Trump in new legal jeopardy over classified documents
Former President Donald Trump may be in legal jeopardy again after the National Archives informed him it will turn over documents to the special counsel investigation proving that he and his team knew the rules for declassification.
The records will send Smith 16 documents showing that he and his advisers knew they could not ignore the declassification rules.
“The 16 files in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of which were addressed to you personally, about whether, why and how you should release certain classified documents,” archivist Debra Steidel Wall said in a letter to Trump.
Smith served a subpoena for the documents earlier this year, seeking evidence that Trump knew how to release documents, but simply did not.
Former President Donald Trump may be in legal jeopardy again after the National Archives informed him it will turn over documents to the Special Counsel investigation proving he and his team knew the rules for declassification
Trump’s legal team has claimed his role as president meant he didn’t have to follow a specific process to release the documents, according to CNN.
They quoted a source close to the president as saying he has received several similar letters from the National Archives since the investigation began.
“This crazy special prosecutor named Jack Smith,” is how the former president referred to the man who tapped Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead the investigation. the race for the White House.
Last week at a town hall, Trump told interviewer Kaitlan Collins “they will be released automatically if I take them.”
Trump has accused the special counsel of “threatening people” — and of using pinch tactics on witnesses by dangling relief.
“We have this Jack Smith nut who threatens people every day through his agents. They threaten jail time. But talk about Trump and you go free. This is where we are as a nation. Who would have thought? They can’t beat us at the ballot box, so they’re trying to get us through the law. That’s the country we live in.’
Trump denied wrongdoing and denied having a sexual relationship with Daniels.
Special Counsel Smith is investigating Trump separately over the alleged assault of hundreds classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, as well as possible attempts to impede that investigation.
Justice Department special counsel leading the investigation, Jack Smith, has cast a wide net in interviews, seeking testimony from a long list of former Trump aides
The archives will send Smith 16 records showing that he and his advisers knew they could not ignore the declassification rules
Trump’s lawyers in that investigation called the Justice Department’s investigation “seriously botched” and “politically infected” and urged the House Intelligence Committee to intervene by holding hearings and introducing legislation to limit the proceedings. for handling classified documents in the White House and correct procedures for presidents and vice presidents for when they leave office.
“DOJ should be ordered to step down, and the intelligence community should instead conduct an appropriate investigation and issue a full report to this committee, as well as your counterparts in the Senate,” the attorneys wrote.
It is unclear when any of the Special Prosecutor’s investigations will end or who, if any, will be charged.
Trump’s allegations of pressure from Smith came on a day when a three-judge panel in the DC Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Meadows and other top associates subpoenaed must testify.
Meadows provided critical advice to Trump and traveled to Georgia on his behalf amid Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. Meadows was present for Trump’s infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffesnperger, where Trump told him, “I just want to find 11,780 votes” — one more than he needed to win the state.
Authorities stand outside Mar-a-Lago, the residence of former President Donald Trump, amid reports the FBI is executing a search warrant as part of a documents search
Trump suggested he might have won the election if Hunter Biden’s ‘laptop from hell’ came out sooner, going after the FBI and big tech
Trump attacked Judge Juan Merchan hours after being issued a warning about “words or conduct that could jeopardize the rule of law as it applies to these proceedings in this courtroom.”
Trump railed against investigators in a speech at his private club Mar-a-Lago
He also went after “the illegal and unconstitutional attack on Mar-a-Lago here” — referring to the FBI’s search for classified material under a subpoena.
Trump went on a rampage against Smith after he lashed out at Judge Juan Merchan, who presides over the Stormy Daniels case and previously oversaw proceedings in which Trump Org has long been present. CFO Allen Weisselberg sentenced to five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud.
“Recently we had another court case and the same judge told the fine man who worked for me for many, many years that if you plead guilty you will be in jail for 90 days. But if you don’t, if we go through a trial and you’re found guilty, you’re gone for 10 years and maybe more.
Trump also attacked Mercan as a “Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and a family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris,” in an attack that drew groans from a packed crowd of supporters and Mar-a-Lago members.
Trump also spent time chasing Hunter Biden and his infamous laptop during his remarks, which came just hours after he was arrested and pleaded not guilty at his Manhattan arraignment.
He seemed to suggest that he would have won the election if media companies and government agents had acted differently regarding the laptop, which contains a wealth of personal information about the president’s son, as well as emails about a range of business relationships.
A court sketch of Donald Trump in court in NYC on April 4
And recently the FBI and DOJ conspired with Twitter and Facebook to say nothing bad about the Hunter Biden laptop from hell, exposing the Biden family as criminals in which pollsters say would have made a 17-point difference in the election results – we needed much less, about 16.9 million; said Trump. It would have been to our advantage. Not my favour, us favor because our country is going to hell.”
Trump allies obtained a copy of the laptop from a Delaware computer store owner, who said he had also given it to the FBI. The New York Post reported on its contents weeks before the election.
Trump’s attacks on Judge Merchan came earlier in the Manhattan courtroom despite warnings to both sides.
“I encourage counsel for both sides to speak to your witnesses, defense counsel to speak to your client and remind them to refrain from making statements likely to incite violence and civil unrest,” he said.
“Refrain from behavior that could incite violence or cause civil unrest,” he warned.
“Do not leave with words or conduct that could jeopardize the rule of law as it applies to these proceedings in this courtroom.”
Trump attorney Todd Blanche agreed, telling the judge, “We can only do so much.”
On the document search, Trump said he had done nothing wrong, despite government investigators finding hundreds of documents marked “secret.”
“As president, I have the right to declassify,” he said, while Joe Biden didn’t have that when he was vice president.
He said he “negotiated in good faith” with the National Archives and Records Administration, a group he also attacked.
“We negotiated in good faith, in the proper manner, to return some or all of the documents that I took openly and in plain sight to Mara Lago from our beautiful White House,” he said.