Posted on 06/20/2023 10:02:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If former president Donald Trump’s case ever makes it to court, federal prosecutors will use his own words against him — spoken on national TV to Fox News host Bret Baier on Monday. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t even play one on internet video. So when it comes to stories like this one, there are a few people I turn to for sharp analysis and good advice.
On the surface at least, what Trump said could cause him trouble in court.
When Baier asked, “Why not just hand [the documents] over then?” Trump replied, “Because I had boxes — I wanted to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to NARA yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen.”
“These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of [personal] things.”
You can read more of the transcript here and decide for yourself.
I’m not here to pass judgment on the many indictments against Trump… except that I can’t let the opportunity entirely go. If we’re going to start prosecuting high-level executive branch people for keeping classified documents they shouldn’t have had, let’s start with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, neither of whom, as secretary of state or (then) as vice president, had any legal power to declassify those documents. Trump did, which is maybe a strong mitigating factor.
That out of the way, it’s both easy and proper to dismiss Twitter hot takes like this one from Erick Erickson:
Guys, Trump admitted on TV tonight he withheld documents from the grand jury. Game over, legally. What an idiot.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 20, 2023
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Don’t get your panties in a bunch…
They don’t have a case against him - the prosecutors know it, Trump knows it and his lawyers know it.
The point of this exercise is not to put him in jail but to try to damage him politically by dragging him through the mud. Just like the two impeachments and the mueller investigation - this is all fake.
This is election interference, nothing more.
Once you understand that, you realize why the never Trumpers are “advising”Trump to keeping his mouth shut: if he does that, they win.
“It was corrupt the charges were brought at all, now that trial date has been set, it’s time to talk about how to beat the case, not accusing the judge of corruption, which would be a sure-fire way to end up a convicted felon.”
Aka “reality check 101”.
“Trump has NO fear of his mortal enemies.”
Nothing survives in the jungle for long with that mind set.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 20, 2023
Erick Erickson was a never Trumper from day one! I stopped listening to WSB Radio since 2011, because they put the evil shill/pimp, Erick Erickson on the airwaves.
If Erick Erickson says it, it is BS.
So, you graduated from Flock University.
winning that case is all people should be focused on
That logic gives the case a legitimacy that it does not deserve.
And it gives the regime legitimacy as well.
The prosecution is political.
Trump’s ONLY defense is not a legal defense, but a political one offered in the court of public opinion.
Legal defenses always LOSE in political show trials.
Study the history of any banana republic.
There was a coup.
We are living in a banana republic.
That is FACT not hyperbolic rhetoric.
This is NOT about Trump.
It is about a citizenry that must have the eyes to see what remains of this republic is merely a shell.
Whether the citizenry can restore the republic through the 2024 election may be doubtful.
The America First movement is the ONLY political force that can restore the republic.
As it now stands Trump is that movement’s leader.
It will NEVER be restored by a candidate who has currently declared candidacy.
I pray the America Movement will endure when Trump’s time on the national political stage has come to an end.
“Trump has NO fear of his mortal enemies.”
Nothing survives in the jungle for long with that mind set.
Your word choice may be revealing.
I would have chosen no one or nothing when making a reference to Trump.
I consider Trump a human being not a thing.
The entire case is absurd, but getting convicted and sent to prison is a perfectly legitimate thing to be concerned about.
All of what you said is entirely true, it’s also true that Trump is in serious danger of going to jail if he’s convicted, complaining about anything else is counterproductive at this point.
“Trump can’t reclassify something years after leaving the presidency because he said he had some “secret” papers.”
He declassified the papers when he was the president. That is why he is not being charged with having classified documents but with counts of violations of the Espionage Act.
These charges are crazy and should be dropped immediately but we are in crazy times and I predict that things are going to get much worse into insane times.
All these people arguing with me the case is political, it’s not legitimate, comparing the issues to Hillary’s issues, etc. are all completely missing the point.
Trump is in serious legal trouble, all that other stuff is not important right now, especially if he’s convicted of multiple felonies.
Trump was slowly going through his things and sending items to the National Archives as he deemed appropriate. Supposedly they had been negotiating and the National Archives decided a civil lawsuit wasn’t enough so decided a criminal referral was appropriate for a former president.
“People comparing Hillary’s issue with Trump’s issues is a bad idea...”
Why do you think lawyers have all those books in their office? It is because they look up pertinent cases and enter them into their narrative to add weight to what they are saying.
The context matters. Trump was going through his boxes, himself, at his pace. He didn’t even want his lawyers going through them until the subpoena forced the issue.
Why didn’t National Archives assist in the move at the end of the 45th presidential term like it normally would have?
All the boxes shown endlessly on TV are not government documents. They are Trump’s office clutter.
The documents in question are listed in an FBI inventory — about 113, about half were confidential, a few marked secret, and a few marked top secret. They could all basically fit in a shoe box.
Nah....screw it...don’t let them take your voice. It doesn’t matter what he says they are going to find him guilty and throw the book at him. Speak up and speak out while you can. Don’t let them do it in silence, they’d love that.
riiiiiiiiggggghhhhhhhtttttt
The indictment says he didn’t want his lawyers helping him go through his boxes until after the subpoena. He was doing this privately because he saw these are his personal items. The FBI raid itself took things clearly and unambiguously his personal property along with “classified documents.”
In the context of the Russia Hoax, illegal leaks, turncoat lawyers, Trump was a rational actor here. In effect, “I’ll handle this personally and send over what I decide to send over based on the presidential records act precedent from these boxes I believe contain my records.” He wasn’t in any rush but the indictment suggests he was trying to work at a steady pace.
Probably Trump should have told his lawyer to dig through everything which is what the indictment suggests he did once the subpoena arrived. Do we know Trump deliberately hid documents in his residence for the specific purpose of keeping things from being turned over? That’s the allegation because apparently a lawyer wasn’t told there were additional boxes in the residence. This is the supposed conspiracy to obstruct and angle used to pierce attorney client privilege which turned his lawyers into witnesses and forced them off the case as defense council.
Intent under the espionage act it difficult to show for the president. If we have a lawyer whose judgeship was threatened if his client didn’t cooperate, as formally alleged, that’s a problem for the case too.
The indictment document is more about political theater than concerns for the law and that is the fundamental problem here.
The FBI raid didn’t even follow the usual processes.
There’s no allegation Trump shared or attempt to share or sell secrets, there’s no allegation he destroyed or planned to destroy documents. This case belongs in civil court with NARA filing a lawsuit over documents. It’s in criminal court because the defendant is former POTUS Donald J Trump, chief political opponent of current POTUS Joe Biden.
It might “be the law” somehow but the totality violates the fundamental fairness that is bedrock to America’s ideals and our sense of equal justice.
My wife was a lawyer for 40 years, I’m quite familiar with the legal profession.
The problem with your logic is, no criminal case was ever filed against Hillary, therefore she would not be in any law books.
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