News Analysis🧵THREAD theepochtimes.com/analysis-analy…
On June 9, 2023, special counsel #JackSmith unveiled a 38-count indictment of former President Trump and Waltine Nauta, a personal valet who works at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The first 31 counts relate to Trump alone and involve… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Espionage Act Charges
Trump is charged with having retained and not returned 31 separate documents containing, among others, information allegedly “concerning nuclear capabilities of a foreign country” and information “concerning military contingency planning of the United… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
A short transcript of the conversation is cited by Smith and suggests that Trump shared military information with the author because he wanted to debunk public claims made by a senior military official against Trump. That official is reported to be Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
In a second instance of sharing national defense information, Smith alleges that in August or September 2021, Trump showed a classified map concerning an ongoing conflict in a foreign country to a representative of his political action committee.
The representative is not named… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
While these 2 incidents look very bad for Trump, there is no concrete evidence that Trump showed the parties involved actual national defense information as opposed to just boasting.
That said, Smith does not appear to have included the incidents in the indictment for legal… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
It is also noteworthy that Smith did not charge Trump under the Presidential Records Act (PRA), nor did he cite the PRA, which requires that presidential records be turned over to the @USNatArchives at the end of a presidential administration.
Trump is alleged to have taken… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
A point that has been largely overlooked is that the grand jury subpoena was for documents with “classification markings,” meaning that the actual classification status was irrelevant to what the subpoena sought. theepochtimes.com/trump-lawyer-m…
This appears to have been a very… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
While Trump may have defenses for the Espionage Act charges—for instance, by claiming that certain documents did not need to be returned under the PRA, that he was authorized to have the documents, or that @USNatArchives itself was involved in packing boxes at the White House… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
As if to underscore this point, #JackSmith has not charged Trump with any wrongdoing for the timeframe before the grand jury subpoena was issued on May 11, 2022.
Although we do not know what would have happened had Trump complied with @USNatArchives’s request and returned all… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Alleged Process Crimes
The most serious legal jeopardy Trump faces relates to alleged process crimes in connection with the grand jury subpoena. Process crimes are crimes against the judicial process, as opposed to underlying crimes.
Put another way, the process crimes are… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Specifically, Trump and his valet, Nauta, are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal, and making false statements.
Because… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
According to #JackSmith, 2 lawyers for Trump, including Evan Corcoran, told Trump on May 23, 2022, that in order to comply with the subpoena, they would need to search all of the boxes sent to Mar-a-Lago from the White House.
According to Smith’s indictment, Trump allegedly… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
#JackSmith’s theory is that Trump removed boxes from the storage room so that Corcoran could not search them and so that relevant documents would never be returned to @USNatArchives.
Smith claims that a total of 64 boxes were moved from the storage room to Trump’s residence but… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Subpoena Certification
While it was Corcoran that conducted the search, he did not sign the subpoena certification himself. A subpoena certification is meant to certify that a subpoena has been complied with. Instead, Corcoran asked another lawyer for Trump, Christina Bobb, to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Specifically, Bobb attested to the fact that “A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida” when, according to Smith, some of those boxes were never searched as they had been moved to Trump’s residence.
Bobb’s claim that “Any and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Consequently, #JackSmith has now charged Trump with various concealment offenses with respect to moving the boxes around, as well as with lying to the grand jury and the #FBI because he allegedly knew that the certification signed by Bobb was untrue.
According to Smith, “Trump… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
As for Nauta’s role in the alleged concealment, it is not clear from the indictment how or why Nauta would have known about the grand jury subpoena or the incorrect subpoena certification.
But based on the final count of the indictment, which accuses Nauta of lying to the #FBI… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Trump is in an arguably better position than Nauta, as he can, and probably will, blame his attorneys.
Unlike Nauta, Trump did not speak to the FBI himself. Trump could argue that his lawyers handled the entire matter and that he did not know what the subpoena demanded, nor what… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Trump could further argue, as he appears to have already done on Fox News, that he had the right to look through the boxes that were under subpoena.
He could, for instance, say that he was merely recovering personal items and that he did not remove any… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Trump could claim that Corcoran never explained the parameters of the subpoena and that it was Corcoran’s task to conduct a diligent search, not Trump’s.
Similarly, he could argue that Corcoran should not have caused the certification to be signed by Bobb without searching other… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
We do not know what Corcoran will do. He might take all the blame himself or he could agree with #JackSmith that he was misled by Trump.
Ultimately, Trump’s fate with respect to the alleged process crimes appears to hinge on what Corcoran will tell the jury and whether the jury… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
What is indisputable is that Trump is in real legal jeopardy. theepochtimes.com/analysis-analy…
Unlike the flimsy charges brought by @ManhattanDA Alvin Brag in April, the charges brought by #JackSmith are serious and appear to be backed by ample documentary evidence.
There is also the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
While these events have now placed @realDonaldTrump in legal peril, it should be borne in mind that no official has ever been pursued with the same zeal as Trump.
For instance, it wasn’t until years after he left the office of the vice president that @USNatArchives became… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Similarly, no action was ever taken against former Secretary of State @HillaryClinton despite the fact that a trove of documents with classification markings was found on her private email server.
At the time, then-FBI Director @Comey infamously claimed… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
/END/
The Legal Analysis of the Trump Indictment is the topic of an episode of “Truth Over News” that will air on @EpochTV on June 14, 2023.
theepochtimes.com/c-truth-over-n… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
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