Posted on 01/10/2023 9:51:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
“Really?” Poppy Harlow exclaimed. Yes, really. Theoretically, the Department of Justice could still charge Donald Trump over his alleged criminal violations in keeping classified documents.
In reality, though, Merrick Garland would have to explain why he’s not charging Joe Biden for the same crimes, as CNN legal analyst John Miller explains. They may not be the same situation, but it’s close enough to make it awkward:
DON LEMON: I said that last night, it puts Merrick Garland in a very odd position. Did they know this was coming? This was November? I said, well, you know, look, I’m just asking here. Maybe Merrick Garland didn’t. Everyone’s wondering why he didn’t act, did he know this was coming?
JOHN MILLER: The White House knows how to get news out fast and they know how to get news out slow. The idea that we went through the contretemps of last week and once that was all clear, you know, they announced this probably, you know, speaks for itself in terms of analysis.
KAITLAN COLLINS: I’m so interested that you said it helps Trump because I was talking to people close to his legal team yesterday and they were saying this is a huge gift to them because they believe, you know, politically speaking, of course, the obstruction is obviously the big part of the Trump story. He resisted for so long, turning them over. But they believe it helps make their argument that it’s pretty easy actually, to innocently and mistakenly perhaps take classified documents. Does that actually hold up in court?
JOHN MILLER: So it doesn’t hold up in logic.
KAITLAN COLLINS: But does it hold up in court?
JOHN MILLER: Let alone court. Sure, it holds up in court as an argument. But, you know, the law is clear on on both. It’s just, you know, the balancing act of you’ve got a special prosecutor, you know, Jack Smith, who’s going to is going to make a recommendation, and then the attorney general is going to have to make a decision. And these developments have put him in a very awkward place in terms of the decision-making.
The two situations aren’t identical, at least at the moment, but they don’t appear to be different enough to matter politically. Miller also notes that there is an obstruction charge that could be brought against Trump, an element that doesn’t appear to be present in this instance, at least not yet. To charge obstruction without an underlying criminal charge on the document retention itself would be even more awkward, however.
Another CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Katie Cherkasky, points out more explicitly the difference on obstruction. However, she also notes that the underlying crimes are too similar to ignore for prosecutors, and perhaps for a court as well:
CHERKASKY: I think in terms again of the obstruction, that is not present in this case. But the mishandling of classified documents — if that is an offense that is being looked at, that happens at the time the documents are removed, potentially, if they’re done so under inappropriate circumstances. So that part of it is more nuanced, and legally I think those analyses are much more similar. …
I think that Merrick Garland is in a difficult position. … Ultimately, I think there’s going to need to be a special counsel appointed to look into whether this is a criminal offense or whether this is something that is prosecutable.
The problem for the crowd — mainly in the media — screeching that Trump’s obstruction makes this different is the precedent set by the DoJ for Hillary Clinton. Her use of an unauthorized home-brew e-mail system resulted in the retention of thousands of classified documents/data for up to six years or more. Clinton’s motive for employing this system for her official e-mails was clearly to obstruct Congressional review of her communications at State. Furthermore, she directed underlings to strip classified markings from documents before transmitting them, which is itself illegal and demonstrative of obstruction. When confronted, Clinton refused to grant access to the e-mail server, and then erased half of the 65,000-plus emails before granting access to the FBI, claiming that they were personal in nature. That also is a demonstratively obstructive act. And yet the DoJ refused to charge or prosecute Clinton, claiming some fig leaf of “intent” that doesn’t exist anywhere in statute and that her behavior completely contradicted anyway.
So Merrick Garland’s decision was already awkward even before this latest development belatedly emerged. Now we have a sitting president who as VP apparently did exactly what Trump is being accused of doing, and without the authority to commit even a pretense of declassification. If Garland presses forward on a prosecution against a Republican candidate while taking a pass on two Democrats for the same crime, it’s going to look very, very political. And after that, it will be Katy-bar-the-door in the next Republican administration for political prosecutions, and that next Republican administration may be a lot closer than Biden and the media think.
Who would stop them, if they did?
I can tell you why, because Nanzi told them in no uncertain terms to stick to the script, because she didn't think Trump would win that Special Master fight.
That bought President Trump enough time for this to leak out ... just days after Nanzi was dethroned. NOT A COINKYDINK.
So, after smearing him for months, they just drop it.
The Department of Justice is now a corrupt partisan political organization. Merrick Garland is a lapdog of the Left and will do whatever the marxist Biden cabal tells him. There is no equal justice under the law.
But, but...Trump had the ultra-top-secret nuclear codes sitting on the water tank of his toilet, where anyone could see them and destroy the world!
They are not at all similar, Katie Chokeloogey -- Biden's offense is much worse. As 2harddrive pointed out on an earlier thread, "the VP does NOT have the power to declassify, only the POTUS!"
DOJ has already proven it’s not about justice.
It can charge Trump and not charge Biden or Obama, because it’s a political based operation like the other three letter acronyms.
Government protects the Government now, because it’s fascist, so expect them to indict Trump and delay, defuse, lie, cover-up about everyone else. PS Biden was Vice president and couldn’t legally declassify anything....
What Biden did was WORSE..at least Trump being president, has the power to declassify anything..a VP does NOT have the authority to do that, so what was Biden doing with these documents..at a university that has received over 50 million dollars from the Chinese Govt, did they see the docs, are there more docs somewhere
called preempting discovery issues
1. Biden is guiltier because he was only VP and had no declass power.
2. They discovered it in November and kept is secret until now.
3. Probably this is a feint as they knew about this all along and this is their out for actually prosecuting Trump because discovery would be a loss for them.
They announced this to prevent the incoming House from investigating anything. Nothing will happen with this just like nothing did with Spy Gate and the Durham Report. Classified docs isn’t the only thing they went after Trump on.
Who dat? The janitor, perhaps? Or maybe a clerk?
So... Conveniently enough, they’ve found a reason to not charge Trump... Hmm! I wonder why?
Oh... I just thought of the reason why... Charging Trump would give him a forum to attack his opponents and expose them for the hypocrites that they are.
Trump will never be charged with any crime... Ever! I feel for all those diehard liberals who’ve been screaming for years that he should be charged... Their disappointment is enjoyable entertainment.
Certainly not a single DemocRAT, and certainly not the vast majority of RINOpublicans. That leaves very few who would even try.
It was indeed a different situation. Trump had docs that he was legally (as president) entitled to declassify. Biden had (for years) docs he was NOT able to declassify.
It doesn’t really matter whether they can make the charges stick.
Its about the charge.
They want to smear Trump with a legal proceeding while he’s running for president.
They expect that Biden may also be impeached.
The Post Millennial
@TPostMillennial
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7m
BREAKING: Biden kept classified docs related to Ukraine, Iran, UK from 2013-2016: report
Here’s what the corrupt bimbos and pretensions ‘men’ of the MSM do - they find ONE or TWO differences then base their excuses for their onw bias on that...
For instance - let’s say the exuse is: “Biden’s classified documents were 8 months older than Trump’s and he returned them in less time”. Then ‘BINGO’ MSM editors decide those meaningless “difference” are all that matters’... Remember, vile members of the press only have to convince their fellow liberal ‘journalists’ one desk over... then they run with the lie.
It's a little more than "awkward". It's the equivalent of a cop stopping you on the street and demanding to go through your pockets and then charging you with obstruction if you object even if they're empty.
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