Donald Trump May Have a New Legal Nightmare

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Just what happened to the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago?

Investigators are trying to determine whether former President Donald Trump refused to comply with a subpoena to turn over classified documents to the National Archives.

Trump wants authorities to believe that the classified information he holds was mixed with personal memories by accident.

But new evidence has emerged that shows Trump may have meant to order the documents back. He was told that what he was doing was wrong, but he did it anyway.

Is This The Smoking Gun Against Donald Trump?

Did Trump try to hide classified materials before the FBI came to search his residence? The Washington Post reported on May 26 that Trump employees moved boxes of secret papers to hide them from searchers, according to unnamed sources. They may also have held a dress rehearsal to hide the material before the subpoena was issued, the Post said.

Intent to Obstruct Investigation

If true, it would show that Trump was intent on keeping authorities in the dark about the documents and that he knew that storing them violated the practices and guidelines established by the National Archives to prevent classified document from outside agency handling.

Investigators are looking into whether Trump criminally intended to defy the subpoena to return the documents and knew what he was doing was illegal. This new revelation could show that Trump willfully obstructed justice during the investigation.

Don’t Forget – Trump is Allowed to Defend Himself

The FBI searched Trump’s home in August of last year and found more than a hundred classified documents. A previous subpoena required him to release the trove of papers.

Trump’s line of defense is twofold. The first aspect of his side of the story is that because the documents were in his possession while he was president, he was the ultimate arbiter of what was classified and what was not. The documents were automatically declassified because he was in possession of them in the first place. Second, he tried to brand his retention of the papers as accidental with no criminal intent to mislead investigators. Therefore, Trump believes he is innocent of any malfeasance charges.

Just a Clean-up

Moving boxes of documents isn’t a crime, he says, and having staff rearrange the boxes can be seen as just a way to organize his home without criminal intent.

The New York Times also reported that a Trump aide moved a box of records before federal authorities arrived at Mar-a-Lago in June of last year. He said the staff did not know what the contents of the boxes were.

Trump still has a reasonable defense. The transfer of material may show that there is a different timeline than Donald Trump originally claimed and that this was an effort to obstruct, but there is still reasonable doubt that Trump was trying to commit criminal fraud. And he will also show that a commander-in-chief can determine what is classified and what is not.

Again, Trump’s actions do not demonstrate complete criminal intent in this situation. The workers were just cleaning the residence, his lawyers would say. A potential criminal jury might shrug at this revelation. The legacy media enjoys reporting that Trump is constantly ensnared in a criminal dragnet, and they and Trump often fail to present a credible defense of his intent to defy subpoenas and obstruct investigators.

Also, if he is ultimately found guilty of, say, violating the Presidential Records Act of 1978, it is unclear whether the charges would be misdemeanors or felonies.

Either way, Donald Trump will say this is yet another witch hunt and fraud that the Department of Justice is springing on him.

The outcome will not affect the broad base of support that Trump has always enjoyed and the American people may not care that Donald Trump has classified documents in his possession in the first place.

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Author Expertise and Experience: Serving as 19FortyFives Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former US Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.

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