Here we are again. Episode 2 of a legal / political / cultural disaster miniseries -- The Trump Docket -- was just aired. Now the entire world has been distracted from what SHOULD be far more important unavoidable issues to again focus on the fallout resulting from the actions of a career criminal who somehow managed to become elected President of the United States who continued his crimes during his tenure and beyond. There's no assurance Trump will be convicted for these alleged crimes and there isn't even any assurance he will "STAY" convicted for any reasonable period. It can be assured that the public drama and distraction resulting from these charges (and those likely to follow in three other areas) will create ripple effects for America and the world no one can foresee.
The effect of watching these processes play out is akin to the Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite segment of the movie 2001: A space odyssey. Like Dave the astronaut hurtling through a star gate, watching stars streak by outside the window as ever-changing details while never reaching his destination, the Trump crime saga is producing a never-ending series of shocking / disgusting details that generate tremendous distraction from other critical issues yet never seem to reach resolution, instead snowballing into ever greater masses of chaos and criminality.
Indictment #2 is worth reviewing by every American. The language is perfectly targeted towards a tenth grade reading level to allow everyone to clearly understand the severity of the alleged crimes and the risk they pose to our national security.
Legal Treatise or Speaking Indictment
Jack Smith and team decided to file a "speaking indictment" rather than a dry, jargonistic litany of official charges. Smith made a short appearance on June 9 to make a statement to the press and he spoke for exactly two minutes and thirty seconds. Included in the statement was this:
The men and women of the United States intelligence community and our armed forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people. Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk.
He later made this comment:
It’s very important for me to note that the defendants in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. To that end, my office will seek a speedy trial in this matter. Consistent with the public interest and the rights of the accused. We very much look forward to presenting our case to a jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida.
That is actually one of the more telling statements he made, for reasons that will be covered later. The combination of the indictment language and Smith's very brief public statement conveys that Smith clearly understands the legal / media / calendar dimensions of the prosecution being pursued. They also convey that he appears to have selected a strategy in which 100% of his team's focus will be on content and narrative as they will be presented to a jury and virtually zero time will be spent "feeding the beast" and keeping the media amused. Besides, he still has two other areas of criminal investigation to pursue.
The indictment write-up smoothly alternates between:
- concise bullets identifying specific events which provide prima facia evidence of crimes under the Espionage Act regarding unlawful possession and disclosure of the existence of or content within classified documents to unauthorized individuals
- references to prior statements made by Trump running for office in 2016 and as President in which he explicitly stated how critical proper handling of classified information should be should he become President or will be after he became President and signed into law harsher penalties for violations of the EXACT nature he subsequently committed
- clear timeline narratives with supporting details from texts, emails and audio transcripts reflecting how Trump was PERSONNALLY involved with efforts to obstruct his own lawyers from finding and returning documents he wanted to keep, thereby executing a conspiracy to obstruct DOJ investigations
If the entire document is to be considered a "who dunnit" crime novel, by the end of the forty four page narrative, there's no doubt that Trump was the lead actor -- the extent to which few if any had surmised prior to the release of the indictment.
Trump packed many of the boxes in the Oval Office and White House residence on move-out day.
Trump directed boxes to be shuffled from the Mar-a-Lago storeroom to his private Mar-a-Lago residence between November 2021 and January 15, 2022 so he could personally cull additional items of interest from the larger collection.
Trump had direct phone calls with his aide Walt Nauto during 2022, each of which resulted in movement of additional boxes between different storage areas of Mar-a-Lago within MINUTES of the conversations, all captured on security surveillance cameras.
In one of those calls, Trump instructed his aide to move boxes OUT of the storage area a day before allowing his own lawyer to conduct a "search" to ensure that search would only cover a subset of content -- an attempt to trick the lawyer into supporting the obstruction of the subpoena. All in all, Trump directed that sixty four boxes be spirited out of the storage room to his private residence while only thirty boxes were returned after being hand-filtered by Trump himself.
Trump also directed dozens of the boxes in question to be flown with him to his Bedminster golf resort in May of 2021. On two different occasions in the summer of 2021, Trump disclosed the existence of some of those documents and information about their contents to unauthorized guests visiting him.
Is It Enough?
As stated at the outset, the indictment is well written for the challenges Smith cases in prosecuting the case. It uses a narrative flow to highlight Trump's criminal culpability by making it clear Trump KNEW the conditions of the applicable laws, chose throughout his Presidency and AFTER his Presidency to ignore those conditions, grossly mishandled the documents while in his possession (in a bathroom? Under a three inch water pipe in a storage room? On a stage in a public ballroom?) then committed obscene crimes of obstruction once engaged by NARA and DOJ/FBI. It also provides more concise "sound bytes" which lend themselves to being quoted verbatim in public discourse to help prepare the way for a trial.
But is it enough? It will be many months before it is clear whether the facts will click with a jury drawn at random from a South Florida jury pool. What are the barriers to an eventual conviction? Is an actual conviction sufficient to re-establish the rule of law? Is an actual conviction enough to keep Trump from winning re-election as President and pardoning himself? Will a conviction stick if a different Republican wins the Presidency and takes office on January 20, 2025?
The case logistics merit analysis.
Why Florida? -- Ultimately, the DOJ filed these charges in Florida because most of the alleged crimes physically took place in Florida and filing charges in the DC district court could have resulted in the case being tossed for being filed in the wrong venue. Many have commented that secondarily, Smith decided to file the charges in Florida to avoid allegations of picking a more anti-Trump venue, thus proving his confidence in the facts of the case by taking the case directly into "Trump country." That is likely wishful thinking.
Timing is EVERYTHING -- This issue has played out since mid-2021 when the National Archives recognized documents were missing from its collection that were known to have been in the custody of the President, attempted to ASK for the documents' return, had little cooperation then referred the issue to the FBI in early 2022. On one hand it appears the process took FAR LONGER to get this point than it should have. It seems clear any OTHER individual under the same circumstances would have had a month to respond to the original NARA request, a week to comply with an FBI subpoena, then would have been arrested and charged after finding applicable documents via search warrant. On the other hand, could Smith have spent any more time to perfect the case before filing charges?
In reality, Smith has ONE date in mind with this case -- January 20, 2025. This case needs to go to trial and reach a verdict prior to any new President taking office on January 20, 2025. Ideally it should reach a verdict so voters can incorporate that outcome in their votes in 2024. Given that Trump is currently the leading Republican candidate in polls for 2024, it is INCONCIEVABLY conceivable that Trump could BE the next President and he will immediately pardon himself upon taking office. This is just one of many shocking educational outcomes of this constitutional nightmare. The ONLY disqualification for holding the office of President is a conviction by the United States Senate after an impeachment by the United States House of Representatives. An actual FELONY CONVICTION in federal or state court is NOT a disqualifying event.
Sadly, Trump winning the Presidency is not the only nightmare scenario that could negate a conviction. I expect the morally deviant Republican Party will concoct a new internal litmus test for its Presidential candidates, demanding any candidate promise to pardon Trump on Day One of taking office. Either way, if that happens, the stars and stripes could at that point be replaced with a giant Dole sticker because at that point, the United States will have confirmed its transformation into a banana republic.
Docs Versus Vote Rigging Versus Insurrection? -- Many cynical watchers of the larger Trump Docket saga might express frustration that nailing Trump on document handling violations versus attempts to sabotage electoral votings or physically prevent the transfer of power via riots is like sending Al Capone for tax evasion instead of running a national organized crime syndicate. Is THIS case really the most important one to put first?
Perhaps the best way to address this question is by first re-reading the details of the indictment. It provides more detail than previously known about the sensitivity of the documents involved. The indictment includes 31 criminal counts each mapped to specific documents for which the indictment only identifies the security classification and an approximate origination date of the document. The nature of those documents implied by that information is jaw dropping. Now consider that prior paperwork for subpoenas and search warrants referenced over THREE HUNDRED classified documents. The fact that the indictment is omitting references to HUNDREDS of documents is an indication of the criticality of some of the information impacted. Much of the material may still be so sensitive the DOJ, military and intelligence organizations cannot allow its existence to be disclosed to a jury of average Americans.
After pondering THAT aspect of the indictment, a second re-read of the indictment makes it clear that the facts of this case are much easier to explain to a jury pool. They don't involve warped interpretations of constitutional law, bizarre theories about specially formed State Legislature panels picking alternate slates of electors for the Electoral College, computer security issues tied to bogus claims about electronic voting fraud, etc. More importantly, all of the evidence supporting the criminal charges comes not from DOJ sources or material seized via search warrant (other than getting the documents back…). All of the evidence comes from individuals working for Trump in office or after leaving office, from photos taken by Trump employees of his resort, from conversations between Trump and his legal team or from conversations between Trump and visitors TRUMP brought into his environment at HIS request.
Aileen Cannon? You Can't Be Serious! -- As mentioned before, filing this indictment in the DC District Court might have resulted in the case eventually being tossed for being in the wrong venue based on where the crimes were actually committed. However, putting the case back in that district puts it up for assignment to any judge in that district, which --- SIGHHHHHH -- includes Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who interfered in spectacularly incompetent and suspect fashion when Trump filed motions earlier in this process to block the DOJ's use of materials seized via the search warrant.
In what has to be one of the most UNBELIEVABLE "random" occurrences in legal history, Aileen Cannon HAS IN FACT been initially assigned to hear this case, within hours of the filing of the charges becoming public on June 8, 2023. There are fifteen judges in the South Florida District and another eleven senior judges ("emeritus?") who work reduced caseloads for the district as well. Out of twenty six possible judges, the South Florida's back office process somehow "randomly" assigned Cannon to this case. The entire country will be watching to see if Cannon decides to recuse herself over justifiable concerns over her prior incompetent and seemingly biased interference with prior stages of this case. Or maybe Cannon will read the indictment like everyone else in the legal profession and conclude even she cannot remain in the tank for Trump and will attempt to manage the case without putting both thumbs on the scale on behalf of the man who appointed her to her position.
Regardless of what Cannon decides to do, the very fact the entire country is in a position where such a crucial case with incredible Constitutional and timeline sensitivities is now subject to the incompetence and likely delays related to bad rulings and motions from the defendant and prosecutor to argue those bad rulings is a sign of a MASSIVE failure of the judicial system in this country. Cannon should have been removed from the bench and disbarred for the gross incompetence she demonstrated in 2022. With probably any other judge, it would seem Jack Smith assembled a bulletproof collection of facts to support a conviction. With Cannon possibly affecting decisions about allowable evidence and directions to jurors, NOTHING is assured with this case. And the defendant gets appeals. The prosecution only gets one bite at the apple. If a judge cripples a case, there is no appeal.
If It's Tuesday, It Must be Miami -- A final dilemma that will become an immediately problem for justice in all things Trump is simply scheduling. Trump is already under criminal indictment in New York State court for tax fraud and business documents, now federal indictment in Florida for espionage, document handling and obstruction of justice charges. It seems clear there are additional state criminal charges coming in Georgia and two separate sets of criminal charges in DC related to electoral college voting fraud and insurrection charges. And Trump wants to run for President and will obviously demand he be allowed to prioritize "campaign events" over attending court proceedings or meeting with his counsel. All of the courts involved with all of these cases will need to enforce a consistent priority upon their shared defendant to make it clear these proceedings come first over whatever Trump expects to do as a candidate. Trump will scream such a prioritization amounts to campaign interference but all of these courts will need to counter that with a consistent message. Part of the downside of being a defendant is that you no longer control your calendar. Of course, each of the courts will need to carefully manage their calendar to ensure they don't work at cross purposes when scheduling appearances, etc. that allow Trump to delay proceedings.
WTH
