Mar-a-Lago ‘Raid’: Two-Tiered Justice? | Newsbusters

Attorney General Merrick Garland justified the unprecedented FBI raid of the residence of a former president by saying: “The department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.”

After the Department of Justice requested, Magistrate Bruce Reinhart released the warrant and the list of items. According to The Wall Street Journal, the FBI “removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret … and … took around 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Mr. Trump’s ally Roger Stone.”

DOJ cites evidence as to probable cause Trump may have violated Section 201 of the Espionage Act. It also claims that Trump removed government records and destroyed records. The president and any government entity involved in a dispute about documents and materials that can be taken away and returned should work out the details.

Problem is that there appears to be a dual system of justice. One for Trump and one for laws and subpoenas. Eric Holder was the then-President of Democratic Party. Lois Lerner (IRS official) was charged with withholding the grant of tax-exempt status and refusing to comply with a congressional Subpoena. Sandy Berger (National Archives), was removed from the National Archives and destroyed. Secretary Hillary Clinton has been accused of violating the Espionage Act.

Consider Clinton’s violation of the Espionage Act due to the private server that she placed in her basement. This server was used by Clinton to send and receive classified information. About Clinton and her staff, then-FBI head James Comey said, “there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” But he concluded that Clinton was not engaged in “clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information.”

But does the relevant part of the Espionage Act require “intent”?

Political columnist and commentator Charles Krauthammer wrote: “This is baffling. According to the law (18 U.S.C. The statute (18 U.S.C. The evidence, as outlined by Comey, is overwhelming.”

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy wrote: “The question is whether she knew classified info would end up on the server, and her set-up made that inevitable. … Clinton could’ve been prosecuted either for willfully mishandling classified info or for doing so through gross negligence.”

Peter van Buren, a 24-year veteran of the State Department, wrote: “While Comey maintains there was no intent or gross negligence by Clinton to violate the law, it is difficult to reconcile her actions and his statement. … The standards applied in the Clinton case are at variance with how classified information violations elsewhere in the government are handled.”

Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz wrote: “Berger was administratively fined, and Mrs. Clinton was rebuked by James Comey, then director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which might have cost her the 2016 election. But neither was subjected to broad search warrants or criminal prosecution.”

The affidavit that was used to warrant the search and whether Trump violated any laws regarding the removal of materials from the White House are just a few things we don’t yet know. But given the treatment of top Democratic officials versus the treatment of Trump, did the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago meet what Garland called the “standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative a search”?

The optics are at the most, very bad.

Larry Elder is an author best-seller and a national syndicated radio talk-show presenter. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry Elder on Twitter @larryelder. You can also find cartoonists as well as creators syndicate writers on the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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