Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow
Indeed there is. Biden and Pence both cooperated fully with the Archives and DOJ. Had Trump fully cooperated with Archives and DOJ during the 1.5 years before the subpoena, he would have been fine.
|
That's certainly the way it has been characterized by the media. However, there's a legal process described here where documents can be recovered by the National Archives described here:
https://www.archives.gov/research/re...sequences.html. This is a civil process, not a criminal process.
Smith is pursuing criminal charges. "Obstruction" seems to be a pretty subjective construct. The Espionage Act charges are a different matter entirely. To obtain a conviction against Trump, the government will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he willfully retained the material and failed to turn it over to the government.
We don't know all the info that the prosecution and the defense have in this case. For example, if Trump didn't pack the contents of every box - which seems likely - and didn't know where every single box was kept - which also seems likely - did he have "intent" to not return all the materials. As we've heard before, intent may be key.
Again, not a defense of Trump (are you paying attention here Chickie? Probably not). What's puzzling to me is that clearly neither Biden nor Pence are protected individuals under the Presidential Records Act. So, why the low key approach in those cases by Justice and the FBI?