Biden Won't Be Charged in Top Secret Documents Case

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The Facts

  • Due to his mishandling of sensitive documents, the actions of US Pres. Joe Biden after his US vice presidency ended posed a serious risk to national security, a federal probe has found. The investigation stated that, because of Biden's cooperation, besides the difficulties in charging him, criminal prosecution would be challenging.

  • US Dept. of Justice special counsel Robert Hur's report suggested that it "would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony."


The Spin

Republican narrative

If anyone harbored doubts about Biden's age-related inabilities, the special counsel's report — and the president's bumbling response to it — should clear them all. Each time the Democratic party tries to deny it, Biden himself blows the lid open on his worst-kept secret. In any case, his age-related challenges are a "secret" only to him and his party, which somehow still expects the nation to give him four more years at the helm.

Democratic narrative

A political hatchet job was executed to perfection by a special counsel whose Beltway Republican credentials are well-known. Robert Hur has handed Donald Trump an easy line of attack against Biden in the run-up to the 2024 election. And it couldn't have been more below the belt than pulling the president's late son into the narrative of "If too senile to be prosecuted, then too senile to be president."


Metaculus Prediction


Public figures in this story


Political split

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RIGHT