If the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home did uncover classified documents, the Department of Justice will find itself in an unprecedented situation: Mulling whether to indict a former U.S. president. The release of the search warrant used for Trump’s home showed that it authorized the seizure of “any documents with classification markings” as well as “information regarding national defense or classified material.” A judge has yet to decide on whether to make public the affidavit the FBI used to obtain the search warrant. Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence says if Trump had classified nuclear documents in his possession, the DOJ has no choice but to prosecute him:
Knowledge of the type of documents that Trump was housing now really brings into focus past concerns about his handling or mishandling, shall I say, of nuclear intel. For example, back in February 2019, the House issued this report titled, “Whistleblowers raised grave concerns with Trump administration’s efforts to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.” The following month, Trump approved in secret, six secret authorizations by companies to sell nuclear power, technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia. Since Trump left office, the Saudis have quote-unquote, “invested” $2 billion with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. And most recently, the Saudis paid Trump an unknown sum of money to host two professional golf tournaments at his properties. I would not be surprised if Trump tried to sell our nuclear secrets to the Saudis or to the highest bidder.
Regardless of whether Trump was successful in selling such secrets, or even if he tried to do so, Trump appears to have violated a host of laws. Simply knowingly removing classified documents from the White House with the intent of keeping them in an authorized location is a crime. Under the Espionage Act, it’s also a crime to knowingly possess National Defense Information without authorization. And that happens to be an issue that’s under scrutiny right now, because whether Trump as a former president had authorization is questionable by virtue of that whole “former” status. You know, he lacks security clearance, and pursuant to the Presidential Records Act and so on.
As much as Trump wants to cast this as a witch hunt, we the People deserve to trust that our leaders and former leaders are not going to sell us out to make a buck or buddy up with our nation’s enemies to make a point. If Attorney General Merrick Garland meant what he said in terms of no one being above the law, he is going to pursue prosecuting Trump to the fullest extent. Our national security deserves protection, just as our democracy demands justice.