President Joe Biden is not expected to face charges over his mishandling of classified documents after a yearlong investigation, according to reports.
Special counsel Robert Hur has been investigating the president's connection in the mishandling of classified documents at multiple locations and is hoping to have a completed report about his inquiry by the end of the year, sources told two outlets Thursday.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur in January to lead an investigation after classified materials from Biden's time as vice president were discovered at his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C., and at his Wilmington, Delaware, residence.
Any decision to forgo charging the president may spark frustrations by former President Donald Trump and his supporters. Trump has alleged the Justice Department is being "weaponized" to bring charges against him as he fights off four criminal indictments during his 2024 presidential bid.
One of those indictments involves allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents, which likely will fuel claims of a double standard from his supporters if Biden avoids facing consequences for a similar offense.
Hur interviewed several Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, White House political aide Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported on the lack of forthcoming charges.
The report from Hur likely will criticize Biden's handling of the documents, but it could draw distinctions between the conduct of Biden and that of his predecessor.
For one, the National Archives and Records Administration had to make repeated attempts to obtain the documents that were in Trump's possession at Mar-a-Lago, prompting the FBI to secure a search warrant in August 2022 to retrieve the records from the Florida resort home. Meanwhile, Biden's lawyers claim they were quick to inform the National Archives of the material found in his possession.
Officials at the agency treated the retrieval of some of Biden's records with "professionalism and discretion," according to new emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Following Biden's meeting with Hur last month, Trump took to Truth Social to allege he was being treated unfairly in his own legal woes over classified documents.
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“I see that Crooked Joe Biden is working on his documents situation. He moved documents, many classified, all over the place, for years, including to CHINATOWN,” Trump wrote. "I did nothing wrong, he did, and so did many others!”
The Washington Examiner contacted a representative for Hur for comment.