Just a quick update, saw this news popping up as I was writing about Jacksonville, but it's looking like the National Archives has receipts on trump's mishandling - nay, outright theft - of classified documents, and the Special Counsel handling the investigation should be able to press serious charges veeeeery soon (via Jamie Gangel, Zachary Cohen, Evan Perez and Paula Reid at CNN):
The National Archives has informed former president Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records which show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was President, according to multiple sources.
In a May 16 letter obtained by CNN, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall writes to Trump, “The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”
The 16 presidential records, which were subpoenaed earlier this year, may provide critical evidence establishing the former president’s awareness of the declassification process, a key part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents...
As mentioned before, violating the Presidential Records Act is a serious felony. If the Justice Department can file at least 16 separate counts here, there's not a lot of room for trump to run.
trump's public defense - especially given during that contentious, foolish "town hall" CNN just hosted for him last week - has been that as President he could declassify any document he liked and that the ones found in his possession from the August 2022 warrant search at Mar-A-Lago belonged to him.
But the National Archives - responsible for handling, archiving, and preserving government documents for legal and historic reasons - said "Nope."
According to the letter, Trump tried to block the special counsel from accessing the 16 records by asserting a claim of “constitutionally based privilege.” But in her letter, Wall rejects that claim, stating that the special counsel’s office has represented that it “is prepared to demonstrate with specificity to a court, why it is likely that the 16 records contain evidence that would be important to the grand jury’s investigation.”
The special Counsel also told the Archives that the evidence is “not practically available from another source.”
The letter goes on to state that the records will be handed over on May 24, 2023 “unless prohibited by an intervening court order...”
NARA’s letter to Trump comes amid a flurry of activity by Smith’s team, including grand jury appearances by former national security officials who testified that they told Trump there was a process for a president to declassify material, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The 16 records may help federal investigators overcome a significant obstacle to a potential prosecution of the former president. While presidents have ultimate declassification authority, the limits of that authority haven’t been tested in the courts...
There remains a possibility trump can convince the conservative-leaning judges in the federal judiciary - some of them appointed by him - that his argument for unilateral declassification protects him. But those judges - especially on the Supreme Court - have to be aware of the dangers of setting such a precedent, and that they're going to be obligated to uphold our national security interests instead of upholding trump's desire to avoid jail.
One hopes that this letter from NARA is a signal that the special counsel into the Mar-A-Lago documents scandal is reaching its grand jury conclusion, and that indictments are forthcoming. If this can get to a court trial well before November 2024, we can pray that a guilty verdict on trump's violations - which includes a penalty that the guilty are barred from elected federal office - would bring an end to the long dark trumpian nightmare haunting our nation.
It's been said before trump: Never fuck with librarians.
(On a personal note, I will appear at the Bartow (FL) Writers Block and Street Fair as a local author this Saturday May 20th from 10AM to 6PM. It's a fund-raising effort for the local church charities, and it'll be pet-friendly event with a ton of activities. I do hope to see some people there, and buy my books!)
1 comment:
Sure, he was informed about the process, but what effect does informing him about anything even have? Kinda like when the cat pushes the door open to get in and I inform him yet again that he's supposed to close it afterward.
(Apologies to cats everywhere)
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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