Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Classified documents dating from Biden's Senate and vice-presidential service were found at premises associated with him. Special Counsel Robert Hur identified evidence of wilful retention and disclosure but concluded that the evidence did not warrant criminal prosecution. After a legal battle, recordings of interviews conducted in 2016–2017 with his biographer were released in July 2026; in them, Biden referred, among other things, to notes that might be classified.

Donald Trump and House Republicans alleged that Biden's aides had concealed his decline and used an autopen to exercise powers without clear authorisation. A Republican-led committee published a strongly accusatory report in 2025, and the Department of Justice initiated reviews.

The Biden administration adopted a rule interpreting Title IX's prohibition of sex discrimination as covering gender identity. Following several partial injunctions, a federal judge in Kentucky struck down the rule nationwide in January 2025.

State of the evidence

Established

In the final hours of his presidency, Biden granted pre-emptive pardons to Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, members and staff of the 6 January committee and several members of his own family, including James Biden.

State of the evidence

Established

In May 2025, months after leaving the presidency, Biden announced that he had aggressive prostate cancer which had spread to his bones. His spokesperson said his last known PSA test dated from 2014, renewing political questions about the transparency of his health during his presidency.

The Biden administration repealed or relaxed several Trump-era policies and subsequently faced record or near-record levels of encounters at the southern border. In June 2024, Biden eventually imposed temporary restrictions on asylum access when crossings exceeded specified thresholds.

State of the evidence

Documented

Biden announced a sweeping student debt cancellation plan based on the HEROES Act. In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the authority invoked did not permit a measure of that scale. Subsequent, more targeted initiatives and the SAVE plan were also challenged.

State of the evidence

Established

States and private individuals accused the Biden administration of exerting coercive pressure on platforms to moderate content relating in particular to Covid-19 and elections. Lower courts issued a partial injunction.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Institutional responsibility of the administration; no ruling on the merits against Biden

Three Republican-led House committees investigated the business dealings of Hunter and James Biden and published a report in August 2024 alleging impeachable conduct by Joe Biden and claiming that he had helped his family monetise his name.

Following Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023, Biden provided substantial military and diplomatic support to Israel. As civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza increased, a significant part of his political coalition condemned continued arms deliveries. In May 2024, the administration suspended a shipment of heavy bombs because of the risk associated with an offensive in Rafah.

State of the evidence

Disputed

The floating pier project announced by Biden to deliver aid to Gaza involved approximately 1,000 US service members and cost nearly $230 million. Adverse weather, logistical problems and distribution difficulties limited operations to around twenty days, with much less aid delivered than initially envisaged.

State of the evidence

Established

Concerns about Biden's age and fitness intensified following the Hur report and his very poor debate performance against Donald Trump on 27 June 2024. An internal Democratic revolt followed, and Biden ended his candidacy on 21 July.

State of the evidence

Disputed

Biden granted his son Hunter a federal pardon covering his convictions and federal offences committed or potentially committed from 1 January 2014 to 1 December 2024. The decision contradicted his repeated public promises not to pardon him.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 prisoners on federal death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, preventing a subsequent administration from carrying out their executions.

State of the evidence

Established

The $1.9 trillion stimulus package enacted early in Biden's presidency supported the economic recovery, but economists from differing schools of thought considered that it had also contributed to the surge in US inflation.

State of the evidence

Disputed

After promising during the campaign to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" state because of Jamal Khashoggi's murder, Biden travelled to Jeddah in 2022 and exchanged a highly publicised fist bump with Mohammed bin Salman as part of a strategic and energy policy recalibration.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden asked Congress to impose the negotiated agreement between railway companies and unions to avoid a nationwide strike. Unions and progressive elected representatives criticised the decision, particularly because many workers were seeking more paid sick leave.

State of the evidence

Established

The United States secured Brittney Griner's release in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trafficker convicted in the United States. The deal was criticised for the disparity between their profiles and because Paul Whelan remained imprisoned.

State of the evidence

Established

Faced with soaring energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden authorised the release of 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest such release in US history at the time. The operation was criticised as political use of an emergency reserve and contributed to a sharp reduction in its level.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden voted in 2002 to authorise the use of force in Iraq. He subsequently described the vote as a mistake and, during the 2020 campaign, inaccurately described how quickly he had come to oppose the war.

State of the evidence

Established

The Biden administration extended a federal residential eviction moratorium during the pandemic despite serious doubts about the CDC's statutory authority. The Supreme Court ended the measure in August 2021.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden decided to complete the withdrawal of US forces. The rapid collapse of the Afghan government forced a mass evacuation from Kabul, and the ISIS-K attack at Abbey Gate killed 13 US service members and numerous Afghans.

State of the evidence

Disputed

Days after the Abbey Gate attack, a US strike against what the Pentagon believed was an ISIS-K threat killed ten civilians, including children. The Pentagon subsequently acknowledged a tragic mistake.

State of the evidence

Established

Attribution

Institutional responsibility as commander-in-chief; no claim that Biden selected the target

The Biden administration waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG and its chief executive to preserve relations with Germany, although the Russian pipeline was strongly opposed in Congress and Eastern Europe.

State of the evidence

Established

On his first day in office, Biden revoked the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, ending a multibillion-dollar project supported by Alberta and the oil industry. The decision prompted criticism over jobs, investment and relations with Canada.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden was one of the architects of the 1994 crime bill, which expanded police funding, prison capacity and certain federal sentences. The legislation became a symbol of the punitive era and its disproportionate effects on Black communities.

State of the evidence

Established

Tara Reade, a former Senate staff member, alleged in 2020 that Biden had sexually assaulted her in 1993.

Attribution

Direct allegation against Biden; not established

During an interview, Biden said that a Black voter undecided between him and Donald Trump "ain't black", prompting criticism of the assumption that Black voters owed allegiance to a particular political party.

State of the evidence

Established

In the 1970s, Biden opposed certain forms of court-ordered or federally imposed busing and sought the support of segregationist Senator James Eastland for his legislation. These relationships became a major controversy again during the 2019 Democratic primary.

State of the evidence

Documented

Hunter Biden served on Burisma's board while Joe Biden oversaw part of US policy towards Ukraine. Biden's pressure to remove prosecutor Viktor Shokin was subsequently portrayed by his opponents as intended to protect his son.

Attribution

Mixed: official role in Ukraine policy and perceived conflicts arising from family business interests

Several women described Biden's behaviour — physical closeness, hands on shoulders, embraces or touching — as intrusive or uncomfortable.

State of the evidence

Documented

Speaking to an audience including many Black voters, Biden said Republican deregulation policies would 'put y'all back in chains'. The metaphor triggered accusations of racially divisive rhetoric.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden strongly supported the 2005 bankruptcy reform, which favoured many creditors, while MBNA was a major Delaware company and had paid Hunter Biden as a consultant. The overlap fuelled controversy over an apparent conflict of interest.

State of the evidence

Established

At the launch of his 2008 campaign, Biden described Barack Obama as the first mainstream African-American candidate who was 'articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'. The wording was widely criticised as condescending and implicitly disparaging to other Black political figures.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden said that in Delaware one could not walk into a 7-Eleven or Dunkin' Donuts without hearing a slight Indian accent. The phrase was condemned as an ethnic stereotype and became a national controversy.

State of the evidence

Established

Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee when Anita Hill testified accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. The way Hill was questioned and the failure to hear certain potentially corroborating witnesses publicly have drawn lasting criticism.

State of the evidence

Established

Attribution

High-level institutional responsibility as Judiciary Committee chair

Uncredited borrowing from a speech by Neil Kinnock, other rhetorical borrowings and an earlier plagiarism incident at law school resurfaced during Biden's 1987 presidential campaign. He withdrew from the Democratic race shortly afterwards.

State of the evidence

Established