Trump’s Stolen the Nuclear Codes! – Opinion

Jim Thompson, image

 

The frenetic, frothing-at-the-mouth the left is engaging in is something to behold. Ron Reiner, a meathead, is willing to go down the deepest rabbit holes in order to assert that Trump was finally captured with his finger in the nuclear cookie jar.

Trump’s finally going to jail!

No, he’s not.

I wasn’t a federal prosecutor so I don’t know, and can’t guess what the Justice Department has planned, but as a common trial lawyer, my reading of the warrant inventory list tells me that what the Feds have cooked up is damn thin. President Trump has all the power to declassify and classify whatever he likes. Just because the left hates Trump with the heat of a thousand suns doesn’t reduce Trump’s chief of the executive branch and Commander in Chief status.

Evidently, the Justice Department believed that descending upon Mar-a-Lago at night, unannounced was the best way to stop Trump from burning or flushing the evidence down the toilet. The problem with an “exigent circumstances” assertion (requiring a warrant and raid) is that Trump has had the claimed documents for 19 months. The fact that Trump signed the warrant last Friday at 12 :12 p.m. is just as troubling (and leads to bad faith). It wasn’t executed for an additional three days. Trump’s claim that he might sell nuclear secrets or leave them out for his golf pals to examine is laughable.

These are the criminal codes which, according to the Justice Department are affected

  • 18 USC § 793 – The Espionage Act. This statute “prohibits communicating, transmitting, or delivering to any person not entitled to receive it ‘any document, writing, … or note relating to the national defense,’ or attempting to do so.”
  • 18 USC § 2071. This law prohibits the removal of “any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office. . .”
  • 18 USC § 1519. This statute prohibits the destruction of “any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States.” As you can imagine, the press is giddy with allegations the former President violated the Espionage Act.

Based on what I know so far, it is difficult to imagine how Trump would be held criminally responsible.  Trump isn’t an easy target. He’s a former president who had the final word on any classification of documents. This seems like a scam to search for J6 documents, unless they have video footage of Trump giving nuclear secrets to North Korea.

And finally – the statutes require intent. To suggest that Trump packed his own boxes and secreted away top secret documents related to the nation’s nuclear arsenal is about as believable as Trump smuggling a nuke named “Bigly Boy” out on Marine One.

I for one can’t wait for the “put up or shut up” stage.

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