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What criminal charges, if any, have been filed against Joe Biden?
Executive Summary
President Joe Biden has not been charged with a criminal offense; a February 2024 special counsel investigation declined to bring charges over classified documents, and no other federal or state criminal indictment against him appears in the reviewed materials. Multiple inquiries and a recent House GOP report have urged further review and referred possible misconduct by aides to prosecutors, but as of the latest documents cited here — including the Hur special counsel report (Feb 2024) and Oversight Committee referrals (Oct 2025) — no criminal charges have been filed against Biden personally [1] [2] [3].
1. Why the special counsel declined to charge — the facts that mattered
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s February 2024 report concluded that President Biden mishandled classified documents after leaving the vice presidency but that the evidence did not meet the legal standard to prosecute. The report found that Biden willfully retained and at times disclosed classified materials, including to his memoir’s ghostwriter, yet Hur judged that prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden acted with criminal intent sufficient for charges [1] [3]. The report emphasized Biden’s full cooperation in returning documents and cited his age and memory as factors that would complicate a successful criminal prosecution, describing how a defense rooted in poor memory could reasonably create doubt at trial [3] [1]. The special counsel contrasted Biden’s cooperation with the conduct alleged in other cases, noting differing investigative and evidentiary contexts [1].
2. Where the record shows no filed indictments or charges
Court filings and public reporting reviewed here show no criminal case brought against Joe Biden. The court docket United States v. Biden (1:23-mj-00274) concerned Robert Hunter Biden and was dismissed on venue grounds; it did not charge the President [4]. Media summaries and the Hur report reiterate the special counsel’s decision not to prosecute President Biden for classified records matters [5] [1]. Separately, allegations of sexual misconduct dating to 2020 were reported and a police report was filed but marked inactive; no criminal charges were pursued against Biden in that matter according to the materials summarized [6]. Taken together, these records and investigatory conclusions show no active criminal indictment of the President in federal or state court in the cited material [4] [6].
3. Political accountability versus criminal liability — competing framings
House GOP investigators produced an October 2025 report urging DOJ scrutiny of executive actions and alleging concealment of the President’s declining faculties, requesting referrals for potential misconduct by White House aides and the physician; the report does not itself charge Biden with a crime [7] [2]. The committee framed its findings as grounds for further law enforcement and medical-board review, highlighting withheld testimony and autopen use for executive actions; critics and supporters have different motivations — oversight versus political pressure — shaping those referrals [2]. The distinction between political or oversight remedies and criminal prosecution is central: referrals and reports can prompt inquiries, but they do not equal indictments, and the reviewed DOJ record (Hur) previously found insufficient evidence to secure a conviction [1] [7].
4. What the investigations did and did not resolve — evidentiary limits
The special counsel’s conclusions underscore limits in available evidence: investigators documented retention and some disclosures of classified documents but found that Biden’s cooperation, the circumstances of access, and reasonable doubt about intent and memory made prosecution legally untenable [3] [1]. The House Oversight report raises new questions about decision-making and documentation for some executive acts, and it refers aides for potential wrongdoing, but the materials do not show new criminal filings against Biden arising from that October 2025 report [2]. Evidence shortcomings and prosecutorial standards — not unanimity about conduct — explain why criminal charges have not followed these allegations [1] [7].
5. The bottom line and what to watch next
As of the latest cited documents, Joe Biden has not been criminally charged; the Hur special counsel declined prosecution in February 2024, and subsequent oversight referrals in October 2025 requested further review but produced no indictment of the President in the reviewed materials [1] [2]. Watch for any DOJ decisions following the Oversight referrals and for public releases of underlying evidence; such developments would be the only immediate pathway to criminal charges. In the meantime, political oversight, media coverage, and legal standards will continue to shape perceptions, but the legal status remains: no criminal charges filed against Joe Biden in the cited record [4] [7].