U.S.A v. Trump

Donald J. Trump

A grand jury indicted Donald John Trump in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Let’s be clear about several thing, straightaway:

• Everyone is presumptively innocent until a jury renders a guilty verdict.
• The indictment and the evidence have not been shared by the government.
• No one – in my humble opinion – should take pleasure about the fact of this indictment, but Mr. Trump created this situation completely. The indictment does not make our nation a banana republic. Bad acts deserve appropriate consequences!

People get prosecuted for taking classified documents. Former CIA Director and General David Petraeus. (Probation for 2 years and a $100,000 fine.) Sandy Berger, former National Security Advisor. (Probation for 2 years, a $50,000 fine, and community service. Asia Janay Lavarello, a former DoD employee. (Three months in prison and a $5500 fine.) Etc.

No president has ever been indicted for taking and wrongfully retaining classified documents. (Truth be told, no former president has ever been indicted for anything … but for Mr. Trump. Of course, we have never elected a more crooked man to serve as our POTUS, and that includes Richard M. Nixon.) This case has so much STUPID about it, for the Justice Department gave Mr. Trump several opportunities to remedy the situation, long before the raid issuance of the search warrant that established that Mr. Trump wrongfully retained classified documents. (In addition to the Espionage Act charges associated with taking and refusing to return the documents, Mr. Trump likely faces charges that he obstructed justice by interfering with an official investigation and, perhaps, tampered with one or more witnesses.)

Mr. Trump will get his days in a courtroom before a jury or a judge as the finder of fact. Rules apply, and they matter. What Mr. Trump shares on Truth Social and other social media platforms will never help him, but the government can certainly use statements – those already made, and those which his immaturity will not allow him to stop making – against him.

Mr. Trump is the client from Hell for any competent lawyer. He listens to no one, seemingly. His mouth and fingers have no screens or filters, and he’s a corrupt, dishonest, and evil human being. (Oh, he’s also a Slow Pay client. UGH!!!) Nevertheless, he will get representation and a chance to make the government prove its charges. Rightly, for sure, a criminal case requires the government to toe the line at every turn. Mr. Trump will get every opportunity to challenge the government’s allegations and, in fact, many more opportunities than his “lock ‘em up” constituents think the system should offer to indicted individuals other than Mr. Trump.

Special Counsel Jack Smith and his people have lots of credentials and experience, and plenty of independence. Cases twist and turn, but we can rest assured that Mr. Smith did not seek an indictment without an appreciation for what he was doing. No one went out looking for this one; instead, Mr. Trump forced it on us.

You reap what you sow. Galatians 6:7-9. Boy howdy!!!

[The indictment.]