JOE Biden will not face criminal charges over keeping secret documents — as prosecutors say he is “an elderly man with a poor memory”.
A special counsel report last night declared the US President “wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials” from his time as Barack Obama’s vice-president.
But when interviewed, he was said to have got muddled about the dates he served as VP, and the year his son Beau died.
“At trial, Mr Biden would likely present himself to a jury as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” special counsel Robert Hur said, explaining the lack of charges.
The report said jurors were unlikely to believe Mr Biden “wilfully” kept documents on foreign policy, though it presented “serious risks to national security”.
The files, found at Mr Biden’s home and private office over a year ago, were returned to officials.
His lawyers called the report “highly prejudicial”, adding it was common for witnesses not to recall years-old events.
His likely rival in this year’s presidential election, Donald Trump, who also faces 40 federal charges of retaining classified documents, blasted the Biden decision as a “two-tiered system of justice”.
Mr Trump is expected to stand trial in May.