Federal Prosecution on June 9, 2023, reveal the indictment This illustrates the government’s case against former President Donald J. Trump, who is accused of violating national security laws and obstructing justice.
the 49-page document Details of how Trump kept classified government documents — including papers related to US nuclear capabilities — scattered in boxes across his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida, long after his presidency ended in 2021 and the government has tried to retrieve them.
The indictment also shows that Trump Exchange of classified information for national defense With people without any security clearance, including a member of the political action committee.
There are 38 criminal charges against Trump – 31 of them related to withholding national defense information. Five counts of concealing possession of classified documents, and two of giving false statements.
“My office will seek a speedy trial of this matter, consistent with the public interest and the rights of the defendants,” said US Attorney General Jack Smith, who has been appointed to oversee the investigation into Trump’s possession of the documents.
The conversation spoke to Criminal legal scholar Gabriel J at UC Davis School of Law on the main points of the unsealed indictment — and the new open questions it raises about Trump’s alleged criminal activity.
Conversation: What is the significance of the Department of Justice’s dismissal of the indictment on June 9, before Trump turns himself in to authorities?
Gabriel J. ChenIn the federal system, indictments are not automatically sealed, and so either the United States Special Counsel did not ask for them to be sealed or the judge refused to seal them. I suspect it will likely be the first. This is not the case in which active elements of the investigation are still ongoing. The case was ready to go, and it makes no difference from the government’s point of view whether the indictment was revealed today or not, because the case is in the box.
What distinguishes an indictment?
One thing that really stood out was the extensive personal involvement of Donald Trump himself in this alleged activity. Usually, when a large corporation is sued, the CEO doesn’t drop everything and start looking at the documents. This is what many other professionals do. The details of Trump’s alleged direct personal involvement in the affair were striking.
Second, one of the challenges here is that prosecutors are trying to hold Trump accountable for a file Affidavit signed by the attorney which included incorrect statements that Trump did not have the documents the government was asking him to return. And to make this case stick, prosecutors will really have to show that Trump himself was involved.
Count 32 in the indictment focuses on conspiracy and charges against Trump and his aide Walt Nauta, as well as “others known and unknown to the grand jury.” The US Attorney reserves the right to say that others were conspirators, and that will have consequences. Who are these other people? Is the government’s theory that Trump’s lawyers were innocent morons and he fed them false information, or did they know participants in this crime? No one else is named, but we are told – through “others known and unknown” – that there are certainly others.
Why did the indictment focus on the movement of boxes containing classified information in Mar-a-Lago?
The main reason is that all cartoons require some kind of intention. None of these charges will apply to someone trying to comply with the law. Prosecutors must prove that what was happening here was an intentional and calculated action.
Another reason goes back to the previous one Secretary of State Hillary Clinton And Former Vice President Mike Pence And President Joe Bidenwho faced their own inquiries into possession of classified documents.
As former FBI Director James Comey said in 2016 Clinton was not paid For using her personal email for government work, there were considerations that prompted him to do so. People who make honest mistakes and cooperate in good faith are not charged because, first, it is difficult to prove a case of wrongdoing. And there’s some fairness to say that you don’t want to make the public service a booby trap where if you let your guard down for one second, you could end up in jail.
In this indictment, prosecutors take pains to tell the whole story and explain why the actions detailed were wrongful. It seems that they want to explain why the circumstances in this case justified the charges and that this is not a “dead end!” The case where someone kept 200 carefully vetted cases of documents and one or two that were accidentally mixed up.
What is the significance of the numerous criminal charges facing Trump?
Under sentencing guidelines, which are normally followed, a conviction on all counts is likely to result in a relatively short sentence or no imprisonment at all. However, it is important to note that, in theory, Trump could be sentenced to the fullest extent on each count. The sentence can be carried out on all counts in a row, which could result in a sentence in the neighborhood of 400 years. I don’t think that will ever happen, but it underscores the judge’s power to rule in a case like this.
Gabriel J. Chen He is world of criminal law at University of California, Davis School of Law