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Joe Biden won’t face criminal charges over the handling of classified documents, after he portrayed himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory”, said the special counsel.

Robert Hur said President Biden had “wilfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after he was vice president and when he was a “private citizen”, and his actions “present serious risks to national security”.

But the prosecutor said he chose not to bring criminal charges following a 15-month investigation because Mr Biden cooperated and would likely be difficult to convict.

“We have considered that, 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,” he wrote in a report.

Mr Hur said that Mr Biden’s memory was “significantly limited” when he was interviewed by members of his prosecution team.

The report claims he could not remember when he was vice president or when his son, Beau Biden, died.

Former president Donald Trump, who faces a 40-count indictment for retaining classified documents, has criticised the decision as the mark of a “two-tiered system of justice”.

Insisting he “cooperated completely”, Mr Biden, whose vice presidency started in January 2009 and ended in January 2017, welcomed the conclusion and said he agreed to five hours of in-person interviews over the two days following Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October last year.

Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said mistakes when packing documents while leaving office are “unfortunately a common occurrence” and happened with every administration for the past 50 years.

But he added the White House disagreed with “a number of inaccurate and inappropriate comments” in the special counsel’s report.

The report could embarrass Mr Biden, 81, amid criticism he is too old to serve another four-year term – having also tried to draw a contrast with Mr Trump on personal ethics and national security.

Biden’s critics supercharged with particularly troubling verdict on president’s memory

He won’t be facing charges but that’s not the big news.

The report by a Justice Department Special Counsel is pretty devastating in its assessment of the state of mind of the American president.

Over more than 200 pages, Robert Hur explains why President Joe Biden will not face charges for holding classified documents after leaving office as vice president.

Essentially, the report concludes that a conviction would be unlikely because a jury would see him as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory… someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt”.

“Mr Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023… He did not remember when he was vice president…

“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him.”

For any sitting president this would be a damning portrayal. But for President Biden it’s particularly troubling. The 81-year-old is facing growing questions about his age and mental capability.

Read Mark Stone’s full analysis here

‘Classified stuff downstairs’

The investigation found Mr Biden took classified information about the US war in Afghanistan and other national security matters.

Mr Biden told a writer working on his memoir at a home he was renting in Virginia in February 2017 that he had “just found all the classified stuff downstairs”.

The writer deleted audio recordings of his conversations with Mr Biden after learning about the investigation, Mr Hur said, but he kept transcripts.

Donald Trump campaign in Las Vegas last month. Pic: AP
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Donald Trump criticised the decision. Pic: AP

Mr Hur’s report said the conversation created “the best case” for charges against Mr Biden, but he also wrote the documents may have been taken to his home while he was vice president, when he had the authority.

Members of Mr Biden’s legal team found the classified papers at the office of his Washington think-tank and his personal residence in Wilmington in Delaware.

What’s the difference with Donald Trump’s case?

In a statement, Mr Trump described the report’s decision as “unconstitutional selective prosecution” as he battles his own case around the seizure of classified files.

A photo published by the U.S. Justice Department in their charging document against former U.S. President Donald Trump shows boxes of documents stored in a bathroom at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in early 2021 as seen embedded in the document released by the Justice Department in Washington, U.S. June 9, 2023. U.S. Justice Department/Handout via REUTERS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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Boxes of documents at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Pic: US Justice Department via Reuters

While the two cases have similarities, there are also some notable differences.

Mr Trump was charged after prosecutors said he refused for months to turn over boxes of presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and took steps to conceal the documents after the US government demanded their return.

Read more:
What are the investigations Trump is facing?

Supreme Court sceptical of Trump’s Colorado ban

An FBI search in August 2022 turned up more than 100 classified documents on the property, prosecutors alleged.

He has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of political motivations ahead of a trial scheduled for May, which is likely to be delayed.

Mr Biden’s lawyers have said they notified the National Archives after finding a “small number” of classified documents in November 2022.

Additional documents were later found in a garage and library at his Delaware home and turned over to the Justice Department.

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RFK Jr announces US is scrapping $500m of vaccine projects

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RFK Jr announces US is scrapping 0m of vaccine projects

America’s vaccine-sceptic health secretary has announced $500m (£375.8m) worth of cuts to their development in the country.

The US health department is cancelling contracts and pulling funding for jabs to fight viruses like COVID-19 and the flu, it was announced on Tuesday.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as RFK Jr, said 22 projects developing mRNA vaccines will be halted. It is the latest in a series of decisions to reduce US vaccine programmes.

Read more: Who is Donald Trump’s health chief?

The health secretary has fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, reduced recommendations for COVID-19 shots, and refused to endorse vaccines despite a worsening measles outbreak.

RFK Jr claims the US will now prioritise “safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate”.

Responding to the announcement of cuts, Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”

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Is US politics fuelling a deadly measles outbreak?

Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said RFK Jr’s move was short-sighted and that mRNA vaccines “certainly saved millions of lives”, including during the pandemic.

MRNA vaccines work by delivering a snippet of genetic code into the body that triggers an immune response, rather than introducing a real version of the virus.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, the “leading advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be designed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines”.

Moderna, which was studying a combo mRNA shot that can tackle COVID and flu for the US health department, previously said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.

Read more from Sky News:
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Reeves told to find ‘substantial’ tax rises

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The Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in a syringe before being administered to a
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A COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. File pic: PA

Scientists are also exploring how mRNA could be used in cancer immunotherapies and in other illnesses.

At the White House earlier this year, billionaire tech entrepreneur Larry Ellison praised mRNA for its potential to treat cancer.

RFK Jr touts ‘effective’ alternative

The health department said the abandoned mRNA projects signal a “shift in vaccine development priorities.”

“Let me be absolutely clear, HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Mr Kennedy said in a statement.

Later, he said work is underway on an alternative – a “universal vaccine” that mimics “natural immunity”.

“It could be effective – we believe it’s going to be effective – against not only coronaviruses, but also flu,” he said.

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Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein probe

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Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein probe

The US House Oversight Committee has issued subpoenas for depositions with former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton relating to the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The Republican-controlled committee also subpoenaed the Justice Department for files relating to the paedophile financier, as well as eight former top law enforcement officials.

Donald Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein‘s crimes, claiming he ended their relationship a long time ago.

Trump and Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News
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Mr Trump and Mr Epstein at a party together in 1992. Pic: NBC News

The US president has repeatedly tried to draw a line under the Justice Department’s decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation, but politicians from both major political parties, as well as many in Mr Trump’s political base, have refused to drop their interest in the Epstein files.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and since then, conspiracy theories have swirled about what information investigators gathered on him and who else may have been involved in his crimes.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee initiated the subpoenas for the Clintons last month, as well as demanding all communications between former president Joe Biden’s Democrat administration and the Justice Department about Epstein.

The committee previously issued a subpoena for an interview with Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who had been serving a prison sentence in Florida for luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She was recently transferred to another facility in Texas.

Mr Clinton was among those acquainted with Epstein before the criminal investigation against him in Florida became public two decades ago. He has never been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them.

Mr Clinton previously said, through a spokesperson, that while he travelled on Epstein’s jet, he never visited his homes and had no knowledge of his crimes.

Read more:
All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’

This is a rare escalation

The subpoenaing of former president Bill Clinton is an escalation, both legally and politically.

Historically, it is rare for congressional oversight to demand deposition from former presidents of the United States.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend and accomplice, had already been summonsed.

But the House Oversight Committee has now added Bill and Hillary Clinton, several former Attorneys General and former FBI directors to its list.

It signals bipartisan momentum – Democrats voting with Republicans for transparency.

The committee will now hear from several people with known ties to Epstein, his connection with Bill Clinton having been well-documented.

But the subpoenas set up a potential clash between Congress and the Department of Justice.

Donald Trump, the candidate, had vowed to release them. A government led by Mr Trump, the president, chose not to.

If Attorney General Pam Bondi still refuses to release the files, it will fuel claims of a constitutional crisis in the United States.

But another day of Epstein headlines demonstrates the enduring public interest in this case.

The subpoenas give the Justice Department until 19 August to hand over the requested records.

The committee is also asking the former officials to appear for depositions throughout August, September and October, concluding with Hillary Clinton on 9 October and Bill Clinton on 14 October.

Although several former presidents, including Mr Trump, have been issued congressional subpoenas, none has ever appeared before members under compulsion.

Last month, Mr Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release information presented to the grand jury that indicted Maxwell for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ‘seeks pardon from Trump’

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs 'seeks pardon from Trump'

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been in contact with Donald Trump about a pardon, a source close to the rapper’s legal team has told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.

A White House spokesperson said it “will not comment on the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request”.

On Tuesday, the rapper was denied bail ahead of his sentencing in October, when he could face up to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of prostitution-related offences.

The sentence will likely be much shorter than that, however.

In July, he was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution – but cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking, which carried potential life sentences.

During an interview with news channel Newsmax last Friday, Mr Trump said “they have talked to me about Sean” but did not announce any decision.

Read more:
How the trial unfolded
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

Sean "Diddy" Combs reacts after verdicts are read of the five counts against him, during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, New
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Combs reacts after the verdicts are read out in court. File pic: Reuters

The president seemed to cast doubt that he would grant a pardon, however.

“You know, I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great. And seemed like a nice guy, I didn’t know him well,” Trump said. “But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”

“I don’t know,” Trump said. “It makes it more – I’m being honest, it makes it more difficult to do.”

Trump was then asked, “more likely a ‘no’ for Combs?”

Trump responded: “I would say so.”

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How the Diddy trial unfolded

Combs, who co-founded Bad Boy Records and launched the career of the late Notorious BIG, was for decades a huge figure in pop culture, as well as a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and business entrepreneur, who presided over an empire ranging from fashion to reality TV.

Now, as well as the criminal conviction, he is also facing several civil lawsuits.

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