Emphasis and italics in the original because Ed, who is one of the fairest and most level-headed people I know, isn’t kidding around here.
“The surest way to help the prosecution,” Ed added, “is to go on television and make a damaging admission about the key element of a charge.”
Please note that Ed said “damaging” and not “damning.” The former hurts the defendant’s case. The latter is “Go directly to Jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.”
“Skip over the first 31 counts regarding the documents themselves in the indictment and go to counts 32 and 33,” Ed wrote, which involve “conspiracy to obstruct justice and withholding a record from a federal grand jury.” It’s there that Trump did “tacitly agree with the indictment’s allegation in attempting to justify his actions.”
What we have here, then, is a statement on Fox News that almost certainly doesn’t rise to the level of Trump practically convicting himself before his trial even begins but certainly complicates his defense.
Ed is a never trumper and NOT level headed in the slightest.
The answer is NO.
I’ll confess that I cringed when I heard the “too busy” line.
Why couldn’t he just not talk about the case? Seems like that would be a smart move.
He referred to the national archives not the grand jury.
They are his documents
The only thing that matters as far as I’m concerned is disparate treatment. This is obviously nothing more than an attempt to destroy Trump & any sane judge would have to see that. Still, Trump has always been his own worst enemy when it comes to talking. I’m sure his lawyers have warned him, but he won’t be hindered.
> let’s start with Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden <
Well, yes. But it’s important to note a difference between those two scoundrels and Trump. Hillary chooses her words very carefully. And Biden says next to nothing of importance (his handlers make sure of that).
On the other hand, Trump says whatever comes to mind at the moment. His statements are unfiltered, and honest. That doesn’t mean he’s dumb. It does mean he’s naive.
Wasn’t the grand jury from after the fbi raided his home ?
Trump has the RIGHT to remain silent. He just doesn’t have the ABILITY to remain silent.
Hillary’s attorneys were allowed...with no supervision and probably no security clearance to delete anything they wanted...under the guise that they were private. I think they deleted something like 33,000 documents.
Has nothing to do with the phony charges which cite the Espionage Act and has never ever applied to former Presidents or Vice Presidents until suddenly now after over a century since it existed.
Wait, so the Grand Jury is allowed to see the documents but Trump’s lawyers are not?
He has already claimed he had legitimately personal items in those boxes, such as his Last Will and Testament. Like his tax returns, that is his private business not something you turn over to people who arguably have a vendetta and want to cause you as much harm as possible.
In addition, imagine the chaos of that move. You are on the job literally until the last second, and then everything has to go. So of course they pack all kinds of things up and move them at the last minute. I’d also tend to believe him when he says they may have put some personal documents inside folders that said “classified” - maybe not the smartest thing to do, but just because the folder says classified doesn’t mean there is anything in it that is a government secret.
And even if it were, there is still the argument that he, as POTUS, has the right to declassify anything in the most informal of manners. The argument I’ve heard is that there is no real process to declassify a document, if you are POTUS you decide by how you handle it.
Trump did not establish a time line in his statement. When it comes to handing them over it is not clear at what point he did not want to hand them over. We could be talking about a time before he was even asked to hand them over. Trump didn’t say here that he ignored any such request or demand. And it seems unclear what Nara actually asked for and when they asked for it. At one point Trump was just asked to put an extra lock on the door. Why would they ask him to do that if they were demanding the documents? A lot does not add up.
The documents were in boxes with my golf shirts was not a good answer.
Either he is authorized to have them, or he is not. Referencing timelines for returning any of it is a red-herring in an attempt to make him look guilty of something. Critical thinking is needed here. Don’t be a dupe for the corrupt administrative state’s propaganda.
Trump has nothing to hide. He listens to questions and answers them.
Well, he did himself no favors.
What’s the law got to do with it?
Trump’s not taking the case seriously and I can’t blame him.
So what if Trump gets convicted?
A Trump conviction will be weighed against the Biden non-convictions.
This is a political prosecution intended to keep Trump’s name off the 2024 ballot.
That is the end game although the hard core Marxists have wet dreams of Trump being incarcerated.
The Grand Jury has no superior authority and can't compel him to 'testify against himself' or provide ammo for a fishing expedition.