Image source, FBI

The investigation into how Joe Biden handled classified documents after serving as Barack Obama's vice president has wrapped up.

The good news for Biden is he won't face any charges.

The bad news is the way the report describes his memory and age. It's going to be a problem for his presidential campaign.

Biden's age (he's 81) has long been a major talking point among voters and his political rivals.

Now an official report says Biden's memory "appeared to have significant limitations".

• You can read the full story on the report into Biden's handling of classified documents, and what the report said about his memory, here.

Our writers today were Madeline Halpert, Chloe Kim, Kayla Epstein and Sam Cabral.

Thanks for following along with us.

Let's recap what happened with the release of special counsel Robert Hur's report into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents. The 300+ page report, external was shared about three hours ago, and it covers a lot of ground.

• The report declared that Biden would not face any criminal charges for keeping classified documents at his home and former private office
• The document repeatedly mentioned Biden's apparent memory decline, citing interviews with investigators. In one interview, the report says Biden "did not remember when he was vice-president" and could not recall "within several years, when his son Beau died"

• The White House says the descriptions of Biden's memory are not "accurate or appropriate"
• But the White House did say it was pleased that "this case and the matter is now closed"
• Donald Trump and Republicans immediately used the report to make political attacks on Biden

Rebecca Hartmann
Reporting from the White House

President Biden has now arrived back at the White House, following the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Leesburg.

Marine One landed on the South Lawn of the grounds and the president walked across the lawn and into the Oval Office without acknowledging questions about the report, including the issues raised around his memory.

Image source, Getty Images

We've seen a flurry of Republicans jump into political attack mode using lines from this report. Now let's see what a key Democrat is saying.

Representative Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, put out a statement saying the Biden administration "fully cooperated" with the investigation.

Raskin suggested this instance "bears striking resemblances to former Vice President Pence and former President Ronald Reagan’s handling of classified information following their terms of office" and does not warrant criminal charges.

He also made sure to stress the difference between the Biden and Trump cases.

"Trump obstructed efforts by the National Archives and law enforcement to recover hundreds of government documents by deliberately hiding them, lying about their whereabouts, and enlisting others to destroy and conceal evidence."

He concluded by saying Democrats are ready to implement legislation to "place greater safeguards to prevent the inadvertent retention of these records".

And at the House Democrats' annual retreat on Thursday, Nevada Representative Steven Horsford said he was with the president on Sunday, Axios reported.

"The president is very well suited to be our commander-in-chief."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Travelling with the president

President Biden has now taken off on Marine One, headed back to the White House.

He didn't take any questions from reporters as he entered the chopper to begin his short flight home - and we were too far away to shout over the roar of multiple helicopters.

As we drove to the airport, small groups of people huddled by the road to wave and clap as the convoy - which is massive - rolled by.

One man, however, stood and waved a large blue "Trump 2024" flag.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

The language used by special counsel Robert Hur in the report reinforces a narrative that the Biden campaign has been desperately trying to confront, said Chris Borick, the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

“The polling, over and over, we see data points that suggest it is his largest liability into this election that voters think he’s simply too old to run,” Borick tells me.

“It certainly adds to the challenge, because it will be referenced in many places.”

He adds that because Biden will be citing the positive aspects of the report - that he should not face criminal charges - it will be even harder to discount the negative comments about his cognition.

“That adds to the steepness of his efforts to overcome what is undoubtedly a significant hindrance to his campaign,” he says.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

Donald Trump - the likely Republican presidential nominee - and his allies are already seizing upon the report’s comments about Biden’s “poor memory”.

But Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, doesn’t think it will be a huge additional blow to Biden’s re-election campaign.

The public “will look at it, and will raise one eyebrow, not both”, he told the BBC.

“Because in a way, people already knew this. Even if you casually watch five minutes of a speech he’s giving, you already know this,” he says.

Sabato notes that Trump is similarly old - 77 to Biden’s 81. But the public has been more critical of Biden’s age, which does pose issues for his re-election bid.

“His age shows. And they can deny it all they want to. It’s real, it’s there,” he says. “This is a problem for him – an enduring problem.”

Kayla Epstein
Senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Former president Donald Trump, who is under indictment for his own alleged mishandling of classified documents, has declared today's Biden report was evidence of "a two-tiered system of justice and unconstitutional selective prosecution".

He claimed that Biden's classified documents case was worse than his and reiterated: "I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more".

However, this report on Joe Biden does specifically outline how the cases are different, with investigator's stating "after being given multiple chances to return the documents", Trump "allegedly did the opposite". The report also states Trump allegedly asked others to destroy evidence and lie about it.

Jack Smith, the special counsel handling that case, has indicted Trump and two employees on charges that Trump improperly took classified documents from the White House, stored them improperly at his personal residences, and obstructed the government's efforts to retrieve them.

You can read more about Trump's charges in the classified documents case here.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Travelling with the president

Image source, Getty Images

I'm now headed back to the nearby executive airport, where Biden's helicopter will take off back to DC.

Thinking back on his 15 minute or so speech just now - in which he clearly attempted to address this issue head-on - one omission stands out.

He made no mention, whatsoever, of the report's suggestion that his memory has declined.

Taking a quick glance at social media as I was ushered from room-to-room by White House staff, it's clear that's one part of the report that many Republicans are jumping on.

It wouldn't be the first time that political opponents have suggested Biden's cognitive abilities have declined.

I expect that the issue of his memory will become a significant issue at White House briefings or events in the coming days - at the moment, it's unclear how he will handle them.

The White House travel pool will get a few more opportunities to ask the question today. We'll have to see if he answers.

Investigators are also accusing Biden of sharing and keeping classified information in handwritten notebooks.

The report says he wrote down “obviously sensitive information” discussed during intelligence briefings with then-President Obama about national security and foreign policy.

He would read these notebook entries aloud during meetings with a ghost writer for his memoir, sometimes skipping classified material - but at least three times, reading from classified entries “nearly verbatim”, investigators found.

The photos shared with the report show various locations where President Biden stored the files.

There are folders packed with documents and stored in his Delaware home, garage and his office at the Penn Biden Center.

Image source, Special counsel Hur report

Image source, Special Counsel Hur report

Image source, Special counsel Hur report

Image source, Special counsel Hur report

You can almost hear the clicking of Republican keyboards writing attack adspublished at 21:50 Greenwich Mean Time 8 February

21:50 GMT 8 February

John Sudworth
North America Correspondent

Even if this is a legal vindication for President Biden, there is a deeply wounding political sting in the tail.

Special Counsel Robert Hur concludes there’s not enough evidence to press charges over Biden’s handling of classified documents and that, unlike former President Donald Trump’s alleged behaviour in his similar classified documents case, Biden cooperated fully.

But that’s where the good news ends.

The report goes on to say that, even were they to bring charges, a jury would be unlikely to convict because of President Biden’s inability to recall key details.

It’s a conclusion that has already been seized upon by his political opponents who are attempting to paint him as being too frail, both mentally and physically, to be Commander in Chief.

The report gives them ample fresh ammunition in the claims that the President couldn’t remember when his previous term as Vice President began or ended, or the year his son Beau died.

In an appendix attached to the report, Biden’s lawyers dismiss such language as deeply inappropriate. The lack of recall is nothing out of the ordinary, they say, but the kind of commonplace occurrence for any witness being asked about events that happened years ago.

But as they say in politics, if you’re explaining you’re losing. You can almost hear the clicking of Republican keyboards as the attack ads are being written.

Here's a bit more from Biden's legal team's response to the report, in which they push back on claims that he struggled with his memory.

"There is ample evidence from your interview that the President did well in answering your questions about years-old events over the course of five hours," special counsel Richard Sauber writes.

"This is especially true under the circumstances, which you do not mention in your report, that his interview began the day after the October 7 attacks on Israel."

Sauber adds that the president was meeting with heads of state, cabinet members and lawmakers repeatedly at that time.

"It is hardly fair to concede that the President would be asked about events years in the past, press him to give his 'best' recollections. and then fault him for his limited memory."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Travelling with the president

Biden just addressed the report during a scheduled speech to a retreat for House Democrats at a Virginia resort.

A few minutes into his speech, he acknowledged the elephant in the room.

He briefly mentioned that he had always hoped the "exhaustive investigation" would end up with no charges.

"The bottom line is the special counsel decided, in my case, against bringing charges," he said.

"This matter is now closed.

"I'll continue to do what I've always done: stay focused on my job like you do, my job of being president."

He's read verbatim from the report, making a pointed comparison between his cooperation and Donald Trump having "obstructed" justice in his own documents case.

After brief remarks on the documents case, the President quickly pivoted and began discussing other matters, including the economy and "finishing the job".

Biden was met with applause; this is, after all, a friendly crowd.

The House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference has also attracted the likes of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Representative Pete Aguilar, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

The special counsel's report also includes photographs of the locations where many of the classified documents were stored.

Image source, Special Counsel Hur report

Image source, Special counsel Hur report

Image source, Special counsel Hur report

The report also contains some of Biden's policy views, including his stance on the war in Afghanistan.

The report says Biden had a strong motive to keep the classified documents about Afghanistan, because he wanted to prove that he was opposed to Obama's decision to send extra troops there.

He "believed President Obama's 2009 troop surge was a mistake on par with Vietnam", the report states, adding: "He wanted record to show that he was right about Afghanistan; that his critics were wrong."

A portion of the report suggests President Biden is not being charged because he is an "elderly man with a poor memory" and it is already proving to be catnip to his Republican critics.

"Is this a joke?" wrote North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis on X, formerly Twitter.

South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, who is backing Nikki Haley for president this year, said: "Not exactly a glowing description of the PRESIDENT of the United States."

Alabama Congressman Barry Moore chimed in: "Our enemies are laughing with delight."

Others took issue with the decision not to charge Biden.

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn called it evidence of continued "special treatment to the Biden family".

"Americans are fed up with the two tiers of justice that has become the status quo of this administration," she wrote.

Markwayne Mullin echoed that sentiment, adding: "Embarrassing week for Joe Biden who is again proving he isn’t up for the job."

Biden's legal team is objecting to the description of his memory in the report, which describes him as an "elderly man with a poor memory".

In a letter attached to the report, Biden's special counsel Richard Sauber writes:

"We request that you revisit your descriptions of President Biden's memory and revise them so that they are stated in a manner that is within the bounds of your expertise and remit."

"We do not believe that the report's treatment of President Biden's memory is accurate or appropriate. The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events," he adds.

A copy of the report was shared with the White House a day before it was released to the public.

The special counsel's report goes into further detail on what it calls "significant limitations" in Joe Biden's memory.

When the Special Counsel's office interviewed Biden, the report reads, the president "did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ("if it was 2013 - when did I stop being Vice President?"), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ("in 2009, am I still Vice President?")".

Further, Biden also "did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died".

The report adds that "his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he 'had a real difference' of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama."

The report includes photographs which show where some of the documents were kept.

This image shows a cluttered garage where an open cardboard box had classified Afghanistan documents.

Image source, FBI