Below is my column in the New York Post on the Trump indictment and why so many citizens have little interest in its content or charges. The reaction of many citizens vividly shows the costs of years of biased and inconsistent decisions involving Democratic and Republican figures. The result is what you now see. The Justice Department has lost the room.
Here is the column:
When Special Counsel Jack Smith walked before cameras on Friday after the release of the Trump 44-page indictment against former President Donald Trump, he started with arguably his most difficult case to make.
He declared “we have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone.”
After years of scandal and documented political bias by key Justice officials, the line likely left many skeptical, assuming many were even watching.
The indictment was clearly a pitch to the public that this is a prosecution entirely removed from recent history.
We’re also meant to not think about the fact that the Biden Administration is charging the leading candidate opposing him in the upcoming election.
This indictment has merit, but the Justice Department lost the right to expect trust from the citizens years ago — long before the damning Inspector General’s Report and the recent report of Special Counsel John Durham.
To make matters worse, the same suspects have surfaced to celebrate Trump’s expected demise — and remind the public of the perceived double standard in Washington.
Peter Strzok, the FBI special agent who was fired over his anti-Trump bias in the Russian collusion investigation, cheered the indictment by tweeting a photo of handcuffs with Trump’s image.
Strzok seems to think that it is a good thing for Smith to remind everyone of how he promised his colleague and lover Lisa Page that she did not have to worry about Trump being elected because they had an “insurance policy” to “stop it.”
Hillary Clinton went on social media to hawk her line of merchandize mocking the case against her for storing classified material on her personal server and then destroying tens of thousands of emails sought by the Congress.
She sent out a picture mocking Trump while wearing her “But Her Emails” hat.
With millions of Americans wondering why Trump is being charged but Clinton was given a pass, Clinton decided to do a victory lap.
And hey, why not: James Comey is back.
It was Comey who declined to prosecute Clinton despite finding that she violated federal rules and handled classified material “carelessly.” He then launched a Russian collusion investigation that Durham found lacked minimal support against Trump.
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to mishandling classified White House documents that were recovered at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Trump unlawfully kept hundreds of documents after leaving office — including papers detailing America’s conventional and nuclear weapons programs, potential weak points in US defenses, and plans to respond to a foreign attack, federal prosecutors charged Friday.
The 45th president stored boxes containing the documents throughout his estate, including “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room,” according to a 49-page indictment filed in Miami federal court Thursday.
The indictment against Trump was unsealed hours after the 76-year-old announced he had been charged by Jack Smith, the special counsel tapped in November to examine Trump’s retention of official documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The indictment is the former commander in chief’s second since leaving office and marks the first time in US history a former president has faced federal charges.
In April, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election.
Nevertheless, Comey chose this month to declare that, in the 2024 election, “it has to be Joe Biden.”
For critics, that is consistent with his views and actions before he was fired as FBI director.
After Trump was indicted in a raw political prosecution in New York, Comey also went public to declare it a “good day.”
So in the court of public opinion, past history and hypocrisy may mean that few are swayed about whether they back Trump or not. Which leaves the criminal court.
This indictment has some devastating elements, including an audiotape in which Trump tells two visitors about a highly classified attack plan on Iran while admitting that it remained classified.
That tape directly contradicts his past claims of declassification and suggests that Trump was using the document as a type of trophy.
There are also damaging statements from former staff and counsel alleging that Trump actively sought to conceal documents.
Smith is now left in a battle not with Trump but time.
There are a variety of challenges expected from the Trump team, including arguing that the government misused the civil statute of the Presidential Records Act to launch a criminal prosecution.
They are likely to cite a 2012 opinion that Bill Clinton could remove classified tapes with foreign leaders — even if the tapes are designated to be presidential records.
Amy Berman Jackson declared “the [Presidential Records Act] does not confer any mandatory or even discretional authority on the archivist. Under the statute, this responsibility is left solely to the president.”
The Trump team is likely to litigate that and other questions.
While there are good-faith arguments to make in rebuttal, it will take time.
And if enough time passes, the ultimate judgment in the case will be the millions of jurors in the coming election.
Not only can Trump pardon himself, but fellow candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy have also suggested that they will also pardon him.
Smith’s case could end with a stroke of a pen.
It seems for both Comey and Smith, it has to be Biden in 2024.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
Are we missing the bigger picture here? Personally, I don’t care what happens to Trump — he’s a megalomaniac who did stupid arrogant things, and in the end he’s a coward: he had a chance to pardon Julian Assange who is being persecuted by the West for exposing the corruption in the Democratic party. But he caved to Mitch McConnell’s threat to convict after the second impeachment if Trump pardoned Assange. Shameful. However, more than what happens to Trump is the question of what will happen to the country because of this blatant act of political persecution by the Democrats. They will never be able to put the genie back into the lamp. Every administration going forward will weaponize its agencies and go for their opponent’s jugular. The Democrats have succeeded in destroying all semblance of law in this country. They are the most debased, corrupt and morally bankrupt political group in our history.
GioCon,
Well said and I agree.
Said it before, I will say it again, whomever is the Republican candidate, vote for that person.
There is too much hyperbole in this posting by Professor Turley. Everything is hyped here and in the linked news.
For instance: “Documents are seen falling out of boxes.” AP If one looks at the picture in the news article, one sees the documents, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, photographs, etc. Are those classified documents? Are those documents the public is not allowed to have?
Yet in another picture, “Documents were seized during the Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.” _AP, we see evidence lined up by the FBI intentionally to make Trump look bad.
These pictures are supposed to incite the public because some documents should have a degree of security, even if not confidential. The pictures shown are of multiple rooms and a bathroom, but that bathroom is not accessible to the public. The news media forgets MAL is a large home, and no one enters the private quarters. Further, the boxes are covered, so we don’t know what is in them except those that fell open. In those boxes, we see newspapers bought by the public.
The government likes to hype things, but that is not their job. Their job is to get to the facts. When the government distorts the facts with hype, it means the government’s findings are slim, and they are trying to convict based on hyperbole.
Jonathan: No, Jack Smith is not “singing to an empty room”. The polls show over 60% of Americans think Trump committed serious crimes in refusing to return the top secret and other confidential he was hiding at Mar-a-Lago. Only MAGA supporters, who have become a cult, think otherwise. And they are in the minority.
And what are leading GOP politicians saying in trying to defend Trump? GOP Senators are largely silent. But Jim Jordan, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, was on CNN yesterday distorting the facts and the law. Jordan bizarrely claimed Trump was still “President”. He then said: “If he wants to store material in a box in a bathroom, if he wants to store it in a box on a stage, he can do it”. When Trump took and stored the top secret docs at Mar-a-Lago he was the “former president” and a private citizen. And he had no right to possess the confidential material. Jordan also falsely claimed Trump “declassified” everything. The facts show otherwise.
Much of your defense of Trump’s illegal actions is based on “whataboutism”. What about Joe Biden? Kevin McCarthy, the GOP Speaker of the House, said in a statement: “Today indeed is a dark day for the United States of America…Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades…House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable”. As explained in a previous comment the Biden and Trump cases are entirely different. When Biden’s attorneys discovered classified material at Biden’s former office and home they were immediately returned. And there is no evidence Biden showed classified material to anyone without a security clearance. The facts in the Jack Smith indictment indicate Trump did not just hold classified material he was not entitled to but he showed it to persons without a security clearance. And Trump, in an audio recording, admits he had not declassified top secret docs.
And how does McCarthy intend to “hold” the Biden administration “accountable” for charging Trump? Many MAGA House members want to impeach Biden. MTG certainly wants to do that. On what basis could the GOP House impeach the President? Maybe you could supply the Speaker with the first Article of Impeachment. Say, your unproven claim that the Biden family was involved in a “vast influence peddling and corruption scandal” never seen in American history. Despite many hearings by Jordan and Comer neither have been able to supply any evidence to support your allegations. But good luck on that one anyway!
JT is misleading his readers once again. He says “They are likely to cite a 2012 opinion that Bill Clinton could remove classified tapes with foreign leaders — even if the tapes are designated to be presidential records.” But the case didn’t involve classified tapes with foreign leaders. As Judge Berman Jackson clearly stated at the opening of her opinion, “Plaintiff Judicial Watch, Inc. brings this action against defendant National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 701,et seq. Plaintiff asks the Court to declare audiotapes created by former President William Jefferson Clinton and historian Taylor Branch during the Clinton administration to be “Presidential records” under the Presidential Records Act.”
Not classified. Not with foreign leaders. With a historian. Not produced by the government. Trump’s lawyers can cite this, but Smith will point out the obvious differences.
Anonymous: thank you. Judicial Watch was trying to turn tapes of conversations between an author who interviewed Clinton for a book into “presidental records”. They aren’t because they were not records of official actions taken by Clinton as President–just taped interviews for a book. The tapes were made by and are the property of the author, who gave Clinton a copy.
Americans must be granted permission to vote for the employees of our Fourth Branch of government. The pathetic, corrupt Media have overtaken the other 3 branches without being voted in.
None of those documents were destroyed. Furthermore in the very same day Republicans held a news conference announcing all the money the Biden family received it was announced Trump was a target of DOJ. Then the day Republican got the whistleblowers report he was indicted.
No matter who is the Republican candidate in 2024, vote for that person.
Voting for the Democrats is voting for lawlessness, corruption and criminals.
I do hope the Democrats run with Biden. It will be fun to watch him campaign from his basement.
The Democrats believe and follow the approach of Goebbels when he said “A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth” . The Demcs and their propaganda Squealers have spent so much time lying about Russia Collusion, Covid lab leak, SCOTUS judges, Hunter’s laptop, mask efficacy, NON-Sanctuary Cities, Democrat Uncontrolled Borders, Anti-Fa’s NON peaceful riots, etc. that it’s clear they are liars. Anyone who believes Democrats should house 20 illegals, isolate themselves, and go clean the streets of SF, LA, Chicago, etc
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟒 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝
Trump has already been indicted twice. More indictments could be coming.
By Ian Millhiser and Andrew Prokop Updated Jun 9, 2023
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/4/23664866/donald-trump-indictment-alvin-bragg-jack-smith-stormy-daniels-new-york-georgia
Summary of Article’s Investigations & Indictments:
❶ The New York indictment of Donald Trump
Manhattan DA ~ Alvin Bragg
❷&❸ The Mar-a-Lago classified documents case
Special Counsel ~ Jack Smith (Two Investigations)
1. The Mar-a-Lago classified documents indictment.
2. Another federal investigation from Smith’s team, which is still active. Specifically, Attorney General Merrick Garland called it “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 2020 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚 6, 2021.”
https://www.vox.com/2023/6/8/23680209/trump-indicted-classified-documents-florida-truth-social
❹ The Georgia investigation into Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 election
Fulton County District Attorney ~ Fani Willis
❺ In Addition: The January 6th Panel investigation pending prosecution.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐃𝐀𝐀𝐒𝐍𝐘 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠?
The powerful district attorneys association has been silent in the face of Trump’s attacks on the Manhattan DA
By Peter Sterne ~ Editor, April 7, 2023
“… the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York. The association, which represents Bragg and other DAs in the state, did not respond to a request for comment.
That silence caught the attention of state Sen. Julia Salazar, a strong supporter of criminal justice reforms who has frequently clashed with DAASNY. …”
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/04/why-wont-daasny-defend-alvin-bragg/384948/
No one wants to get splashed by affirmative action.
An excellent and thoughtful article. I think the American public sees a trend here and I think it also is starting to swing against the left. Strange things are happening out in the country. An actual riot at a school board meeting in “California” and Antifa seemed the worst for it. Armenian Americans seem to not be a group you want to mess with. Muslim, Christian and Jewish parents are making common cause against the leftist teaching and the gender assault on their children. Papers like The NY Times and Wash Post are becoming shadows of themselves as they descend into darkness. The media cartel bill is “dead” according to the speaker of the house. We can only hope for more.
No one is above the law except for the DOJ and Democrats.
GEB,
Well said and I agree.
I read two different articles about the school board meeting in CA.
The LA Times did not mention any groups other than pro-LBGT and anti-LBGT clashing.
Red State, a very conservative web site, did note antifa was there and the Armenian community. Fights did break out.
In Maryland, Christian and Muslim are joining together to fight against mandated LGBT ideology in schools.
The Bud Light and Target boycotts seem to have lasting legs.
I too sense the tide is turning.
Agreed GEB. The Leftist’s cultural transformation of this country has run up against our still functional republican form of government. It’s not easy to infect the lives of all 330 million people with their Marxist ideology when they are constitutionally insulated by their state governments. Even in my communist state of California, we still have county and city governments protecting their citizens from this assault. Republicanism and the Judiciary are what’s stopping them. My hope is this full frontal assault on Trump is an indication they haven’t yet figured out how to steal the general election.
This time they’ve gone to far, and in the immortal words of Chuck Shumer “Will reap the whirlwind”.
“This indictment has some devastating elements, including an audiotape in which Trump tells two visitors about a highly classified attack plan on Iran while admitting that it remained unclassified.” I think this is meant to say classified not unclassified at the end.
Are you speaking of that AI audio from the corrupt intel outfits?
Professor, with all due respect, to say that the voters (the jury) will decide the next election is quite naive after seeing the evidence of massive fraud in our elections starting in 2020.
Has anyone ever investigated the actual collusion between the battleground states to simultaneously decide – for the first time ever – to “stop” counting votes at 8 pm? Who picked 8:00? Why stop when Trump was clearly running ahead? Why announce Biden as winner in Arizona with @3% of the vote in when even CNN wouldn’t go there?
None of these questions have been pursued because they are brushed off as conspiracy theories and not worthy of examination. Politicians just smugly assure us and each other that our elections are safe and secure. Please…
As to “Why announce Biden as winner in Arizona…?”, you might be referring to Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt. He was first to make that call based on exit polls and precinct-by-precinct analysis. He took a risk, turned out to be right, and was fired shortly thereafter because Fox viewers didn’t appreciate it. That isn’t a conspiracy theory and doesn’t say much of anything about whether elections are secure, particularly in 49 other states plus D.C.
At a minimum, turning a disagreement over the retention of classified records that were held pursuant to the Presidential Records Act into a criminal case is prosecutorial misconduct. And when you add the blatant DOJ bias to not prosecute President Biden for the exact same thing, you end up with a DOJ that the American people don’t trust. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
@skyraider1717: Smith made his bones during the Obama administration by seeking a way to conduct a war on the Democrat political opposition. To seek to investigate and ultimately prosecute 501-a exempt organizations, Citizens United among them, for violations of law by being able to demonstrate that they were using funds to support conservative political causes. To this end he arm twisted Lois Lerner and pressed her and her offices into his service. We know how that ended. Lerner was shitcanned and Smith has risen to bigger and better, having made his bones using those of others.
We look forward to today’s contributions by ‘the usual suspects’ and their defenses of Smith and the rest of the immoral, unethical, and insufferable non-descripts whose efforts on their behalf are driving this Constitutional Republic towards utter ruin.
Smith is the perfect example of a political hack who will abuse and manipulate the system in order to construct a ladder for his upward climb, using the bones of those he has vanquished. Future events may find not only him, but others who have invested their hopes and aspirations in him, lying together on the ground in a dung heap, echoes of the streets of San Francisco.
Perhaps all the Republican candidates should pledge to pardon Trump.
I had the same thought.
Some of them are in on it. They are the Uniparty, after all. Trump upsets their apple cart, and the money flowing into them from the bribes they take to vote against their constituents.
I would like to another republican other than Trump, but if it is Trump – I will vote for him. Democrats are an existential threat to the rule of law and the country. I did not vote for him 2016 or 2020 – I vote 3rd party, in MA it does not matter – but I will vote against democrats in 2024.
anyone go to jail for the BIGGEST crime in US History…the Russian Hoax Conspiracy where Democrats(Hillary, Obama, DOJ, FBI, CIA, DNC, etc) worked with a Foreign Spy, a Russian, etc to OVER THROW(spy on etc) the elected President of the USA?
The USA is LAWLESS
Good piece that doesn’t fully capture the dysfunction the DOJ has displayed since 2009. Eric Holder made sure that there were no sanctions when when a Border Patrol Officer was murdered with one of the many firearms provided by the DOJ to establish a preferred political narrative in the SW Border area and no one was sanctioned when Lois Lerner and other sympathetic bureaucrats used the IRS to strangle embryonic conservative organizations.
Jack Smith has turned what was probably a meritorious prosecution into a farce with his stunningly tone deaf statement that “We have one set of laws that apply to everybody.” No wonder so many are furious, and so many others tuning out another DOJ exercise of pure political agenda.
👍👍
Did Stalin, Mao, Hitler…tired of show trials and abuse of power? Democrats are OUT OF CONTROL Fascists!