The Salem (Massachusetts) News
They are indelible images: Stacks of boxes stashed in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom, wedged between the shower and the toilet. Documents spilling onto the floor, their “classified” labels clearly visible.
Shocking enough. But in this case, the pictures tell only part of the story.
Sloppiness isn’t against the law. Concealing documents is. So is holding onto national defense information. And so is lying about it. Every other aspect of this circus is just that — a sideshow. Here’s hoping rational Americans see that way.
Former President Donald Trump was arraigned in Miami on 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information on June 13 as well as three counts of withholding or concealing documents in a federal investigation, false statements and conspiracy to obstruction.
Trump wants to portray the indictment as a political hit job by President Joe Biden, whom he hopes to unseat in 2024. He has called special prosecutor Jack Smith a “thug” and a “lunatic.”
“Today, we witnessed the most evil abuse of power in the history of our country,” Trump said in a speech after his arraignment. “This is called election interference and yet another attempt to rig and steal a presidential election. More importantly, it’s a political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or Communist nation.”
Contrast that with the plain, forceful language found in the indictment:
“The classified documents Trump stored in his boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack. The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.”
This is the justice system at work. Trump was indicted by a grand jury that drew its members from the Miami area, a region where the former president is extremely popular. The investigation relied on key testimony from a wide range of Trump allies and lawyers, former White House staffers and Republican operatives.
And it all could have been avoided had the former president simply returned the documents after being given multiple chances to do so. He chose not to, the indictment states, instead going to lengths to hold onto them.
There is no grand conspiracy against the former president. He has never hidden his actions, always working in plain view and claiming aggrieved victim status when he’s held accountable.
Trump and his supporters have argued that charging a candidate during an election season is tantamount to treason. It is not. These are felony crimes. It would have been treason to ignore them.