House Speaker Mike Johnson asserted during a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday that Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report found President Joe Biden to have “broken the law” in retaining classified materials but clarified that no charges would be filed against him. Hur’s 345-page report, made public last Thursday, examined Biden’s handling of classified information, criticizing aspects of his memory but ultimately concluding that evidence did not establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Johnson offered his interpretation of Hur’s report, emphasizing Americans’ concerns about the president’s mental acuity and perceived double standards in the Justice Department. He stated that Biden had breached the law but would not face charges, citing the special counsel’s reasoning that Biden’s memory limitations would make a conviction challenging.
However, Hur’s actual report detailed each incident of Biden retaining classified information and explained why it did not meet a criminal standard. For instance, Hur discussed Biden’s sharing of notes from classified meetings with a ghostwriter, noting that while Biden risked sharing classified information, there was no evidence to show he knew the specific passages were classified and intended to share such information.
Hur’s report addressed marked classified documents found in Biden’s notebooks, stating that there was no proof Biden knew about or intended to keep them after his vice presidency. The report concluded that these facts did not support the claim that Biden willfully retained marked classified documents.
Hur’s findings are consistent throughout the report, with numerous paragraphs supporting his conclusion that Biden did not break the law in retaining classified documents.
The press conference also referenced Special Counsel Jack Smith, who, in a separate matter, cited a recording of former President Donald Trump discussing classified information with a staffer. The transcript of this recording is a crucial detail in Smith’s indictment of Trump.
In summary, Johnson’s statements at the press conference highlighted his belief that Biden broke the law in retaining classified materials, despite the special counsel’s report explicitly stating that no criminal charges were warranted due to insufficient evidence to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
