It's Over, Trump Will Be Indicted
(1) Trump was in unauthorized possession of national defense information, namely properly marked classified documents.
(2) He was put on notice by the U.S. Government that he was not permitted to retain those documents at Mar-a-Lago.
(3) He continued to maintain possession of the documents (and allegedly undertook efforts to conceal them in different places throughout the property) up until the FBI finally executed a search warrant earlier this month.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Mar-a-Lago Madness
There is little left for the Justice Department to do but decide whether to wait until after the midterms to formally seek the indictment from the grand jury.
Brad Moss
Updated Aug. 26, 2022 6:21PM ET / Published Aug. 26, 2022 6:01PM ET 
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
I have finally seen enough. Donald Trump will be indicted by a federal grand jury.
You heard me right: I believe Trump will actually be indicted for a criminal offense. Even with all its redactions, the probable cause affidavit published today by the magistrate judge in Florida makes clear to me three essential points:
(1) Trump was in unauthorized possession of national defense information, namely properly marked classified documents.
(2) He was put on notice by the U.S. Government that he was not permitted to retain those documents at Mar-a-Lago.
(3) He continued to maintain possession of the documents (and allegedly undertook efforts to conceal them in different places throughout the property) up until the FBI finally executed a search warrant earlier this month.
That is the ball game, folks. Absent some unforeseen change in factual or legal circumstances, I believe there is little left for the Justice Department to do but decide whether to wait until after the midterms to formally seek the indictment from the grand jury.
The cruelest irony for Trump is that it never needed to be this way.
Put aside that in the chaos following his election loss Trump's team never undertook the normal procedure for properly sorting through and archiving his presidential records in coordination with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Put aside that properly marked classified records were shipped to Mar-a-Lago and sat there for months until he began turning stuff over to NARA in late 2021.
If he had fully cooperated at that point, and returned all of the records to NARA last year, this likely never would have become a criminal matter. DOJ would have declined to take any action, notwithstanding the existence of the classified records, and it would have been a "no harm, no foul" situation. Just another minor story in the Trump saga of incompetence.
"Just ask Sidney Powell how well it works to try to litigate in court the way you argue on cable news. Hint: it does not go well."
But Trump just could not bring himself to play by the rules. He turned over 15 boxes last January but did not turn over all the records. Political operatives from conservative organizations started whispering into his ear that he had legal precedent on his side to refuse to turn over the classified records to NARA (he did not). His lawyers surprisingly wrote a rather condescending letter to DOJ in May 2022, effectively arguing that even if there were still classified records at Mar-a-Lago the FBI lacked the authority to take any criminal action against Trump given his former status as president. Then, in June 2022 after the FBI executed a subpoena to recover more records at Mar-a-Lago, two Trump lawyers wrote (and one signed) a sworn affidavit reassuring the government there were no more classified records at the property.
We now know that statement was not true. The FBI found multiple more classified records, including some with markings for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) during the search this month, and not just located in the storage room with the other boxes of records. They found records located in different parts of Mar-a-Lago.
Of course, there are various arguments for why a prosecution might not succeed in this situation.
There is the contention by Trump and his allies that he declassified the documents, whether through a "standing order" or more specific verbal action. No evidence has been produced corroborating that assertion, and there certainly is no indication that the classification markings themselves were ever revised to reflect the declassification. The Trump lawyers in May certainly did not provide any such evidence in their letter to DOJ, and they similarly provided no evidence of it in their "motion" filed earlier this week in district court in Florida seeking a Special Master.
And that is before we even consider if the classification status would matter for an Espionage Act prosecution, which only requires that the information relate to the national defense.
There is also the issue of selective political prosecution and supposed bad faith by the government in its decision to pursue the case. This is something that has been mentioned ad nauseum by Trump allies on cable news, and was briefly mentioned in the "motion" filed earlier this week in court. Lacking from those arguments is anything beyond rank speculation. That will not fly in court. Just ask Sidney Powell how well it works to try to litigate in court the way you argue on cable news. Hint: it does not go well.
All in all, this case should and in my opinion will result in an indictment. Sure, an indictment does not equal a conviction. Trump is still assumed innocent until proven guilty. There are unknown variables like whether the prosecution would occur in Florida or in D.C. We do not know what evidence Trump might have to substantiate his declassification claim. And we do not know what the courts would say about his various arguments.
Get the popcorn ready either way.
Bradley P. Moss is a Partner and national security attorney at the Washington, D.C. Law Office of Mark S. Zaid, P.C. He can be found on Twitter at @BradMossEsq.
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I think Trump will look good in orange.
I’ve never thought that he looked good, but you have your own opinion.
... with a red tie down to his knees, matching nose, a pair of red clown shoes, and a maga hat.
I don’t think that you are allowed that in prison.
Thankfully, Putin and Trump have lost their bid to take over America in the name of fascism.
Seriously?!
I would rather seem him locked up for trying to steal the election. That is the more important matter.
If they are actually going to indict this man they should get it over with.
I can't go through another year of waiting for the Mueller Report, ehh, Garland Indictment.
That is something else Clinton got away with
Do tell. Tell us about how Hillary was president of the United States and tried to get her vice president to declare the electoral votes in 7 states were invalid and not to be counted.
That did happen, right?
I never said that. I am forever grateful to God or the supreme being of your choice that Trump beat her and she never ever will be president.
Wishful thinking. IMO he will never end up having a conviction stand. What are the odds of putting together a jury that doesn't have a Trumpsucker who lies about his neutrality and hangs the jury, and failing that, he will appeal all the way up to the SCOTUS that he owns. I foresee lots of show, but he won't end up being jailed where he belongs.
Bill Maher made a similar point on his show tonight while he was talking to Rob Reiner and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
He also said that in his opinion Trump just took everything he had in the Oval Office with him when he moved out because in Trump's simple brain everything in the office was his. And that led to very important documents being stored in boxes right near where they rent out the golf carts.
Say what you will about Bill Maher but comedians have excellent insight into the ways people's minds work.
"Great minds........etc."
Tell me where you will find 12 impartial people that has never heard of him. That is kind of the same problem with Hillary..
I know. It's impossible. In circumstances like that I just don' t know how a jury can be a valid decision-maker. I assume there is no alternative available, such as a panel of judges. Import a panel of 3 Canadian judges who have no party loyalties.
It's a damn shame that liberals don't tend to be assassins.
[deleted]
It might have to be a silver bullet.
You give him way too much credit.
Trump is just a small stupid idiot.
Damn! I sure wish you would stop looking in the mirror when you are making comments
Please don't make comments like that.
It's one thing to vent it is another thing completely to fantasize about the assassination of a former president. The Secret Service sometimes shows up at people's doors for unwise comments on internet forums.
We can hope.
I am just one of many who say they wish it but would never go there.
Sure wouldn't want him to become a martyr!
I am one who believes in the rule of law.
Unlike Trump.
Lest we forget....
Or as I like to put it, "Texas School Books have been helping to make liberals disappear since 1963."
Unless a liberal is involved in breaking the law then you don't really give a damn about the law
It's a damn shame that liberals don't tend to be assassins
They were all assassinated by far-right wing operatives. That is what Trump does.
Especially Epstein. Trump couldn't have him talking.
Trump wasn't on the manifest for Epstein's airplane going to his pedophile island like Bill was
No, but Trump WAS listed as a Co-Defendant with Jeffrey Epstein in underage RAPE Charges, but since the young accuser did not show up, case was dropped. Imagine that, some poor teenager VS two very wealthy old White Guys, and then she isn't available....And yea,I know you want to defend our former Raper in Chief, cause it doesn't sound at all like 45. As he has about 20 sexual harrasmemt suits against him,and by his own words," just grabs em by the pussy", so, yea, i'm sure he would never
I am in no way defending Bill Clinton. He settled his lawsuit and paid $850,000 to Paula Jones and was disbarred about for sexual misconduct on Monica Lewinsky
So tell me when did Trump have to pay a fine and/or lose a professional license because of sexual misconduct?
One could say Hillary Clinton but a bucket of water will suffice for that witch
Hillary has always told the truth.
Trump has never told the truth since he was a small child.
There have been many books written as to this fact.
Trump has always been a bully and a liar for his whole life.
Screw all high school dropouts who believe anything Trump has to say.
Very few in MAGA ever earned even a high school degree.
The uneducated are Trump's base.
I wouldn't go THAT far.
Be honest. You didn't write that with a straight face did you?
Written by no nothing liberals no doubt
Liberals are 6 more times likely to graduate college than conservatives
Conservatives are ten more times likely to drop out of college than liberals.
That's because they find out that college is not the be all and end all in life. They see that the the cost does not always equal a decent wage. They also don't want to be a leech on society. They find that trade schools and working with your hands can be just as rewarding as college
And many of those liberal graduate qualified to be a barista at Starbucks and live in their parents basement if they are lucky.
Oh! BTW! Say hi to your mom in your way down there
Damn coffee on my shirt now.
Sorry ( not)
That may be the dumbest thing ever posted on the internet. WTF?
2016 saw a race between the two biggest liars ever to run for president.
Trump and Ted Cruz?
Hillary beats Ted any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Not really. In fact, you're being preposterous.
Really. You may have an opinion but you have no fact.
Hopefully Al Capone won’t be the only high profile criminal who dies of syphilis in prison, thanks to a conviction for one of thousands of crimes he assumed he could get away with.
You might want to check your gangster history. Al Capone died of a stroke at his mansion in Florida not in prison.
He was released from prison because he was dying of syphilis. That’s the only way Donald Trump should be released from prison. He can trade in his porn star sex partners for some diseased prison cock.
No he was released because he served his sentence for tax evasion. He did have neurosyphilis while in prison but penicillin was discovered and he was being treated with it. He died of a stroke in 1947
You going to be first in line to get some from him?
More than likely he handed down those porn stars to Hunter.
Heck he probably got them from Hunter.
Trump won't be indicted or charged with any crime. Any attempt before the midterms will be seen as attempting to influence or interfere with an election. After the midterms it won't matter.