Trump indicted on 7 counts in classified documents probe

Page 1 of 3 [ 48 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

08 Jun 2023, 7:31 pm

Trump indicted in classified docs probe

Quote:
A federal grand jury has indicted Donald Trump in connection with his mishandling of more than 100 classified documents that were discovered last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making the twice-impeached former commander-in-chief the first former president to face federal criminal charges.

Trump said Thursday night that his attorneys were informed that he’s been indicted in the special counsel’s investigation into his handling of classified documents. Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed the indictment.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax.”

Trump attorney John Rowley said he has been indicted on seven counts. The specific charges against Trump are still unknown.

He has received a summons to appear in U.S. district court June 13

A source familiar says the indictment is under seal, which is why the government cannot comment.

The decision by the grand jury is the culmination of a months-long Justice Department investigation now led by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.


ABC News reporting that “ "We're learning from our sources that there appear to be at least seven counts here. This ranges from everything from the willful retention of national defense information to conspiracy to a scheme to conceal, to false statements and representations,"


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

08 Jun 2023, 7:55 pm

NBC News Live Updates

Quote:
DeSantis: 'Weaponization' of law enforcement is 'a mortal threat'
In his first statement since news broke of Trump's indictment, GOP presidential contender Gov. Ron DeSantis said "the weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society."

"We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation," the Florida governor tweeted. "Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?"

He continued with a nod to his own campaign: "The DeSantis administration will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all."

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy pledges to pardon Trump if he's convicted
Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotech entrepreneur and investor who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, blasted Trump's indictment as an "affront to every citizen" and vowed to pardon him should he win the 2024 election.

"It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics," Ramaswamy said in a statement. "I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country."

Trump lawyer says one Espionage Act charge
For the first time publicly, Trump’s attorney confirmed that the former president faces at least one charge related to the Espionage Act.

Trusty said on CNN that the Justice Department provided Trump's team with information related to the charge of willful retention of national defense information. Importantly under that charge, prosecutors do not have to prove the documents were classified. That gives prosecutors a strategic advantage, avoiding a debate about whether Trump did or did not declassify any documents before he left the White House.

The statute criminalizes anyone with “unauthorized possession” of “national defense” material who “willfully” retains it. A string of court decisions has concluded that even if a document is not technically “classified,” someone can be charged under the law as long as the information is “closely held” and the information would be useful to U.S. adversaries.

Trump lawyer Jim Trusty says legal team received 'summons' but doesn't have indictment
Jim Trusty, one of Trump's attorneys, said in an interview on CNN tonight that the former president's legal team received a "summons" that "doesn't perfectly mirror an indictment" but includes language that "suggests what the seven charges would be."

Trusty said he expects Trump's legal team will receive a copy of the indictment between Thursday night and 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, when, he said, the Justice Department has asked Trump and his lawyers to appear in federal court. Trusty said Trump will show up at the courthouse Tuesday.

"You're not going to see him, you know, hide in Scotland. He's going to be ready to handle this case and help his attorneys fight it."

Trump asserts he's innocent in 4-minute video
Trump released a 4-minute video on Truth Social arguing that he's innocent of the indictment against him and that he has been targeted for seven years since he ran for president.

"They can’t stop, because it’s election interference at the highest level. There’s never been anything like what’s happened. I’m an innocent man. I’m an innocent person," he said.

He said that it is "warfare" and that the country is "going to hell."

We can't let this continue to go on, because it's ripping our country to shreds. We have such big problems, and this shouldn't be one of them," he said. "It's a hoax. The whole thing is a hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia. Just like the fake dossier was a hoax."

Trump continued: "So, I just want to tell you, I'm an innocent man, I did nothing wrong. And we will fight this out just like we've been fighting for seven years. It would be wonderful if we could devote our full time to making America great again."

Republican and Democratic lawmakers react to Trump indictment
Members of Congress were quick to react tonight to Trump's indictment, though leaders of both chambers have yet to weigh in.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted: "Sad day for America. God Bless President Trump."

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Jordan tweeted: “WITCH HUNT."

Across the aisle, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., tweeted: "For four years, he acted like he was above the law. But he should be treated like any other lawbreaker. And today, he has been."

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., tweeted, "The former twice-impeached president is now twice-indicted."

Trump allies call U.S. a 'banana republic'; no comment yet from McCarthy and McConnell
Some Trump defenders levied charges the U.S. has become a “banana republic” after news that the former president has been indicted federally, while others said it was a good day for the rule of law.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. were among those criticizing the news, which Trump himself shared on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“We live in a Banana Republic,” Nehls tweeted.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., predicted on Fox News that the indictment would lead to Trump’s nomination as the GOP presidential nominee in 2024. She repeated “banana republic” on the network.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not immediately comment.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., tweeted "A friendly reminder… no one is above the law. Not even a former President.

2024 contender Chris Christie waiting to comment
Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and GOP presidential contender who has positioned himself as a vociferous Trump critic, will wait to comment until he can review the text of the indictment and address specifics, sources close to Christie said.

Christie, a former federal prosecutor, endorsed Trump early in the 2016 presidential cycle but has since gone on a blunt offensive against the Republican front-runner.

Republican 2024 contender Asa Hutchinson calls on Trump to end his campaign
Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said Trump should end his bid for another term in the White House now that he has been indicted in the classified documents case.

"Donald Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence," Hutchinson said in a statement. But "the ongoing criminal proceedings will be a major distraction. This reaffirms the need for Donald Trump to respect the office and end his campaign."

"Donald Trump’s actions—from his willful disregard for the Constitution to his disrespect for the rule of law—should not define our nation or the Republican Party," said Hutchinson, who has said the U.S. needs to go in a "different direction" following Trump's four years in the Oval Office.

McCarthy calls Trump indictment a 'brazen weaponization' of power
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tweeted: "I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice. House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable."

"It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him," McCarthy said. He also accused Biden of having held on to classified documents "for decades."

In a statement on Twitter, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called the indictment "politically motivated" and a "witch hunt," accusing Biden of having weaponized the Justice Department to indict Trump.

Stefanik wrote that she's committed to "holding government officials accountable for their endless illegal witch hunt against President Trump."


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 08 Jun 2023, 9:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

08 Jun 2023, 9:16 pm

This had to be done. They have to try and not let Trump skate.

But the appearance of the Biden administration indicting a person who is a former Republican president and the front runner to challenge Biden is a bad look to say the least. It is hard to think of a more divisive thing that can happen to this country no matter how all of this turns out.

I blame Trump and his enablers for putting us into this situation.

My initial reaction as person who hates Trump and have watched the man get away with stuff over and over and and over and over and over and over was excitement. That did not last, this is a terrible time.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 08 Jun 2023, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

08 Jun 2023, 9:32 pm

Lawyer for witness in Trump docs probe alleges prosecutorial misconduct

Quote:
A lawyer for Donald Trump’s butler and body man — whose legal bills are being paid by a Trump political organization — is alleging in court papers that a key prosecutor in the classified documents case inappropriately sought to pressure him by bringing up his application for a judgeship in Washington, D.C., a source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Thursday.

The lawyer, Stanley Woodward, represents Walt Nauta, who is under scrutiny by investigators over his shifting accounts of whether he moved boxes of documents at the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida at his urging.

The source said that in a letter filed under seal with the chief federal judge in Washington, Woodward alleged that Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s chief of counterintelligence, raised the issue of the judgeship at a meeting in October at the Justice Department, where prosecutors were trying to convince Woodward that Nauta had lied and should cooperate in the investigation. Bratt has been working for more than a year on the classified documents case.

The allegation was first reported by The Guardian. Woodward did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.

The source said Woodward’s allegation could raise questions about any prosecution of Nauta, a military valet in the Trump White House who went to work for the former president at Mar-a-Lago, adding that the Justice Department appears to be taking the allegation seriously and plans to respond to the judge.

The source said Woodward alleges that Bratt had with him a folder of information related to Woodward’s bid for a judgeship and told him, “I didn’t take you for a Trump guy.”

“The implication was that the judge thing would go badly for him if his client didn’t cooperate,” the source said.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

09 Jun 2023, 8:03 am

Donald Trump admits on tape he didn’t declassify ‘secret information’

Quote:
Former President Donald Trump acknowledged on tape in a 2021 meeting that he had retained “secret” military information that he had not declassified, according to a transcript of the audio recording obtained by CNN.

“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to the transcript.

CNN obtained the transcript of a portion of the meeting where Trump is discussing a classified Pentagon document about attacking Iran. In the audio recording, which CNN previously reported was obtained by prosecutors, Trump says that he did not declassify the document he’s referencing, according to the transcript.

CNN first reported last week that prosecutors had obtained the audio recording of Trump’s 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin.

The transcript of the audio recording suggests that Trump is showing the document he’s discussing to those in the room. Several sources have told CNN the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document.

“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump says at one point, according to the transcript. “This was done by the military and given to me.”

Trump was complaining in the meeting about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. The meeting occurred shortly after The New Yorker published a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs to ensure Trump issued no illegal orders and that he be informed if there was any concern.

“Well, with Milley – uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him,” Trump says, according to the transcript. “They presented me this – this is off the record, but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. We looked at some. This was him. This wasn’t done by me, this was him.”

Trump continues: “All sorts of stuff – pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.”

“Secret” and “confidential” are two levels of classification for sensitive government documents.

In March, prosecutors subpoenaed Trump for the document referenced in the 2021 recording. Trump’s lawyers provided some documents related to Iran and Milley in response to the subpoena, but they could not find the document itself.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

09 Jun 2023, 12:57 pm

Trump-appointed judge to oversee initial Florida court appearance

Quote:
Florida Federal Judge Aileen Cannon, a nominee of Donald Trump who was widely criticized for ruling in the former president’s favor during an earlier phase of the classified documents case, is expected to oversee his criminal indictment — at least at first.

Cannon is reportedly set to preside over Trump’s first appearance Tuesday in Federal District Court in Miami, the latest twist in a legal battle of historic magnitude.

It remains unclear at this stage, however, if Cannon will ultimately preside over the entire case.

Two people close to Trump, who were granted anonymity to speak freely, did not dispute that Cannon is expected to initially oversee the case, although it is unclear for how long.

Trump’s team leaked on Friday that Cannon is slated to preside over the initial stage of the massive case, something that could be a vital assignment for them.

Cannon already has a history with the classified documents investigation. After the FBI seized classified documents from Mar-a-Lago last August, Trump made an unusual request for a court-appointed special master to review the material taken in the raid. Trump’s request was assigned to Cannon, who sided with him and appointed a special master before she was eventually overturned on appeal.

Some legal experts publicly bashed Cannon for that ruling, claiming that she was overly deferential to Trump’s legal team and was generally inexperienced. Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr even told Fox News that the ruling “was wrong” and “deeply flawed in a number of ways.”

Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2020. Before becoming a judge, Cannon was a federal prosecutor in Florida.


Trump loses two lawyers just hours after being indicted
Quote:
Two of Donald Trump’s top lawyers abruptly resigned from his defense team on Friday, just hours after news broke that he and a close aide were indicted on charges related to their handling of classified documents.

Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who helmed Trump’s Washington, D.C.-based legal team for months and were seen frequently at the federal courthouse, indicated they would no longer represent Trump in matters being investigated and prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, who is probing both the documents matter and efforts by Trump to subvert the 2020 election.

The resignations were shortly followed by an announcement from Trump himself confirming that a close aide, Walt Nauta, had also been indicted by federal prosecutors. Nauta, a Navy veteran, had served as the former president’s personal aide and was a ubiquitous presence during his post White House days.

In their place, Trump indicated that Todd Blanche — an attorney he recently retained to help fight unrelated felony charges brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg in April — would lead his legal team, along with a firm to be named later. Trump and his team have liked Blanche, who is expected to play a more elevated, central role.

Though Trump has had shakeups of his legal teams before, the current changes deprive Trump of some of his most seasoned legal hands at the most perilous moment of his legal travails. And it follows the recent departure of a third lawyer who had helped guide Trump’s defense in the documents matter: Tim Parlatore, who cited internal disagreement, particularly with longtime Trump hand Boris Epshteyn, as his reason for abruptly quitting.



Pence on Trump indictment: ‘I’m deeply troubled,’ but ‘no one is above the law’
Quote:
Former Vice President Mike Pence offered a noncommittal response Friday in regard to the news of Donald Trump’s second indictment.

“I’m deeply troubled to see this indictment move forward,” Pence said in an interview to conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt. “Yesterday on the road in Iowa, I had said I had hoped that the DOJ would see it’s way clearer not to move forward here. But let me be very clear: No one is above the law.”

Pence’s comments come after Trump announced Thursday night that he had been indicted on charges connected to his handling of classified national security records. He wrote on social media that he had been summoned to federal court on Tuesday in Miami to be charged. Trump has said that he is “totally innocent” and plans to plead not guilty.

“I think the Justice Department should immediately move to unseal the indictment,” Pence said. “I think the sooner we bring the facts forward to the American people, the better.”

Pence was originally scheduled to appear on Fox News with Sean Hannity Thursday evening, but they “mutually” decided to reschedule after news of the indictment broke.

“We were scheduled to go on to discuss the [presidential campaign] announcement and the show ended up being solely dedicated to the indictment so we mutually decided to find another time to get the two together,” a Pence spokesperson told POLITICO.

Nikki Haley said, “This is not how justice should be pursued in our country,” on Twitter Friday.


These lawyer resignations are about delaying the process unit after the election. Each new lawyer will need time to catch up to speed on the cases. If Trump is elected and the case is still pending he has the right to withdraw the authority of the U.S Government to prosecute the case.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

09 Jun 2023, 1:32 pm

Indictment unsealed

Quote:
A 37-count criminal indictment against Donald Trump for retaining classified government records and trying to prevent their return to U.S. officials was unsealed Friday.

The charging document was made public a day after the former president was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Miami.

Among other allegations, the indictment says that Trump showed classified documents to other people in the summer of 2021, after leaving office.

One of those documents was a “plan of attack” that he said was prepared by the Pentagon, while the other was a classified map related to a military operation, the indictment alleges.

The indictment says Trump was aware of the highly sensitive nature of the documents, quoting him at one point as saying: “As president, I could have declassified it ... but this is still secret.”

Also charged in the indictment was Trump’s valet, Walter Nauta, who faces several of the same charges as his boss, with whom he allegedly conspired to keep classified records and hide them from a federal grand jury.

Trump and Nauta are due to be arraigned in Miami on Tuesday, the day before his 77th birthday.

He and Nauta each face a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges, which are conspiracy to obstruct justice and counts related to withholding and concealing the government records.

Thirty-one of the counts accuse Trump of willful retention of national defense information. He is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal investigation; scheme to conceal; and false statements and representations.

The indictment notes, “As he departed the White House, TRUMP caused scores of boxes, many of which contained classified documents, to be transported to The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he maintained his residence.”

“TRUMP was not authorized to possess or retain those classified documents,” the indictment says.

The indictment estimates that Trump’s trial would take between 21 and 60 days.


The Indictment


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

09 Jun 2023, 1:49 pm

CNN Live Updates

Quote:
Classified documents contained information on US defense and nuclear capabilities, indictment says
Classified documents that former President Donald Trump stored in boxes at Mar-a-Lago included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the US and foreign countries, including US nuclear programs, according to the indictment.

It also states that the documents contained information about potential vulnerabilities of the US and its allies to a military attack – as well as plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.

“The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack,” the indictment says.
According to the indictment, Trump kept documents from several intelligence branches of the US government, including the CIA, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the Department of Energy and the State Department.


Classified documents shared among key US allies spilled onto floor of Mar-a-Lago storage room
Trump aide Walt Nauta found classified documents in December 2021 that had spilled out of the boxes onto the floor of the storage room at Mar-a-Lago.

The documents included intelligence that was releasable only to “Five Eyes” countries – an intelligence-sharing alliance between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to the indictment.

Nauta texted another Trump employee, “I opened the door and found this,” including two photographs of the spilled documents. At least one of the photographs, shown in the indictment, had classified information in it.

A ballroom, a shower, a bedroom: Indictment details where Trump allegedly stored documents at Mar-a-Lago
Former President Donald Trump allegedly stored classified documents in various places at his Mar-a-Lago estate, including “in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room," according to the newly unsealed indictment.

The document notes that as of January 2021, the Florida estate, which doubles as a private club, “had hundreds of members and was staffed by more than 150 full-time, part-time and temporary employees.”

“From January through March 15, 2021, some of Trump’s boxes were stored in the Mar-a-Lago Club’s White and Gold Ballroom, in which events and gatherings took place. Trump’s boxes were for a time stacked on the ballroom’s stage,” the indictment says, providing a photo of boxes on the stage.
The indictment goes on to say some of those boxes were moved by Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta, to the club’s business center.

Trump suggested his lawyer "hide or destroy documents" sought by subpoena, indictment says
Prosecutors allege former President Donald Trump took several steps to obstruct the investigation into his handling of classified documents, according to the federal indictment unsealed Friday.

Trump told his attorney to tell the Justice Department that he didn’t have the documents sought by the subpoena, prosecutors say in the indictment.

In addition, it alleges, Trump directed his aide Walt Nauta to move documents to hide them from Trump’s own attorneys and FBI agents, and even suggested to his lawyer to “hide or destroy documents” sought by the subpoena.

The charge: Trump and Nauta both face a count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, according to the federal indictment.

“The purpose of the conspiracy was for TRUMP to keep classified documents he has taken with him from the White House and to hide and conceal them from a federal grand jury,” the indictment read.

Trump suggested to attorneys after subpoena that they tell DOJ they had no documents, indictment says
When lawyers for former President Donald Trump met with him to discuss how to respond to a May 2022 subpoena seeking documents marked as classified at Mar-a-Lago, Trump allegedly suggested to them they should tell the Justice Department that they had no materials that needed to be turned over, according to the new unsealed federal indictment.

“I don't want anybody looking, I don't want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don't, I don't want you looking through my boxes,” Trump said, as recounted by the indictment, which cited how one of the attorneys had “memorialized” the conversation.
“Well what if we, what happens if we just don't respond at all or don't play ball with them?” Trump is alleged to have said. The indictment also quotes Trump as allegedly saying, “Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?” and, “Well look isn't it better if there are no documents.”
Prosecutors are pointing to the comments to explain the charges they are bringing, alleging that Trump sought to conceal documents being sought in a federal investigation.

While the Trump team ultimately turned over some documents in response to the May subpoena, weeks later the FBI conducted a search of Mar-a-Lago and found about 100 more records with classified markings.

Nauta lied to investigators about moving boxes to Trump's residence, according to indictment
Donald Trump aide Walt Nauta lied to investigators when he was interviewed by the FBI in May 2022 for the probe into the former president's handling of classified documents, prosecutors allege in a federal indictment unsealed this afternoon.

Nauta falsely said he was not aware of documents being brought to Trump’s residence for his review before the former president delivered 15 boxes to the National Archives in 2022, the indictment alleges. But Nauta himself had helped move boxes from the storage room to Trump’s residence, according to prosecutors.

“When asked whether he knew where TRUMP's boxes had been stored, before they were in Trump’s residence and whether they had been in a secure or locked location, Nauta falsely responded, ‘I wish, I wish I could tell you. I don't know. I don't — I honestly just don't know,’” the indictment states.
The indictment says that between November 2021 and January 2022, Nauta and another Trump employee brought boxes from the Mar-a-Lago storage room to Trump’s residence at the former president’s direction.

Trump retained sensitive documents about national defense that required special handling, indictment says
Former President Donald Trump retained documents related to national defense that were classified at the highest levels — and some were so sensitive, they required special handling, according to the indictment.

It includes one document found at Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, which was classified as top secret and dated June 2020, “concerning nuclear capabilities of a foreign country,” according to the indictment.

This document was not only classified as top secret, but also included additional restrictions of "ORCON" and "NOFORN."

Documents designated as ORCON cannot be disseminated outside of the department issuing it without approval. Those labeled NOFORN cannot be shared with foreign nationals.

Secret Service says it "will not seek any special accommodations" for Trump court appearance in Miami
The US Secret Service “will not seek any special accommodations outside of what would be required” to ensure the continued safety of former President Donald Trump when he travels to Miami for a court appearance next Tuesday, the agency’s spokesperson said Friday.

CNN reported earlier Friday that law enforcement officials from various agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, were meeting in Miami to discuss security preparations ahead of Trump’s expected court appearance.

A threat assessment of the building has already been completed and found no credible threats, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Fact check: Presidential Records Act doesn’t say Trump’s alleged conduct was "allowed"
Former President Donald Trump argued his innocence and criticized special counsel Jack Smith in posts on his social media site on Friday. In one post, he claimed, “Under the Presidential Records Act, I’m allowed to do all this.”

Trump didn’t specify what he meant by “all this.” Regardless, nothing in the Presidential Records Act permits the conduct Trump is accused of — keeping classified national defense documents after leaving office, showing some of them to people, and scheming to conceal them from investigators.

In reality, the Presidential Records Act says that all presidential documents are to be in the custody and control of the federal National Archives and Records Administration the moment a president leaves office.

Its key sentence is unequivocal: “Upon the conclusion of a President’s term of office, or if a President serves consecutive terms upon the conclusion of the last term, the Archivist of the United States shall assume responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records of that President.”
In other words, even if a government document was not classified and not even sensitive, the law says Trump should not have had it at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

09 Jun 2023, 4:18 pm

CNN Live Updates Continued

Quote:
Indictment details Trump's alleged actions in the days before attorney searched storage room
A newly unsealed federal indictment lays out, at some points in detail by the minute, how former President Donald Trump allegedly directed an aide to move documents to and from a Mar-a-Lago storage room in the days before Trump’s attorney searched the room for classified documents sought in a subpoena.

Trump and the aide, Walt Nauta, face several obstruction and concealment related charges stemming from the alleged conduct.

All told, in the days leading up to the attorney’s search for the documents, Nauta moved 64 boxes from the storage room to the residence, according to prosecutors. He returned only 30, the indictment says.

“Neither TRUMP nor NAUTA informed Trump Attorney 1 of this information,” the indictment said.

Attorney 1, who is not named in the indictment, tracks with the role Evan Corcoran played in searching for Mar-a-Lago for documents responsive to the May 2022 subpoena.

Here's how things played out, according to the indictment's detailed narrative:
May 24, 2022: Nauta allegedly removed three boxes from the storage room, the day after Trump met with his attorneys to discuss how to respond to the subpoena.
May 30, 2022: Trump and Nauta allegedly spoke on the phone in the morning. An hour later, Nauta began removing a total of 50 boxes from the storage room, according to prosecutors. An unidentified Trump family member apparently referenced the boxes presence in Trump’s residence and told Nauta they would not have room for them on a plane they were taking, according to the indictment. Trump ended up delaying a trip to his New Jersey home, the indictment says, so he would be present at Mar-a-Lago when his attorney looked for documents responsive to the subpoena.
June 1, 2022: Nauta allegedly moved another 11 boxes from the storage room. Trump had another conversation with his attorney that day, ahead of the attorney’s search for the documents slated to take place on June 2, the indictment alleges. After that conversation, Nauta and an unidentified employee of Mar-a-Lago, moved 30 boxes that were in the residence back to the storage room, prosecutors say.
June 3, 2022: Another Trump attorney signs an attestation certifying that a “diligent search” for the documents had been conducted and that all responsive materials had been produced. Prosecutors say that was false, because Trump had directed Nauta to move boxes before Attorney 1's June 2 review, so many boxes were not searched, "and many documents responsive to the May 11 Subpoena could not be found."

Trump's exchange with his attorney after the search: After the attorney had done the search for the documents, according to the indictment, Trump discussed with the attorney what to do with 38 documents marked as classified the attorney had found and placed in a folder.

“Did you find anything? ... Is it bad? Good?" Trump allegedly said, and they discussed whether the attorney should bring the documents to his hotel room to keep them safe.

Trump allegedly made a “plucking motion” during the conversation, which the attorney memorialized as meaning: “Okay why don't you take them with you to your hotel room and if there's anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”



How Speaker McCarthy and Rep. Jim Jordan are working to paint the DOJ's case against Trump as political
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland seeking to paint former President Donald Trump's indictment as politically motivated and asking for more information about the FBI’s search of Trump’s home in Florida.

The letter is the latest defense by House Republicans of Trump, with Speaker Kevin McCarthy leading the charge, vowing to work with Jordan and other lawmakers to defend Trump and undermine the Department of Justice's case.

“The indictment creates, at the minimum, a serious appearance of a double standard and a miscarriage of justice,” Jordan writes in the letter, calling the indictment “a politically motivated prosecution.”
The letter, which raises several procedural questions, reveals that House Republicans on the judiciary panel interviewed a former FBI official who had issues with how the agency conducted the search of Trump’s home – an example Jordan is using to show why he needs to see the documents he is requesting.

Through the letter, Jordan re-ups his request for all documents and communications between the FBI and DOJ ahead of the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, along with other information on law enforcement communication and coordination before the raid.

Jordan has asked for information about the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home before, but this time he narrows in on some key DOJ individuals, including Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s chief of counterintelligence, who is central to the DOJ’s classified documents case.

McCarthy, meanwhile, blasted the 37-count indictment against former president Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News on Friday.

McCarthy said he’s been in touch with Jordan and Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer about “things that we can do to ensure equal justice” is applied to Biden as it is to Trump.

“I think Jim Jordan is going to bring it out tonight, when you learn of some of the things that he had said of how this investigation was carried out, you'll see then that this judgment is wrong by this DOJ, that they treated President Trump differently than they treat others, and it didn't have to be this way," he said.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 59,750
Location: Stendec

10 Jun 2023, 12:52 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
Parts 6 and 54 may be the most damning:
Quote:
GENERAL ALLEGATIONS

At times material to this indictment, on or about the dates and approximate times stated below:

Introduction

•••

6. On two occasions in 2021, TRUMP showed classified documents to others, as follows:

    a. In July 2021, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey ("The Bedminster Club"), during an audio-recorded meeting with a writer, a publisher, and two members of his staff, none of whom possessed a security clearance, TRUMP showed and described a "plan of attack" that TRUMP said was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and a senior military official. TRUMP told the individuals that the plan was "highly confidential" and "secret." TRUMP also said, "as president I could have declassified it," and, "Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."

    b. In August or September 2021, at the Bedminster Club, TRUMP showed a representative of his political action committee who did not possess a security clearance a classified map related to a military operation and told the representative that he should not be showing it to the representative and that the representative should not get too close.

•••

The Defendants' Concealment of Boxes

•••

54. On May 23, 2022, TRUMP met with Trump Attorney 1 and Trump Attorney 2 at The Mar-A-Lago Club to discuss the response to the May 11 Subpoena. Trump Attorney 1 and Trump Attorney 2 told TRUMP that they needed to search for documents that would be responsive to the subpoena and provide a certification that there had been compliance with the subpoena. TRUMP, in sum and substance, made the following statements, among others, as memorialized by Trump Attorney 1:

    a. I don't want anybody looking, I don't want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don't, I don't want you looking through my boxes.

    b. Well, what if we, what happens if we just don't respond at all or don't play ball with them?

    c. Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?

    d. Well look isn't it better if there are no documents?

•••


_________________
 
No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

10 Jun 2023, 10:55 am

I wrote the declassification rules, and they leave Trump largely defenseless
Norman Eisen served as counsel to House Democrats in the first Trump impeachment and as White House ethics czar and ambassador to the Czech Republic in the Obama administration

Quote:
When I was serving as then-President Barack Obama’s special counsel for ethics and government reform, I helped write Executive Order (EO) 13526, which reformed the classification system for national security documents. The executive order brought needed clarity by articulating more uniform rules for classification and declassification in place of what had, over many years, grown into a tangled mess.

When former President Donald Trump took office in 2017, he left the rules in place. That will surely come back to haunt him in the classified documents probe. Indeed, special counsel Jack Smith repeatedly cited this executive order in the recently unsealed federal indictment, which implicates both Trump and his aide Walt Nauta, who has been charged as a co-conspirator.

Smith has indicted Trump on 31 counts under the Espionage Act, 18 USC § 793(e), as well as six additional counts related to obstruction and his alleged attempt to conceal his retention of classified documents. Trump denies any wrongdoing, and Nauta’s attorney declined to comment on Friday.

To convict Trump under the Espionage Act provision, prosecutors will have to prove a series of elements, including that Trump had “unauthorized possession” of one or more documents (or information) relating to national defense and “willfully retain[ed]” them, failing to deliver them “to the officer and employee of the United States entitled to receive” them.

A great deal, potentially including Trump’s freedom, will turn on the word “unauthorized,” since there can be no doubt that Trump was in possession of such documents, and willfully retained and refused to deliver them to the government.

According to the indictment, when Trump left office, he took dozens of documents from the White House and brought them to Mar-a-Lago. The National Archives repeatedly asked for their return. Trump refused to comply, eventually prompting escalation by the Department of Justice, which executed a subpoena. Though some documents were recovered following the subpoena, a judge subsequently authorized a search warrant — allowing the FBI to recover over 100 additional classified ones.

Throughout that time and since, Trump has loudly defended his actions, including at the CNN town hall last month and on Truth Social both before and after his announcement of the charges. Clearly seeing Espionage Act charges coming — they were among the charges for which a judge found probable cause to authorize that search warrant — Trump has been steadfast that his retention of the documents was authorized.

The problem for Trump is that EO 13526 is central to knocking down every variation of his defense that his retention of the documents was somehow authorized. It sets up a declassification process that applies to everyone — even the president — and it says nothing about automatic presidential declassification.

According to the indictment, Trump acknowledged in one recorded conversation that the classification rules apply to him and that he was aware of and followed them while in office (including the ones I helped write). Indeed, in the quoted conversation, Trump showed a classified document to others after his presidency and admitted that it was still classified, and he no longer had the power to declassify it. No wonder Trump and his allies may be willing to make this automatic declassification argument on cable television, but he and his lawyers have so far not been ready to advance it in court filings or arguments, where they would face penalties for false statements.

Trump’s claims that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) justifies his behavior doesn’t pass muster because that statute doesn’t actually have anything to do with the critical question of whether his possession of these documents was authorized — the executive order covers that. Yet Trump and his legal team claim that the PRA applies, arguing that the PRA, which provides in general terms for the handling of government documents by ex-presidents, allows Trump to decide unilaterally if any document is personal, and thus legally hold onto it.

But the statute nowhere stretches the definition of personal documents to encompass our nation’s most sensitive secrets. On the contrary, personal documents are defined as “purely private” ones which “do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the … duties of the President.”

Trump’s position ignores that, trying to dodge the actual law that applies — the executive order. Even though Obama was no longer in office when Trump allegedly took documents to Mar-a-Lago, his executive order was and is still in effect, and nothing in the PRA contradicts it.

Thus, the handling of any classified document, no matter its status under the PRA, is also subject to the limits of the executive order — which Trump did not appear to follow, according to the indictment.

Trump has also defended himself by proclaiming that federal investigators have mistreated him. He’s pointed out that President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, who both had classified documents in their possession after their service, weren’t subject to a search warrant or the kind of deep investigation that has followed. Trump’s argument here could take the form of a selective prosecution defense — the idea that prosecutors are abusing their power by unfairly targeting him for political reasons, but that is a sure loser in court.

It should also fail in the court of public opinion, and once again, the executive order is part of the reason why. Evaluating Trump’s pattern of statements and actions against the backdrop of the executive order and the rest of the applicable law, it’s clear that he is in defiance of the legal system. That offers a dramatic contrast to the cooperation of both Pence and Biden who, if they did not comply with the executive order and other laws, are at least trying to make it right. Pence said “mistakes were made” and accepted full responsibility, and a Biden spokesperson said “the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice.”

In each of his defenses, Trump is running up against the core American idea that no one, not even an ex-president, is above the law. The classification system and the declassification rules represented by our executive order are a central part of the legal limits that apply here — making this indictment the greatest legal danger yet for the former president. It is one that he could have perhaps avoided if he had studied the order a little more closely — and followed it.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,483
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

10 Jun 2023, 2:37 pm

7 categories, 37 counts. (IIRC the 38th is against someone else - his valet.)

ASPartOfMe wrote:
This had to be done. They have to try and not let Trump skate.

But the appearance of the Biden administration indicting a person who is a former Republican president and the front runner to challenge Biden is a bad look to say the least. It is hard to think of a more divisive thing that can happen to this country no matter how all of this turns out.

I blame Trump and his enablers for putting us into this situation.

My initial reaction as person who hates Trump and have watched the man get away with stuff over and over and and over and over and over and over was excitement. That did not last, this is a terrible time.


It would look worse if the DOJ (Not Biden) didn't indict & prosecute trump for these crimes that were so blatantly obvious for the whole world to see due to trumplestiltskin's very transparent public statements about them over the last several months.

LOL weaponization of the DOJ - what a bunch of trump nut swinging clowns. trump committed crimes, DOJ investigated & indicted. If he's "totally innocent," as he claims, then he'll win in court and that will be the end of it.

But everyone knows the feds don't indict unless they believe they can win and all of those trump nut swingers shouting "weaponization!!" know they're just kissing orange ass because they're afraid of their cult leader.


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.


goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,483
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

10 Jun 2023, 3:28 pm

Ok, so cannon is the judge ? What's the other guy's role ? Reinhardt.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-aileen- ... d=99956910


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

12 Jun 2023, 4:04 pm

How the Florida judge overseeing Trump's trial could hobble the Justice Department's case

Quote:
Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University School of Law, predicted that the trial would be fair. But he said the former president’s claims that he is being selectively prosecuted and politically persecuted could undermine public trust in the nonpartisanship of the courts, the Justice Department and the FBI.

"This will be the most consequential and most watched prosecution in American history," Gillers said. “Will enough of the public accept the verdict, whatever it is? Or will they see any result as political? Answers to those questions are as important as the verdict."

A significant issue before the case even reaches trial is how, and how quickly, Cannon resolves pretrial motions. Chief among those are expected filings by the Trump defense team to exclude any evidence from his defense lawyer at the time, Evan Corcoran.

The indictment makes clear that prosecutors have relied on contemporaneous notes that Corcoran took of his interactions with Trump, including his client’s resistance to turning over classified documents. At one point, according to Corcoran’s recounting, Trump made a “plucking” motion that seemed to indicate Corcoran should simply pull out the classified material from a batch that the lawyer planned to return to the government.

In March, a federal judge in Washington, Beryl A. Howell, granted a request from prosecutors to apply the “crime fraud exception” to Corcoran's conversations with Trump. The ruling, which is rare, meant that the bedrock legal principle, that attorney-client communications stay secret, did not apply because Justice Department lawyers showed that legal services had been used in furtherance of a crime.

Trump’s lawyers have sharply criticized Howell’s ruling and will likely ask Cannon to block prosecutors from presenting evidence from Corcoran to the trial jury. If Cannon agrees that the jury should not hear all of the Corcoran evidence, the Justice Department’s case won’t be over, but it will be critically hobbled.

How, and how quickly, Cannon rules regarding the use of the classified documents at the center of the prosecution’s case will also have an impact. Trump’s lawyers will likely use delay — a tactic that the former president has embraced for decades in legal battles — to their advantage.

Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor and a lead prosecutor in the Mueller investigation, noted that the use of classified documents involves a separate discovery and litigation process, under the Classified Information Processing Act, or CIPA.

“They will create significant delay and litigation risk,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that most judges do not have experience with the process. “This process takes time and will be unfamiliar to the judge.”

Some legal experts have argued that Trump could have an ally in Cannon, based on her past rulings in the classified documents case.

Cannon, who was born in Colombia and grew up in Miami, attended Duke University and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. She then worked as a clerk for a federal appeals court judge in Iowa and in the Washington office of the elite law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

In 2013, Cannon left the firm, returned to Florida and embarked on a job that could significantly affect her handling of the Trump case. For seven years, Cannon worked as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida, in the major crimes and appellate divisions.

In the spring of 2020, Trump nominated Cannon to the federal bench with the backing of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. During a confirmation hearing, Cannon pledged to uphold the rule of law and lauded her mother’s courage in fleeing repression in Cuba. Days after the election in November, the Senate confirmed Cannon along largely bipartisan lines. Initially, Cannon rulings attracted relatively little public attention.

That changed after FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022 for classified documents. Cannon was randomly assigned to oversee the subsequent legal battle that unfolded between Trump’s legal team and the Justice Department.

In the first case, Cannon ruled in favor of Trump’s request to appoint a “special master” — a third-party attorney — to review whether the documents that the Justice Department and FBI had found in Trump’s home were protected by executive privilege, a contention that many legal experts dismissed.

She also temporarily blocked parts of the Justice Department’s investigation into the trove of top secret and classified documents retrieved by federal agents, while putting forth legal arguments that Trump’s team hadn’t made, among them that the former president could suffer “injury” to his reputation if the Justice Department indicted him. (Cannon did not respond to a request for comment.)

Justice Department lawyers appealed, arguing that the Trump request was simply an effort to delay their work and that executive privilege did not apply in this case. A federal appeals court, with several of its judges appointed by Trump, sided with the Justice Department, and twice overturned Cannon.

“To create a special exception here would defy our Nation’s foundational principle that our law applies ‘to all, without regard to numbers, wealth, or rank,’” the judges wrote in one ruling.

The impact of those rulings on Cannon is unclear. They could prompt her to be more cautious in the Trump trial. Any judge overseeing such an unprecedented, high-stakes trial will also come under enormous scrutiny. Whether Trump is found guilty or acquitted, the trial — and how it is perceived by the public — will likely define Cannon’s career and judicial legacy.

Ryan Goodman, a professor at New York University School of Law, said that if Cannon issues rulings that appear to favor Trump it could decrease public trust in the fairness of judges. “The problem is that she has demonstrated such bias in her prior rulings," Goodman said. “Does her holding the case create damage to public confidence in the courts?”

Meanwhile, questions about how Cannon was assigned, at random, to the Trump trial remain. Federal courts across the country randomly assign cases to judges but some legal experts question how Cannon was randomly chosen twice to oversee Trump cases.

In response to a question, Angela Noble, the chief clerk of the South Florida federal court system, told NBC News that “the case was randomly assigned.” The New York Times reported that Cannon was chosen at random from about a half dozen federal judges in the West Palm Beach division, where the Trump trial will take place. Noble also told the paper that Cannon would continue to oversee the case unless she recused herself.

Gillers, the NYU legal ethics expert, called for the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida to review how the case was assigned. “It may be innocent,” Gillers said. “And the clerk’s assurance is welcome. But the public needs confirmation from the chief judge, who is ultimately responsible for case assignments.”

The stakes of the Trump trial are enormous. The American judicial system has long been criticized for racial, gender and class bias but the first-ever criminal trial of a former president could deepen public doubts and partisan divisions.

Gillers said that the trial would serve as an unprecedented, nationwide civics lesson. He declined to predict what verdict the jury would reach inside the courtroom and what verdict the public would reach outside it. The trial of the former president could affirm the ideal that the powerful, like all Americans, should be held accountable for their actions, experts said. Or it could cause large numbers of Americans to lose faith in the courts, politics and, potentially, American democracy itself.

“Much will depend on how the prosecutors and judges conduct themselves. They must view their role as including education, in language the public will understand,” Gillers said. “Eventually, a trial jury may reach a verdict, but the public verdict remains unpredictable”.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,483
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

12 Jun 2023, 11:21 pm

Miami bracing for trump’s court appearance and any protestors:

https://apple.news/AS4Yz18rfSRqd1rCOOWdJ7A

I kinda want it to fizzle and be a big nothing of an event besides procedural.. but I Also kinda wanna read about morons getting arrested.


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.


goldfish21
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,483
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

13 Jun 2023, 5:37 pm

Image


_________________
No :heart: for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.