A 615 Word Article: The Missing Facts in the Trump Doc Case
Many basic facts seem to be missing in the debate surrounding the Trump document case.
Former President Trump allegedly had at his properties more than 300 government documents marked classified. Half of those were returned voluntarily, and more were produced under subpoena. The raid in August 2022 turned up the remaining 102 documents which led to 31 counts of Trump willfully retaining national defense documents, not 102 counts and not 102 counts of possessing or neglecting classified documents. Most of the 102 documents didn't contain national defense information, or else the indictment count could have been much higher. Those 102 documents were less than 1 percent of what was taken in the raid, yet Jack Smith released photos showing dozens of boxes lined up to fuel the notion that an endless count of sensitive documents was sitting around.
The action by the National Archive and the Department of Justice in 2022 was underpinned by the Presidential Records Act, a law that is irrespective of a document's sensitivity. Trump argued that he had the privileges to keep it. To counter this, President Biden deputized the National Archivist to decide whether to take away Trump's executive privileges, an unprecedented move whose legality was not ascertained at the time. The Archivist wrote to Trump's team in May 2022 that she "decided not to honor the former President's 'protective' claim of privilege."
The above Biden move paved the way for the raid, irrespective of the sensitivity of documents. The application to get a warrant to raid indeed mentions PRA and repeatedly uses the term "documents marked classified," which would mean documents that likely contain sensitive information irrespective if Trump declassified them or argues that he declassified them. The application also claims extensively that the papers are held unsecured at MAL, which was to pre-empt possible pushback by the magistrate that a former POTUS can have documents so there is no authorization to raid. The Feds would say they need to go in to secure the records.
A quick return of classified documents by Trump would still let the Biden DOJ claim that they need to raid to check for more sensitive documents or PRA items and would still allow the DOJ to charge Trump with almost everything he was now charged with. If this were simply a legitimate attempt to get back sensitive documents, the Biden Government would sue for the records rather than unilaterally take away Trump's privileges that impact past actions of "taking" and having documents.
The above events and tactics undercut the charges in the indictment of retaining and refusing to return documents. Once it's established that not only could Trump have those documents but that the DOJ thought so too and therefore went to Biden for an unprecedented privilege revocation, Trump's actions can be seen as simply protecting one's rights, not an attempt to obstruct a selective investigation into a legal breakfast. The government's counterargument would be that they didn't mention the PRA in the indictment. Hence, it's immaterial, but Trump's counter to the counter can be that the framing of an indictment in June 2023 has no bearing on his understanding of presidential privileges in the 30 months since leaving office.
As for Trump's alleged admission that a specific document has not been declassified, the context suggests that he said it as a reason not to show the document up close to those who don't have clearance. He said, "I think we can probably [show it]. Right?" Those words help a competent defense team to showcase their client in a light opposite of what the prosecutor is trying to suggest—namely, a callousness to sensitive government documents.
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Let’s hope common sense and decency prevails in this circus we call justice!
The simplest explanation of why DJT is facing 31 charges instead of 300 is the overuse of classification, which is a longstanding problem in DC, and one Congress should address. While they're at it, Congress should update the Presidential Records Act to narrowly define said records as the work product directly produced by the Office of the President of the United States, and to require that Presidents maintain a list what documents from the Executive Branch agencies they have chosen to declassify that has been countersigned by (but not necessarily approved of) by the head of the classifying agency - I am thinking of a procedure that would be akin to the role of a notary public.
I have always understood responsibility to be faithfully executing the duties and upholding the behavioral norms attendant on one's position in life. Parents are irresponsible if they neglect their children; police are irresponsible if they do not arrest thieves and murders. Trump was irresponsible in holding onto classified documents when he left office. He compounded that error in failing to return them when asked, and he's made it clear that he knew at least one of the documents in his possession had not been declassified. Yes, Trump has been politically persecuted, but these troubles are in part of his own making. This time, I have little sympathy for him, and it my hope that he can arrange a pardon akin to that granted to Spiro Agnew's, that he'll endorse a candidate for 2024, and return to civilian life.