So I am someone who believes that the charges here are slightly more serious than the charges brought by Alvin Bragg. I don't believe they are as serious as many want you to believe they are. If such a thing was truly serious, then we would not see our DOJ prosecutors parsing around their reasons for letting some people get away with mishandling classified documents (Hillary, Biden, etc...) while charging Trump. If this was as serious as they suggest, they would be throwing the book at everyone.
Probably the most damning thing in the indictment is the idea that he is supposedly on tape talking about some U.S. War plans. That being said, we only have one side of things and if history is our guide, what a prosecutor tells a grand jury and what he can present and prove in court are two different things. Who was he talking to, what was he actually referring to, and what did he actually show (rather than just reference) is an unanswered question. We should not assume anything at this point.
Again, Hillary had top secret information on her illegal server and the FBI concluded conclusively that the server had been hacked by foreign adversaries. Isn't having real-time security information hacked by foreign adversaries more serious than talking to an American about an old plan (never executed) that was probably not all that secret when it boils down to it?
At the end of the day, there are still serious arguments that Smith will have to overcome. The entire charge comes crashing down if the defense convinces the judge that the documents being removed from the White House were in regards to following the Presidential Records Act. If it can be shown that the documents only ended up with Trump because he believed them to be Presidential records, then the classified documents have no more bearing than the classified documents that are sitting in a warehouse in Chicago under "technical" control by NARA.
Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama, and Trump are the only Presidents who have been subjected to the PRA. Prior to that act being passed in 1978, whatever a President took with him was his to keep, and there was no distinction made about the classification of the documents. Had Jimmy Carter taken classified documents with him, nobody would have had the authority to question him or raid his home.
The difference is the Presidential Records Act now is in play. We now work to monitor and track what is kept. However the PRA is not a criminal statute. We also know that there is nothing in the PRA that demands classified document cannot be part of the Presidential Records (or at least taken in the larger group of documents). I think it is foolish to suggest that a President can clear out all of his documents, move them to where-ever and know 100% what is in every box and be able to say (one way or the other) whether there is anything with classifications.
We know Clinton kept information that certain authorities wanted turned over. We know that a Federal appeals court ruled that Clinton (not NARA) had the full authority to determine something to be personal vs part of his Presidential record. We know Obama took classified documents to a warehouse in Chicago. We know NARA simply separated them and made them more secure. We know Biden had classified documents form his time as VP, as did Mike Pence. We know Biden used those classified documents to help him write memoirs.
The idea that a President or Vice President having classified suddenly becomes criminal when the bad orange man does it, is a sickening reality in our partisan time. Had NARA, the FBI, and the DOJ treated Trump in the same manner than they treated Obama, there would be no case here. Trump would have his documents in Mar-a-Lago and NARA would agreed to have taken "technical control". The records would have remained private to the incumbent President (Trump) for the next 5 years. Nobody would be raiding his home or demanding his lawyers sign sworn statements about what he took.
That is how PRA worked for the first five Presidents whom the law covered. It just worked completely different when Trump left office.
Not amazing at all when you realize that 100% of the drive-by media is parroting that exact thing.
And the left, being the dumb fucks that they are, believe it. The DOJ is in complete control of the entire situation. So you can count on the alky to send you 17 fucking emails with this absurd claim.
The most amazing thing is the idea that the side that is abusing the DOJ and using prosecution as a weapon is Republicans?
https://twitter.com/i/status/1534756470021046272
If he wins and DOES go scorched earth, I want to see public executions on the National Mall. And for those who manage to escape execution, life in a Super-Max prison without the possibility of parole.
The left obviously wants this by virtue of their actions so far, so let's give it to them good and fucking hard.
He will go scorched earth... which is why they are doubling down on trying to prevent him from winning. It is election interference in the most glaring obvious partisan and self serving way.