Trump Indictment Part 2

This one is more serious.

Welcome back to The Burnett Breakdown where I follow the news (and apparently read indictments) so that you don’t have to. Please like, subscribe, share, and comment.

Deja Vu

In case you missed it, Donald Trump was indicted. Again. If it feels like we’ve been here before, it’s because a little over two months ago I wrote about the first Trump indictment. (You can read the whole thing here).

Essentially, my thoughts about the first indictment were as follows:

From my understanding, the legal maneuver to turn the falsifying business records misdemeanor into a felony is novel and flimsy at best… It’s questionable whether an uncharged and unproven federal violation even counts as “another crime” in New York state law… this case is a reach at best… Though unlikely, I desperately hope that outcome [Trump being convicted] does not come to fruition. I think it is vitally important that the law is not bent or twisted in ways to punish people who are deemed undesirable. No matter how undesirable or abhorrent that person or their views are.

As much as I don’t like Trump, I dislike the law being abused to go after enemies of the government even more. I think the first indictment pretty clearly falls into this category and ought to be shot down by a jury in court.

With that said, this second indictment is completely different and should be taken much more seriously than the first one. This indictment is not based on a flimsy, novel legal theory and is chock-full of potential evidence that, if proven in court, means Trump is and should be in serious legal trouble.

Help, Someone Find the Doc(uments)

So, what is Trump being accused of doing? In sum, Trump is being accused of mishandling classified documents, obstructing justice, and conspiring to conceal classified documents.

According to the indictment (which you can read in full here), Trump had hundreds of classified documents in boxes stored in a ballroom, bathroom, shower, office space, his bedroom, and a storage room throughout his Mar-a-Lago residency while Mar-a-Lago was being used for events. According to the law, classified material must be “processed, stored, used, or discussed in an accredited Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF)” which Mar-a-Lago was not when these documents were present. Not only that, Mar-a-Lago hosted several events with tens of thousands of guests and employees.

Trump didn’t just store the classified documents improperly; he showed classified documents to people who did not possess a security clearance on at least two occasions. These instances are described in the indictment:

Finally, Trump obstructed justice by working with others to prevent the FBI from recovering the classified documents even after being issued a subpoena.

In May 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which is responsible for archiving presidential records, reached out to Trump to turn over presidential records that he had kept. In June 2021, NARA reached out again and warned Trump that if he failed to comply, it would turn the case over to the FBI. Between November 2021 and January 2022, Trump had those working under him bring him boxes so that he could sift through the material.

In January 2022, NARA received 15 boxes that had been in possession of Trump and determined that 14 of the boxes contained classified documents with a total of 197 classified documents. NARA then turned the case over to the FBI for them to investigate.

In May 2022, a grand jury issued a subpoena for Trump to turn over all classified documents still in his possession. Trump’s attorneys told Trump they would have to go through the material and ensure compliance with the subpoenas. Between the time this meeting took place and the attorneys looking through the boxes, Trump directed an employee to move 64 boxes to his residence so that the attorney would only look through 30 or so boxes.

The movement of these boxes was recorded by Mar-a-Lago’s surveillance system and reviewed by the FBI in July 2022. As a result, the FBI received and executed a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago that authorized them to search for and seize all documents with classified markings. The FBI seized 102 classified documents in the search.

In sum, Trump illegally possessed and stored classified documents and actively prevented recovery of the classified documents by the FBI to the point where a search warrant was necessary.

My Thoughts

As I mentioned in my last indictment newsletter, Trump, like everybody else, is innocent until proven guilty. The burden is on the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury that Trump is guilty of the alleged crimes. An indictment is not a conviction.

With that said, the indictment is incredibly detailed and specific that I find it hard to believe the government would make such claims without convincing evidence. For example, the indictment claims to have texts of Trump communicating with aides to move boxes along with surveillance video showing the boxes being moved. It will be abundantly clear whether the government actually has that evidence or not. Likewise, the indictment claims to have recordings of at least one conversation of Trump illegally discussing classified material. Again, it will be rather clear during the trial whether this is true or not.

If Donald Trump did indeed do what he is accused of doing, then he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. According to the indictment, some of the classified documents in Trump’s possession “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to foreign attack.” The amount of danger Trump could have put Americans in if this kind of information had gotten into the hands of an adversary is incalculable.

While Trump’s handling of the classified information is illegal enough, the real reason that he is being indicted is his obstruction of justice. This is what separates Trump from Joe Biden and Mike Pence. They also mishandled classified documents, but they cooperated with the FBI to turn in the classified documents as soon as they were found. Trump, on the other hand, misled the FBI and attempted to illegally maintain possession of the classified documents. He simply refused to hand them over despite multiple attempts by NARA and the FBI to recover the documents.

But, but, but, what about Hillary Clinton? She mishandled classified information by having a private server and then tens of thousands of those emails went missing with no indictment. Isn’t that a double standard?

Well, I think Hillary Clinton should have been indicted and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There was no excuse for the FBI not to bring charges against her when she very clearly broke the law. Nonetheless, the response to a failure of justice in the past isn’t to ignore executing justice in the present. To do that is to end the rule of law altogether.

What about Trump’s claim that he declassified all of the material in his possession while he was still president and had the power to do so? One of the issues with this “defense” is the lack of evidence that Trump actually did such a thing. There is no documentation or order from Trump declassifying this material and there has been nobody in the administration to back up his claim. Not to mention, Trump himself admitted that he did not declassify at least some of the material. While showing a group of people a classified “plan of attack,” Trump said, “As president, I could have declassified it” and “Now, I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

Even if one thinks Trump shouldn’t be prosecuted, the thought that he should be trusted with access to top security information ever again is asinine. Trump has done a lot of things that I believe should disqualify him from being elected President of the United States, but I fail to think of one more disqualifying than this.

So, is the indictment of Donald Trump a dark day in American history? Are we witnessing the devolution of America into a banana republic as many have claimed? Is the Biden administration using the power of the government to suppress political opponents? Should all conservatives fear for their freedom?

No. Absolutely not.

There is solid evidence that Donald Trump broke the law and put the safety of the United States at risk. He will go through the justice system just like any other American citizen accused of a crime. That’s what a free republic looks like. The refusal to do so simply because Trump was once in a position of power would actually be the markings of a banana republic.

God Bless,

Hunter Burnett