Ex-President Donald Trump is the first US leader ever arraigned on felony charges.
Trump sat quietly at the defense table in a Miami federal courtroom as his
the lawyer entered his plea: “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” said
Todd Blanche to the indictment charging Trump with 37 counts of violating
the US Espionage Act.
None of this was available as a live television report, instead taking place in
a tightly guarded and restricted courthouse while outside demonstrators on
both sides were kept apart by a heavy police presence. Trump entered the
Courthouse complex through an underground parking lot and tunnel for
intake processing leading to the brief arraignment hearing before a federal
magistrate.
The 37-count indictment is for possession of classified documents for more
than a year, refusing to give them back when requested under the
Presidential Records Act. ( All official documents belong to the government, not the president.)
Trump, wearing a dark suit and a red tie, sat with his arms crossed while
the magistrate judge described the indictment. Folded arms are Trump’s
go-to pose when he is feeling defiant. Before the court appearance, he had
issued a steady stream of emails and social network statements defaming
the Justice Department, President Biden, and special prosecutor Jack
Smith in the most personal of terms. We will learn if this continues given
the formal indictment. His valet and co-defendant Walt Nauta was seated at
the table as well with his attorney.
Jack Scott, Jay Bratt, David Harbach, and Julie Edelstein were among the
prosecutors present for the Justice Department. Todd Blanche defended
Trump was in New York State court in Manhattan last month and had
previously defended Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Concurrently, he represents Boris Epshteyn, a controversial legal adviser to
the former president.
Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman conducted the arraignment quickly,
with the intake process equally swift including fingerprinting, forms filled
out, but no mug shots.
An arraignment is a legal formality. A judge describes the charges, the
defendant enters a plea, and some scheduling issues are typically discussed.
Things will heat up in the coming months as discovery goes forward, then
comes a better sense of when a trial might take place, what Trump’s
defense might be, and what judge will handle the trial. The young federal
district judge selected with a random system is the same judge who
previously mishandled a Trump case and was resoundingly overruled and
criticized by the 11 Circuit Court of Appeals. She could recuse herself as a
recent Trump appointee, but if not, it is excepted the government will seek
her replacement with a senior jurist.
The indictment specifies 31 counts of willful retention of national defense
information, plus 1 count of false statements and representations, 1 count
of conspiracy to obstruct justice, 1 count of withholding a document or
record, 1 count of corruptly concealing a document or record, 1 count of
concealing a document in a federal investigation,1 count of scheme to
conceal.
An issue the prosecution faces is related to the reluctance to reveal the
contents of classified secret documents involved. The government will likely
argue that the mere fact of being classified makes it illegal to reveal the
contents.
It surprises no one that this indictment has ignited political partisanship
based on unquestioning loyalty to Trump. Most Republican politicians so
fear their voters that they willingly repeat claims this is a political attack by
the Biden Administration. One member of Congress has portrayed the
indictment as an act of war. Other politicians have called for retribution,
stressing that much of Trump’s MAGA base own weapons.
Jack Smith, the DOJ special prosecutor, in announcing the indictment last
week, said the classified documents case was not an error of record
keeping. The 49-page Indictment summarizes what Smith's team
discovered and presented to a “grand jury of citizens in the Southern
District of Florida.” Approval from the grand jury confirms, he said, the
scope and the gravity of the crimes charged.
Presenting the investigation to a Florida Grand Jury was a surprise.
The indictment reads like a crime short story about a gang that couldn't shoot
straight. It uses Trump's words to show he wanted everyone to know he
had these classified documents. In two separate anecdotes, Trump boasts
to random lay people that he has secret military information, then shares
some of that information with them. Most likely evidence that is not in the
arraignment will be used in court.
Smith, a veteran prosecutor, was not interested in repeating the mistakes of
the Mueller Probe in 2016. That probe found connections between Russian
agents and the Trump 2016 presidential campaign, but the report was
shrouded in legal complexities Refusing initially to release it, Trump's
Attorney General William Barr defenestrated it in his redacted explanation
of its conclusions.
The facts presented in this Trump indictment consist of information
obtained almost entirely from Republican politicians, staff, and lawyers who
worked with Trump. Yet his supporters believe that any action against
Trump is, by extension, an attack on their belief system. Many former
Trump associates will be called to testify against the president.
Notwithstanding any conviction on the 31 counts listed and any possible
prison sentence, Trump will remain eligible for MAGA Republicans to
support if he is the GOP nominee in the 2024 election. The reality is
anyone can try to be president of the USA if they were born in the USA, are
older than 35, and have lived in the USA for the past 14 years. Competence
and experience are not prerequisites.
At his first political rally after the Indictment announcement, a defiant Trump
told the crowd, quote; I shall never be detained." Bravado is never in short supply
with Trump and is likely to continue as this is the first of several legal cases
against Trump for:
He demands to change vote totals in Georgia.
His Participation in organizing an insurrection on January 6.
His role in attempting to create fake electoral college results.
Trump has flooded the Internet with outrage on social media because the
Indictment rests on espionage act violations, which could involve prison
time. Republicans are now screaming to not lock him up.
How weird, since I remember Trump at a campaign rally in 2016 in
Charlotte, North Carolina, saying, & quoting; In my administration, I'm going to
enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one
will be above the law." A month earlier, he tweeted this:
“@realDonaldTrump— Crooked Hillary Clinton and her team were
extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified
information. Not fit! quote;
Examples of Trump with his " Lock her up" chants in 2016 reinforce that
candidate Trump knew how classified documents had to be handled.
Trump was not surprised on June 8 by the Indictment. He received a
quote; target letter" from Special Counsel Smith three weeks earlier on May 19
and raged on his Truth Social website the next day.
" TRUMP Hating Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, whose family and friends
are Big Time Haters also, will be working overtime on this treasonous
quest," he said, referring to Democrats supposedly stepping up their quote; fake
investigations.;
In lockstep, Republicans in political positions are now "shocked" at a
government response to Trump stealing and then refusing to return
classified documents. Partisanship demands a suspension of intellectual
honesty and decency.
Considering the public nature of Mar-a-Lago, leaving classified documents
stored in unlocked spaces is indefensible. Trump's year of stone-walling
requests for the return led the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago, discovering
classified documents, including those in Trump's office.
A court ruling that negated client-lawyer privilege meant several of his
lawyers had to testify to the grand jury. They related how Trump asked
them to conspire with him to deceive the government. Then they wisely quit
working for Trump since lawyers can lose their licenses for criminal
conspiracy with clients.
Winning reelection in 2024 is vital as it will provide two essentials, Trump
needs: a Get out of Jail card as president and the ability to use the US
government for retribution against those who recognized him for what he
most certainly is: an angry 77-year-old duffer who lies about his golf scores
and who has led a charmed life claiming success while deceiving banks
and governments for decades. His supporters claim that it’s a witch-hunt
staged by the Biden Administration to keep him from running in 2024. They
believe the 45th president of the USA is a hero fighting for them. Few have
read the Indictment, while most will ignore it. Trump's rage aims at
harvesting millions of dollars from small donors since federally required
fundraising data indicates that big businesses and rich donors are, for the
most part, sitting in their wallets.
Has Trump finally run out of escapes after a lifetime of breaking the rules
and flaunting the law? His lack of honesty has never been in question. He
comes across as an insecure braggart in the Indictment, a man desperate
to cling to his status after an embarrassing fall from power. Six business
bankruptcies should have prepared him for this. But his cavalier attitude
about taking classified material will play a decisive role in the outcome of
this case. A conviction based on harsh facts will be unacceptable to his
political supporters. A six-year political nightmare is not over.
By Kenneth Tiven