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Donald Trump has been indicted by federal prosecutors in connection with his deletion of White House documents, the former president announced on his social-media site this evening. He said he was summoned to appear on Tuesday at a US courthouse in Miami. Several outlets reported that he faces seven counts, but more information was not immediately available.
I never thought such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, Trump wrote in a post, adding, I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!
In fact, the accusation was, like so many signals of his presidency, both predictable and downright impressive. If it never seems possible that a former president would face such charges, that is largely because it seems unlikely that a president would abscond with a large number of documents and then refuse a subpoena return them. Trump’s shock also reflects his sense that he is, or should be, immune to consequences for his actions and not subject to the same rule of law as other citizens.
This accusation probably began in August 2022, when the FBI conducted a surprise search of Mar-a-Lago. Every new revelation since then points to the allegations. The federal government has repeatedly asked Trump to return the documents; he refused, saying that some were his and that he had returned the ones that were not. Some of the documents are believed to be highly sensitive to national security. This spring, I wrote, the big question is when and not if.
The indictment does not violate the former president’s impeachment ban that occurred in April, when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records. But the Florida case, apparently brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, represents the first federal charges against a former president. And it poses a greater risk to Trump than the New York case, for several reasons.
Public evidence in both cases suggests that the case in Florida is stronger. The Manhattan prosecution was based on a weak legal theory. As I previously reported, legal experts and former prosecutors see the legal questions in this case as simpler. Many former officials have been prosecuted for mishandling official and classified records. Trump tried to draw comparisons to President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, who both obtained classified documents, but neither of those cases included the appearance of an efficient effort to obstruct the government and refuse to return those papers (Trump also faces potential legal trouble in Atlanta, where a local prosecutor is investigating efforts to tamper with the 2020 election in Georgia.)
If the legal question for federal prosecutors is straightforward, the political calculations are more complicated. As if the explosive charge against a former president wasn’t enough, Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in next years presidential election.
But Trump faces his own political complications. Voters have proven willing to forgive the personal failings of politicians, especially in recent decades and especially when it comes to Trump. (The Manhattan case, for example, stems from hush payments to an adult film actor who claimed a sexual relationship.) But removing documents is an action that comes directly from his role as president, and it involves the very security of the country. The documents removed reportedly included detailed information about Iran’s missile program and China’s intelligence programs—the kinds of things that are kept strictly in government facilities, but are reported to be haphazardly stuffed into the premises. of storage at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump also survived his (unprecedented) two impeachments, both because he could write them off as political processes and because he ultimately held politicians accountable, including many who aligned with him politically or feared his supporter. In this case, Trump would have to face a jury of his peers or a federal judge.
In Trump’s long career in and out of the courts, he has never faced a legal threat of this magnitude, but how serious it is won’t be clear until the cases come out. Prosecutors can use several statutes to bring those charges, with different standards and different penalties.
His defense will face challenges, including the large amount of evidence obtained in the raid, as well as a ruling that one of his attorneys must turn over information otherwise protected by attorney-client privilege. . Trump will likely try to spin the charges about crimes in the process, as if they weren’t crimes at all, and deflect from the paperwork itself. He also said that he declared all the papers at the end of his presidency, but he produced no evidence for that, and his lawyers avoided making the claim in the filings. Reports last week said prosecutors had a recording in which he appeared to acknowledge that he could not show a document to visitors because it was classified. And if he’s charged with refusing to return the documents, their classification status doesn’t matter.
Trump will surely make his strongest and most passionate defense in the court of public opinion, where he will present himself as the victim of a political witch hunt. He previewed that argument in a video posted tonight. It was a familiar refrain, and one that never endured much, but it also bound his strongest supporters closer to him, indeed, as his legal troubles rose, so did his polling. in the Republican primary. But the general population was always, and remains, skeptical of him.
Court cases take time, and Trump’s lawyers will make every effort to get it out, trying to push a trial past the point of the 2024 election. If Trump wins, he will likely have power to shut down any investigation and perhaps pardon himself. That means the court of public opinion may well deliver its verdict sooner than any federal court, and the jury is American voters.
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Sources 2/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/trump-indictment/674345/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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