Posted on 06/11/2023 5:42:02 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Two days ago (June 8) a federal grand jury in Florida, at the behest of Justice Department “special prosecutor” Jack Smith, indicted ex-President and current presidential candidate Trump over matters related to the retention of classified documents generated during his time in the White House. The full text of the indictment can be found here.
You might think that indictment of the currently-leading opposition candidate to the incumbent president in the upcoming election would be something reserved for a case of extraordinary significance. After all, using the criminal justice system to prosecute political rivals is one of the hallmarks of the Banana Republic. Among those who have used the strategy are Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and, of course, Vladimir Putin of Russia (whose lead political rival, Alexei Nalvalny, languishes in jail on a charge of “fraud,” which seems to consist of raising campaign funds while supposedly disqualified from running for office due to being on parole from a previous phony charge). Surely the American President and Justice Department would not resort to a flimsy indictment to take out the leading political rival.
Initial reactions to the indictment from both sides of the political aisle have been that it appears strong. There is even a transcript of a recorded conversation involving Trump where he concedes that certain of the documents in question involve things that are “still a secret,” and a staffer responds “now we have a problem.” (paragraph 34). What could be the possible answer to that?
In my case, I prefer to take a couple of days and investigate things before reacting prematurely to something that might appear plausible on its face.
If you read the introductory paragraphs of the indictment, you can be forgiven for getting the impression that the case is about the mis-handling of “classified” documents. For example, from paragraph 2: “Among the materials that TRUMP stored in his boxes were hundreds of classified documents.” And from paragraph 3: “The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States. . . .”
But then you might be surprised that when you get to the actual crime charged, it arises under a statute that does not relate to “classified” documents per se, and is independent and separate from the whole system of classified documents. The statute in question is 18 U.S.C. Section 793(e). Here is the text of it:
Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it . . . Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
Nothing in there mentions classified information, or turns on whether the information in question is “classified” or not. The relevant issues are, instead, whether the person has “unauthorized possession or, or access to” information “relating to the national defense” and “causes it to be communicated to” someone “not entitled to receive it.”
Now, you might think that, in evaluating whether a case against Trump might have those elements, it would be rather critical to consider the importance of the Presidential Records Act of 1978. That is the statute that made presidential records the property of the government (previously they were understood to be the personal property of the President or former President). But in making presidential records the property of the government, the act contained this rather important carve-out (22 U.S.C. Section 2205(3)):
Notwithstanding any restrictions on access imposed pursuant to sections 2204 and 2208 of this title . . . (3) the Presidential records of a former President shall be available to such former President or the former President's designated representative.
Somehow the indictment that has been issued does not anywhere mention this section.
So by the clear words of this statute the ex-President is absolutely entitled to have “access” to the “Presidential records” generated during his own term, and also he can further legally provide access to whoever he designates as his “designated representative.” So how could Trump fit the element of Section 793(e) that he had “unauthorized possession of, or access to” the documents in question, whether classified or not? And, since he has the complete ability to make people his “designated representative,” how can he have given access to the documents to people not “entitled” to receive them?
The Presidential Records Act does make the records in question — or at least the originals, to the extent that that term is meaningful in today’s mostly electronic world — the property of the government. But if that is the case, why isn’t this whole Mar-a-Lago document brouhaha only a question of whether Trump could keep the originals, or on the other hand whether he had to make a copy and send the originals back to the National Archives? And if that’s all this is about, is the Justice Department really serious in bringing this indictment against the leading candidate of the opposition party?
Other than 18 USC Section 793(e), all the other “crimes” pleaded in this indictment are the usual FBI/Justice Department litany of process crimes — “lying” to the investigators, hiding things, saying things had been turned over when they had not, etc. OK, but remember that we now know that the thing that FBI/Justice was supposedly investigating is not a crime at all. Granted that the position of the FBI and Justice is that any failure to be completely forthright with them is a crime, even when they are torturing you by corruptly investigating you for something that you have an absolute right to do. I’m not sure that a Florida judge or jury will agree with FBI/Justice on this one.
The leftists still have more indictments to tie Trump up. It is unbelievable that some on the left don’t believe that this is a witch hunt.
They don't care if it is.
I believe DOJ is trying to transfer this case out of Florida and up to DC. That’s a location where any potential jury already knows Trump is guilty, they just need to know what the charge is.
The most egregious aspect of this indictment was the fact it was used to cover yet another Joe Biden scandal; namely the 5 million dollar bribe he took.
Or maybe the most egregious aspect is the fact that boxes and boxes of classified docs were hanging out in Joe’s garage and in his ‘vette where Hunter and his chinese agent friends had years of free access.
Yet this is ignored while they focus on Mar-A-Lago documents.
We have the power of voter nullification going for us. The final say.
The lawyers of DC are really pissed-off that a businessman would have the audacity to think he could stick his nose into, what they consider to be, their business.. Which just happens to be robbing, stealing, lying, cheating and pulling every underhanded trick known to man...better known as the art of "politics."
As long as Trump continues to "Endeavor to Persevere" the DC lawyers are going to be on him like ticks on a hound...
all those boxes and only “hundreds” were marked classified. am i reading that right? do we know if doc/secret and spoken about on tape, supposedly, was one of many handed back? what do we really know???
The Faux Fox right is secretly cheering too.
“I believe DOJ is trying to transfer this case out of Florida and up to DC. That’s a location where any potential jury already knows Trump is guilty, they just need to know what the charge is.”
Amendment VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation...and to have the assistance of council for his defense.
The “case” is creating buzz because of an “audio” that may or may not say what it has been purported to say in the media.
What has given it steam is that guys like Dershowitz of Lolita Express fame who I don’t trust and Turley who cashes checks from the Evil Media Empire of Rupert Murdoch but to his credit has been calling things straight in recent months, have made dire comments based on the audio being all that it has been purported to be.
As with all things Trump, the reports of a slam bang smoking gun appear to have been highly exaggerated.
I guess it is just another of example of what was once looked down upon as sensationalism journalism.
But calling the coverage of Trump sensational journalism is inaccurate because there is no journalism to it.
There really is no such as journalism any more.
If there were we’d be reading a hundred times more about the real crimes of the Bidens and very little about the political accusations against Trump.
Accuse, attack, accuse, attack.
Sucks up his time, money, makes him look bad to some.
The idea is to just keep grinding on him, keep the negative news/media flowing (the lemmings feel there must be something to it), tie up him and his people spending countless hours dealing with this nonsense rather than his campaign, have him throw his money into defending himself rather than his campaign...
It’s political crap, BUT the folks today rather than getting nauseated and rejecting the demagogues peddling this junk, respond to it. They’re lemmings. Look at Covid, that was largely election politics as well and you see idiots walking around in wide open spaces with their entire family masked up to this day! Do I really need to tell you how good CNN/MSNBC watching folks like that are going to vote?
These vapid accusations aren’t worth the paper they’re written or the breath they are spoken with. Just trash. BUT, it keeps him on the defensive, in REQUIRES him to respond and that puts him in a negative light with the “news” gossiping on it 24/7.
The fib had hours alone at MAL to plant anything
Having security video running will show what they did
For what it’s worth, maybe nothing.........
The indictment comes after more than 100 documents with classified markings
were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.
Trump has been charged with 37 counts: 31 counts of willful retention of national
defense information; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of
withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document
or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one
count of scheme to conceal; and one count of false statements and representations.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/trump-indictment/?id=99913217
This is a win/win for the dems.
If Trump is convicted, well and good. If he prevails, it goes a long way for nullifying the sure-to-come cases against Biden and the other dems who are actually guilty of these crimes. Yes, neither Biden or Hillary were president at the time but, in the dems eyes, they are not guilty of anything, anyway.
i feel it is time for House to hit D’s and Joe with a barrage of impeachments, for Garland, for Mayorkas, and several for multiple Joe crimes, paralleling this indictment ‘insurance policy’ unfolding, with GA in the wings. fire with fire. facts have little to do with public opinion. it’s all about the perception.
‘
Yup
Throw sand and then water.
The left is no longer made up of Americans. Vicious wild animals. Power mad freaks. From Biden down to that clerk in the office.
They believe it. They know it. They’re in full support of it. They want their political opponents locked up for the crimes of thinking and speaking differently from them. But they can’t and won’t openly admit that. So, they concoct these phony scandals, get their opponents charged and convicted in order to provide cover for their real, true tyrannical motives.
Absolutely true. They’re salivating at the thought of getting us all locked up for daring to disagree with them. Trump is just the start. And if they can do it to him, they can and will do it to the rest of us.
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