National security experts criticize Biden’s handling of classified documents

The controversy over special counsel Robert Hur’s characterization of President Joe Biden’s memory has obscured one ofthe most surprising findings in his report: evidence that Biden knowingly kept classified materials at home for years and failed to turn them in.

After a yearlong investigation, Hur found that the evidence of “willful retention” — the language in the criminal statute — wasn’t strong enough to justify a prosecution. And he explained in detail why the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his handling of classified materials include far more serious allegations of misconduct than Biden’s case.

To Democrats, Hur’s finding that there was no criminal case to bring against the president is the most important takeaway.

But to some national security experts, the disclosure that Biden told his ghostwriter that he discovered classified documents in his Virginia home in 2017 — with no indication he returned them — was unexpected and troubling. So was the revelation that Biden disclosed classified information to the ghostwriter on at least three occasions, and that he stored notebooks full of state secrets in unlocked drawers in his home office.

They said a senior government official like Biden should be held to a higher ethical standard than whether a jury would convict him of a felony.

“It may not be criminal, but it’s reckless and awful, because you have no idea what sources and methods you are putting at risk,” said NBC News legal contributor and former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg. “Someone who served as the vice president of the United States should know better.”

White House spokesperson Ian Sams said the Hur report “found the totality of evidence in fact does not support willful