassing and will likely weaken Biden's ability to attack his rival Donald Trump over the classified Mar-a-Lago papers.
Biden could not have been prosecuted as a sitting president, but Hur said in his report that he would not have recommended charges against him anyway for various reasons.
These included the fact that as vice president, and during his subsequent presidency when the Afghanistan papers were found, "he had the authority to keep classified documents in his home."
But also the fact that a jury might think that he had forgotten them in a rented house in Virginia and therefore not kept them voluntarily.
In addition to the fact that in a trial Biden would probably have presented himself to the jury "as an empathetic, well-intentioned elderly man with a poor memory", as emerged both with the author of his biography and in the deposition before investigators.
A comment that undermines Biden's campaign, tarnished by the image of an old and forgetful president.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA