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Donald Trump has said Special Counsel Robert Hur's report into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents means he has a new excuse to get out of trouble in the future.
Hur concluded in a report released Thursday that criminal charges would not be warranted for the president after Obama-era papers were found at Biden's private residence in Delaware and his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., in December 2022 and January 2023.
The inquiry was still highly critical of Biden, saying that the 81-year-old had significant issues with his memory while answering questions from investigators as part of the probe. Hur said that it would be hard to get a jury to bring forward a conviction beyond reasonable doubt against Biden after he left office because the president could present himself as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
The findings were immediately leapt upon by Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges for allegedly retaining classified materials and then obstructing federal attempts to retrieve them. He has continually denied any wrongdoing.
Other GOP figures also said that Hur's report is another example to suggest Biden's cognitive abilities render him unfit to run for a second term at the White House. There is no evidence that the president is suffering from any serious health issues. Newsweek contacted the White House on Saturday for comment via email.
In a post on Truth Social, Biden's presumptive Republican challenger in the 2024 election once again mocked the president over the findings of Hur's report while adding what was the best thing about the inquiry.
"The thing I like best about the DOJ [Department of Justice] Report on Biden is that, in 25 years, when I've 'lost my marbles,' I can use Mental Incompetence and Bad Memory as an excuse to get out of trouble!" Trump wrote.
Trump has put forward a string of defenses for why he committed no wrongdoing with regards to his hoarding of sensitive materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. These include the disputed claim that he declassified all the documents before he left office in January 2021, or that the charges against him are politically motivated.
In his report, Hur specified the clear differences between Biden's handling of classified materials, and the criminal allegations aimed at Trump.
"Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite," Hur wrote. "According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.
"In contrast, Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation," Hur added.
Trump, 77, has also faced concerns about his cognitive ability in the run-up to November's race.
In recent months, the former president has mistakenly described Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as the "leader" of Turkey; mixed up his GOP primary rival Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; and also suggested that former Democratic President Barack Obama was still in office.
Biden hit at the criticism in Hur's report of his memory, including the claim that the president could not remember "even within several years," when his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
"When I was asked the question, I thought to myself, it wasn't any of their damn business," Biden said.
"Every Memorial Day, we hold a service remembering him, attended by friends and family and the people who loved him. I don't need anyone to remind me when he passed away."
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About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more