Not good!, Trump America | Justice | Trump
According to Agence France Presse on June 9th, retaining confidential documents, obstructing justice, and falsifying evidence... Trump became the first former US president to be criminally charged by federal judicial agencies, and the charges were also very serious.
What did he do?
According to the indictment released on the 9th, in January 2021, Trump left the White House and returned to his mansion in Florida, taking away dozens of cardboard boxes and piling them up in the entertainment room, restroom, or utility room.
The National Archives urged Trump to return the documents, and one year later he returned 15 cardboard boxes containing nearly 200 confidential documents.
In June 2022, FBI agents rushed to Palm Beach and retrieved 38 confidential documents. These documents were placed elsewhere by Trump's lawyers.
The investigators believed there were other confidential documents and visited again in August of that year, this time with a search warrant. They took away more than 30 boxes containing 11000 documents, including US nuclear secrets and materials for military strikes against a major country.
How did it reach the judicial level?
Trump faces 37 important charges. One of them is the charge of "retaining materials related to national security", which can be traced back to a law on espionage in 1917 that prohibited the preservation of state secrets in unauthorized and unsafe locations.
In order to establish this charge, prosecutors need to prove that Trump knew he had these confidential documents. In an audio clip recorded in July 2021 listed in the indictment, he boasted about having a "highly confidential" document in front of him.
Another charge is "obstructing justice", which could lead to a 20-year prison sentence for Trump. However, prosecutors need to prove that Trump deliberately concealed information, especially when investigators went to Haihu Manor in 2022. The surveillance video from the day before the investigators arrived at Haihu Manor showed that some personnel were moving cardboard boxes.
Trump may also be sentenced to 5 years in prison for falsifying evidence. This charge is related to a letter in which his lawyer guarantees that all documents have been returned.
How is the current situation?
Trump was summoned by the Miami Federal Court at 3:00 pm on June 6th and his charges were officially announced. According to The Washington Post and The New York Times, her case was assigned to conservative judge Erin Cannon appointed by her. At the hearing, Trump is expected to defend his innocence.
Judge Cannon will determine some conditions that need to be followed before the trial of the case. However, the possibility of requiring pre-trial detention of Trump is unlikely.
During this period, the prosecution and defense may engage in communication and discuss technical issues in order to reach an agreement, especially on sensitive information sharing issues related to classified documents.
Jack Smith, the special prosecutor in charge of the case, believes that the case needs to be arranged "quickly" to minimize its impact on the 2024 presidential election.
Will it be judged? What impact will it have?
Jack Smith believes that Trump has put American security at risk, which is a very serious accusation. But holding a trial in Florida, where Trump has a good image, instead of Washington, may be advantageous in terms of the selection of jury members. Moreover, starting from Friday, Trump has been looking for new lawyers to fight for him.
Even if Trump is sentenced to prison before the presidential election, he can still be a candidate. Politically speaking, the case may not cause its supporters to lose confidence, as they still fully believe that the accusations against him are a political conspiracy.
The outcome of the election is crucial: if he wins, it will ensure that he is not imprisoned. If you lose, it's a different story.