Powerful New Mar-a-Lago Docs Revelations Make Case Against Trump Even Stronger

Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note | June 1, 2023

Recent developments have further imperiled former President Donald Trump as Special Counsel Jack Smith appears close to deciding whether to indict Trump for taking and retaining classified and top-secret documents that did not belong to him.

A recent Washington Post report indicated that boxes of documents were removed from their storage area at Mar-a-Lago a day before FBI agents arrived to retrieve documents under a subpoena for all classified and top-secret documents that Trump had improperly taken from the White House.

A search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago a couple of months later turned up more than 100 classified documents that Trump had improperly taken and kept in contravention of the subpoena.

The moving of the boxes out of the storage room was apparently done to prevent the government from retrieving documents. It provides strong evidence of potential obstruction of justice by Trump.

In a second development, a CNN report revealed on Wednesday that the Justice Department has a recording from the summer of 2021 of Trump discussing a classified document he had taken from the White House that dealt with a potential attack on Iran. According to CNN: “On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.”

This recording addresses two issues that are relevant to Trump’s potential criminal activity.

First, it demonstrates that Trump knew the documents he had taken remained classified, thus refuting his claims that the documents were declassified simply by his taking them from the White House. Second, it shows that Trump knew he did not have the power to declassify the documents once he was out of office.

A third report from last September in The New York Times revealed that Trump had been warned in late 2021 that he could face legal liability consequences if he did not return the materials he took with him when he left the White House.

These reports combine to add powerful evidence to the already powerful case about Trump’s potential criminal activity.

The reports show that Trump knowingly took classified documents when he left office, that he knew he could not declassify the documents he took, and that he was on notice that he could face legal consequences for keeping them.

Some Trump supporters may argue that there was no damage done.

While we cannot know just how much damage was done, Trump apparently violated important laws that deal with protecting classified and top-secret documents – laws that are designed to protect the nation’s national security.

The unsecured documents at Mar-a-Lago included one describing a foreign government’s military defenses and its nuclear capabilities and others provided information on top-secret U.S. operations. The documents also included highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China, and information describing Iran’s missile program.

Some Trump supporters may argue that there is no difference between what Trump did and what former Vice President Joe Biden and what former Vice President Mike Pence did.

Of course, there is a difference.

There is no evidence that Biden or Pence intentionally took the documents to keep or that they interfered with the government’s efforts to retrieve them. Trump fails on both counts.

There was a powerful case that Trump engaged in unlawful activities even before these developments. The latest damming revelations make the case even stronger, and we don’t know what additional evidence the Justice Department may have.

Special Counsel Smith should indict Trump for improperly taking top-secret and classified documents from the White House and also for obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve the documents.

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Fred’s Weekly Note appears each Thursday in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s and other recent newsletters here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.