Who needs the Russians for election interference when you have the Justice Department? On Thursday, it was revealed that the agency is indicting former President Donald Trump for offenses related to classified documents he kept at his home in Mar-a-Lago. The timing of the indictment is rather interesting, as the former president is currently the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primaries, and follows another indictment issued by the state of New York.
It is not yet clear whether Trump is innocent or guilty, but one thing is quite apparent: This is yet another politically-motivated use of the justice system to interfere in the upcoming 2024 election.
On Friday, the documents detailing the indictment were made public. The former president and Walt Nauta, one of his aides, are facing several charges:
Now, the indictment has been made public. The 49-page indictment, a full copy of which can be viewed below, includes 38 counts directed at Trump and/or Trump aide Waltine (“Walt”) Nauta:
31 counts (as to Trump only) of Willful Retention of National Defense Information
1 count (as to Trump and Nauta) of Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice
1 count (as to Trump and Nauta) of Withholding a Document or Record
1 count (as to Trump and Nauta) of Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record
1 count (as to Trump and Nauta) of Concealing a Document in a Federal Investigation
1 count (as to Trump and Nauta) of Scheme to Conceal
1 count (as to Trump only) of False Statements and Representations
1 count (as to Nauta only) of False Statements and Representations
Noted legal analyst Jonathan Turley explained how serious this particular case might be, contrasting it with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s effort to influence the election by indicting Trump over the Stormy Daniels issue and the pending indictment in Fulton County, Georgia. “Yet, for roughly two years, I have said that there was one torpedo in the water that was a serious threat: an obstruction charge out of Mar-a-Lago. That torpedo just hit,” he said.
Further complicating the matter is the emergence of an audio recording in which Trump suggested that the documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago had not been declassified.
If they had been declassified, it’s game over for the DOJ, according to Mike Davis, former law clerk to Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Indictment confirms Garland’s indictment of Trump is political:
1. Presidential Records Act, not Espionage Act, controls former president’s handling of his presidential records
2. Generally, legally impossible to obstruct investigation into non-crime, per binding 2019 OLC memo
3. The theory the President of the United States can declassify information and still get charged for espionage–under “national defense information”–will not survive Supreme Court review.
4. The timing of this indictment proves it’s political:
Garland indicted Trump the day after we learned the FBI covered up evidence since 2017 then-VP Biden and his family took at least $10 million in foreign bribes and changed U.S. policy.
Nevertheless, the outcome of this current action against Trump could be overshadowed by a reality everyone knows is true: This is nothing more than an effort to make sure President Joe Biden wins re-election. Indeed, part of what Trump is being accused of is something many past presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have done. Indeed, after the raid at Mar-a-Lago, it was revealed that Biden himself, along with former Vice President Mike Pence, and several other officials had kept classified documents at their residences and offices.
To put it simply, I believe this is a chicken-sh*t indictment that no president whose name isn’t Trump would ever have to face. This is why I’ve often said Trump made a huge mistake by refusing to return those documents when the situation first came up. There was absolutely no reason to keep them at his home. He essentially handed the government the ammo to use against him on a silver platter.
Unfortunately for the former president, this will not be the last legal avenue the authoritarian left will use to target him. The authorities in Fulton County, Georgia are gearing up to issue indictments against Trump and members of his team. But I agree with Turley when he says this current attack has the best chance of ending up with some type of conviction. It is still unclear whether this would lead to real punishment i.e. jail time. If it doesn’t, Trump will be in a position to use these political attacks to great effect to rally support among conservative voters. If the left doesn’t play its cards right, they may have just given him what he needs to unseat Biden in 2024.