In response to the report's release President Joe Biden has just issued a statement.

The president says he "was pleased to see they reached the conclusion I believed all along they would reach - that there would be no charges brought in this case and the matter is now closed".

Biden called it "an exhaustive investigation" which went back over 40 years to the 1970s when he was a young senator.

"In fact, I was so determined to give the Special Counsel what they needed that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on October 8th and 9th of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis."

Biden said he "owed" this to the American people and says he took these issues "seriously", adding that during his career in public service he "always worked to protect America’s security".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Traveling with the president

I'm traveling with President Biden today - and he just arrived at a private airport in Leesburg, Virginia.

As he emerged from Marine One - his helicopter - members of the travel pool shouted questions about the report - but received no answer.

He did not appear to hear or acknowledge us.

The only sound I could hear was the loud noises of helicopter rotors and the engines of the President's motorcade starting its engines as Biden got into a waiting limousine.

In just a short time, he'll be speaking at a Democratic retreat not far from here.

It remains to be seen whether he'll comment on today's events.

Image source, Getty Images

Investigators make a point in the report to lay out the differences between Biden's classified documents probe and former President Donald Trump's case.

They note that Trump marks the first time the justice department has prosecuted a former president or vice president for mishandling classified documents from their own administration.

"It is not our role to assess the criminal charges pending against Mr. Trump, but several material distinctions between Mr. Trump's case and Mr. Biden's are clear," investigators say.

Investigators also note that he not only refused to return the documents for months, but allegedly obstructed justice by asking others to destroy evidence and lie about it.

Biden, by contrast, turned the documents over and consented to searches.

Kayla Epstein
Senior journalist

The White House's own special counsel Richard Sauber has replied to this report, highlighting the fact that investigators "found no criminal charges" are warranted in "this matter" and praising the president's "extraordinary" cooperation with the investigation.

"The President fully cooperated from day one," Sauber said in a statement

"His team promptly self-reported the classified documents that were found to ensure that these documents were immediately returned to the government because the President knows that’s where they belong. Not only was there no obstruction, the President’s cooperation throughout this 15-month investigation has been extraordinary."

Sauber writes that "mistakes" are common and "happened with every administration".

"We disagree with a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the Special Counsel’s report," Sauber said.

"Nonetheless, the most important decision the Special Counsel made—that no charges are warranted—is firmly based on the facts and evidence."

A report that contains a political gut-punchpublished at 20:30 Greenwich Mean Time 8 February

20:30 GMT 8 February

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

The good news for Joe Biden in Robert Hur’s report is that the special counsel has declined to charge the president with a crime for his handling of classified documents.

The bad news is why he thinks it would be difficult to get a conviction.

“At trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur writes.

“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his 80s of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

For a man seeking another four years in office – who is already the oldest president in American history – being characterised as an “elderly man with a poor memory” is a political gut-punch.

The president’s Republican critics are already on the attack.

“They didn’t want to bring charges against President Biden for the classified documents case because he’s too old and has a bad memory,” the Republican-controlled House of Representatives Judiciary Committee posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“They’re admitting what we all see every day.”

Expect more of that in the months ahead. Much more.

Image source, Getty Images

Investigators say that despite the fact Joe Biden wilfully retained the documents, they do not believe there is enough evidence for him to be criminally charged.

Jurors in a trial would likely “find reasonable doubt” to convict Biden because when the classified Afghanistan documents were found in Biden’s Delaware garage in 2022, he had the authority to keep classified documents at home as the president, the report states.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the reasons why investigators don’t think Joe Biden would ultimately be convicted of criminal charges for taking the documents is because he would “likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

“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 that requires a mental state of willfulness,” the report states.

According to the report, investigators say Biden kept a host of classified materials for several reasons.

For one, he wanted to collect “papers and artifacts” related to events in his career to “document his legacy”, and to be included in memoirs published in 2007 and 2017.

He also opposed then-President Barack Obama’s plans to send more troops into Afghanistan in 2009, so he kept materials documenting his opposition to the move, according to the report.

Image source, Reuters

We’re combing through the 388-page document about Biden’s retention of classified documents after his time as vice president ended.

The report finds that Biden “wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials”, but it also finds he should not face criminal charges.

Investigators say Biden took classified materials including documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, notebooks containing Biden's handwritten entries about issues of national security and “foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods”.

FBI agents recovered these documents from the garage, offices, and basement den in Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.

The US special counsel’s report into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents has just been released, which you can read in full here, external.

An investigation was launched after several secret documents were found last year at Biden's home and former private office.

The files were immediately returned to US officials when found.

Stay with us as we pour over the report and bring you the latest news and analysis.