Former President Donald Trump, now facing federal charges, a first in American history: NAJ screen shot
By Glynn Wilson –
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what could very well be the beginning of the end for Donald Trump and the unraveling of the Trump era in American politics unfolded over the past two days when a special prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice announced and then unveiled 37 federal charges against the controversial former president for mishandling classified documents critical to national defense, and obstructing justice by concealing the possession of documents and making false statements to the FBI.
Special Council Jack Smith made a brief statement about the charges Friday afternoon after the 49 page indictment was made public, outlining the documents Trump took with him when he left the White House. They including top secret documents related to military defense, including nuclear programs, vulnerabilities to the U.S. and its allies to attack and plans for retaliation in response to a foreign attack. Trump is accused of 31 alleged violations of the Espionage Act.
Special counsel Jack Smith gave his brief statement on Friday standing in front of an American flag and a Justice Department flag. A security guard escorted him to the stage. More than a dozen members of Smith’s team stood in the corner as he addressed reporters: NAJ screen shot
Smith indicated that the rule of law is a “bedrock principle” for this country, and did not take questions.
“Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced,” Smith said. “Violations of those laws put our country at risk.”
“We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone,” he said, making the case that the investigation is being conducted with utmost integrity. He reiterated that the accused is innocent until proven guilty, and promised a speedy trial of his peers.
Evidence that Trump shared a highly sensitive “plan of attack” against Iran to visitors at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. in July 2021 was presented as evidence in the indictment, along with the existence of a recording describing the material as “highly confidential” and “secret” and Trump admitting it had not been declassified.
The charges from a grand jury in the Federal District Court in Miami mark the first time a former president has faced federal charges, placing the country in an extraordinary position considering that Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and a one-term president and commander-in-chief who took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.
This image contained in the indictment against former president Donald Trump shows boxes of records being stored on the stage in the White and Gold Ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.: DOJ
Waltine Nauta, a personal aide to Trump, is named as a co-conspirator who assisted in obstructing the investigation at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. According to the indictment, he was the person Trump relied on to help conceal the boxes he wanted to keep.
According to the indictment, this image shows boxes of records in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 7, 2021, that had fallen over with contents spilling onto the floor, an indication of how unsecure the documents were kept: DOJ
Once he realized he was being investigated, according to the indictment, Trump “endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury investigations and conceal his continued retention of classified documents.”
Trump is expected to appear in Federal District Court in Miami on Tuesday afternoon for a hearing before a federal judge he appointed to the bench, Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the Florida judge who last year appointed a special master in the case and temporarily halted FBI access to classified documents taken in a court-approved search. It is not clear whether she will hear the full case.
Trump continued to rail against the indictment on Friday, calling it the “greatest witch hunt of all time” in a Truth Social post, but there is little doubt that his time in the forefront of potentially returning to power in the U.S. is beginning to fade, since any conviction would prevent him from holding public office.
He still faces pending charges in Georgia for tampering with that election, and more charges from the special prosecutor for engaging in a seditious conspiracy and inciting a violent insurrection hell bent on halting the peaceful transfer of power and overturning the results of the 2020 election.
Trump is finding it hard to keep defense counsel onboard, as James Trusty and John Rowley have left Trump’s legal team and will no longer represent him in the documents case.
“I will be represented by Todd Blanche, Esq., and a firm to be named later,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns.
While some of his followers may be planning another revolution to bring him back to power, Democrats who can’t stand him celebrated all over social media, along with some Republicans who understand how corrupt he is and believe he needs to go for the sake of the country and any future for their party.
Utah Republican and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney didn’t hold back in his statement about the Trump indictment.
“Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents,” he said, “but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so.”
President Biden declined to comment Friday about Trump’s indictment, his first public remark since the former president announced Thursday night that he was to be charged.
“I have no comment,” Biden told reporters after touring Nash Community College. He also indicated he has not talked to Attorney General Merrick Garland and will not be talking to him, to avoid any appearance of impropriety about the independence of the Justice Department and its investigation. The White House and Biden’s campaign also issued no comments.
Merrick Garland, whose mission as attorney general has included depoliticizing the Justice Department, has now approved the prosecution of a former president for the first time, an action that presents an extraordinary test for the former judge who some on the left have accused of lacking courage.
The case was assembled by legal team led by special counsel Jack Smith. Yet Garland, who was appointed by President Biden, retained the ultimate authority on what to do with the evidence against Trump, who along with his allies wasted little time in accusing Garland of “weaponizing” the Justice Department against him. Never mind what previous Republican presidents have done using the justice system against Democrats in far more partisan fashion. Note what happened in the Bush years.
A year into the job, Garland told reporters that he was committed to avoiding “any partisan element of our decision-making about cases.” At the same time, he said, the department does not “shy away from cases that are controversial or sensitive or political. To do that would undermine an element of the rule of law.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said in a statement Friday that the investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith must be allowed to continue “without interference.”
“And former president Trump should be afforded the due process protections that he is guaranteed by our Constitution,” Durbin added, “just like any other American.”
If convicted, Trump could face more than 50 years in federal prison on these charges, 10 on each count for the max on Willful Retention of Defense Information, which also carries a maximum fine of $250,000, 20 years on each count for Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice and another 20 years on each count for withholding documents.
It is hard to imagine a former president facing that kind of jail time. Trump and his lawyers could probably plea bargain it down if he was willing to admit guilt. But no one expects Trump to ever back down and admit guilt.
Even many Republicans are calling this a self-inflicted wound. He could have returned the documents and cooperated with the FBI as others have done, including former Vice President Mike Pence and President Joe Biden.
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It’s just as likely to be the end of the beginning. He’s gonna wear an ankle bracelet like a Crown of Thorns, and his Faithful will eat it up.
Some would not mind seeing him in an ankle bracelet, or worse.
Sadly, and void of all reasoning, I keep hearing the comment: “The authorities persecuted Jesus, too!” Are we dealing with cult issues here, gross stupidity, or mass insanity?
Apparently all of the above.