Former President Donald Trump was in possession of classified documents he should not have had. And most of us are well aware of that.
Of course, he could claim that he knew nothing about the documents. In fact, he could assert his staff had packed them into boxes when he moved from the White House, without his knowledge.
Problem.
Recently, The Washington Post revealed that Donald Trump, while back at Mar-a-Lago, was showing off classified documents he allegedly seized from the White House. In fact, even while serving as president, Trump allegedly showed little regard for the country’s security and confidential information, allowing sponsors to take photos while posing with the nuclear football–which contains the capability to launch an attack when away from the White House.
If the former is true and Trump had classified information at Mar-a-Lago after his presidency, he clearly knew what he was doing and was obviously well aware that highly classified documents were in his possession.
Neal Katyal, the former Principal Deputy Solicitor General, appeared on an MSNBC panel and argued that Trump does not have an excuse to use when it comes to obstruction. It links Trump directly to this wrongdoing.
“That’s where the reporting from yesterday comes in that’s so important,” Katyal told MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.
“It ties Trump directly to the scheme. If it holds up and, of course, we don’t know — and Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence and all that, but if that’s what [special counsel] Jack Smith is looking at and looks like what he got, that’s going to be very devastating.”
Details in The Washington Post article suggest that Trump would showcase his classified information, “including maps” and other detailed specifics to political sponsors and folks who were not authorized to see them. As a result, Dave Aronberg, the State Attorney of Palm Beach County, cautioned that former president Trump could also face espionage charges based on the fresh data obtained.
“I think the reason that they asked about the map is another statute, 18 USC 719 (e), ‘The Espionage Statute,’ says that someone who is unauthorized to have possession of a map and then shows it to someone who can’t see it violates that statute,” Aronberg explained.
“So, they’re not just going after him for obstruction, but also espionage, which is punishable by up to ten years in prison. That’s why there’s a lot of trouble ahead. That’s why Bill Barr is saying, ‘Hey, this is the tough one.’”
“It’s not New York that will do in the former president in. I think it’s the Mar-a-Lago documents because there’s a direct tie between the former president and the alleged criminality there.”
No wonder former Attorney General Bill Barr seems so confident Trump is going down.