Biden ghostwriter escapes special counsel charges despite deleting evidence
The audio files were related to the work on Biden's memoir 'Promise Me, Dad'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Biden's ghostwriter will not face charges despite deleting evidence of the sharing of classified material during the investigation.
Mark Zwonitzer — who collaborated with Biden on his memoir "Promise Me, Dad" — erased audio files in his possession that contained "significant evidentiary value," according to a report published by Special Counsel Robert Hur.
Zwonitzer admitted to the FBI that he "was aware that there was an investigation" when he deleted the evidence.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NO CHARGES FOR BIDEN AFTER SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBE INTO IMPROPER HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
President Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
Hur began investigating Biden’s improper retention of classified records last year.
Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"When asked whether he deleted the recordings to try and prevent investigators from obtaining them, Zwonitzer said that he did not," the report states.
Copies of the memoir by President Biden called "Promise Me, Dad" are displayed on a shelf at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
It added, "Our investigation […] did not uncover any evidence that Zwonitzer had been in contact with anyone about his decision to delete the recordings."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hur will not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling classified documents, despite finding "evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen."
The materials included "marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Special Counsel Robert Hur delivers remarks during a ceremony at the Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building in Washington, D.C., on May 9, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Hur said FBI agents recovered the materials from "the garages, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home."
The special counsel described Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Fox News Digital's Joe Schoffstall, Brooke Singman, David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.