Prosecutors' case highlights Trump's direct role in alleged mishandling of documents - analysts

Record ID: 1728766

  • Title: Prosecutors' case highlights Trump's direct role in alleged mishandling of documents - analysts
  • Date: 9th June 2023
  • Summary: BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES (JUNE 9, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(English) FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR AND ATTORNEY AT DYKEMA LAW FIRM, JENNIFER BEIDEL SAYING: "Somewhere in the high 90% of all federal cases end in pleas, it's something like 2 or 3% of federal cases result in a trial. Typically, a federal defendant will get a much better sentence out of a plea. There are points in the sentencing guidelines, calculation for acceptance of responsibility. On the flip side of that, if you go to trial and lie, you can get a higher sentence for obstruction of justice. So generally, in most federal cases, a defendant will face a substantially better outcome by pleading guilty. But in a lot of cases, the defendant, especially in a white-collar case, takes a while to come to grips with the fact that perhaps they've done something wrong and that they should voluntarily agree to face the consequence of that. I suspect that realization here will be incredibly difficult for the former president to face." WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JUNE 9, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(English) NATIONAL SECURITY DEFENSE ATTORNEY MARK ZAID, SAYING: "He relishes this, he thrives off of this, he's using it as an avenue to raise funds and bolster his political campaign. Now, from a political-strategic standpoint, and actually overlapping from a legal standpoint, that's not a bad strategy with respect to the federal charges. Go full blown bluster publicly, as much as you want to raise enough attention and money to try and strengthen your chances to win the presidency because winning the presidency means these federal charges vanish. As President of the United States, he can direct the Justice Department to drop the charges against him. And if he had already been convicted by that point in time, he could at least try and pardon himself, which is a completely open constitutional question because we've never faced it."
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2023 00:14
  • Keywords: Classified documents Donald Trump Federal indictmetn Jack Smtih Mar-a-Lago Special counsel Trump
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA007882009062023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. prosecutors unsealed a 37-count indictment against Donald Trump on Friday (June 09), accusing the former president of risking some of the country's most sensitive security secrets after leaving the White House in 2021.
    The indictment said Trump mishandled classified documents that included information about the secretive U.S. nuclear program and potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack.
    "Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced," U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, said at a press conference.
    Legal scholar Craig Green, a professor at Temple University School of Law, said the charging documents revealed just how active Trump allegedly was in concealing documents from authorities who were trying to recover them.
    Green said that could help prosecutors convince a jury that Trump illegally conspired to withhold those sensitive documents.
    "These questions of intent become very important," Greene said. "The closer and more attentive Trump has been to the location, the boxes, the harder it is for him to say, 'Oh, it was just a mistake.' It seems very clear that if he was personally involved, that he had a lot to say about where the boxes were. And then actually there's a lot of suggestion that he knew quite well that there were national defense documents and information inside."
    Trump also discussed with his lawyers the possibility of lying to government officials seeking to recover the documents; stored some documents in boxes around a toilet, and moved others around his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida to prevent them from being found, the charges said.
    "Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?" Trump said to one of his attorneys, according to the 49-page indictment.
    Unauthorized disclosure of classified documents posed a risk to U.S. national security, foreign relations, and intelligence gathering, prosecutors said.
    In theory, Trump could serve decades in prison if convicted, but legal analysts said a federal judge has great leeway and could impose a much lighter sentence, especially in the context of a plea deal.
    "Somewhere in the high 90% of all federal cases end in pleas, it's something like 2 or 3% of federal cases result in a trial," said former prosecutor Jennifer Beidel, of the Dykema law firm in Michigan. "Typically, a federal defendant will get a much better sentence out of a plea. There are points in the sentencing guidelines calculation for acceptance of responsibility. On the flip side of that, if you go to trial and lie, you can get a higher sentence for obstruction of justice."
    Trump has proclaimed his innocence and has shown no signs of wanting to negotiate a plea deal with prosecutors. Trump and his allies have portrayed the case as political retaliation by Democratic President Joe Biden, but Biden has kept his distance. The White House said Biden had no advance knowledge of the indictment, and he later declined to comment when reporters asked about it.
    The indictment of a former U.S. president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history and emerges at a time when Trump is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination next year.
    National security defense attorney Mark Zaid said fighting the charges at trial might be the best strategic move for Trump.
    "That's not a bad strategy with respect to the federal charges: go full blown bluster publicly, as much as you want to raise enough attention and money to try and strengthen your chances to win the presidency," Zaid said. "Because winning the presidency means these federal charges vanish. As President of the United States, he can direct the Justice Department to drop the charges against him. And if he had already been convicted by that point in time, he could at least try and pardon himself, which is a completely open constitutional question because we've never faced it."
    Trump is due to make his first appearance in the case in a Miami court on Tuesday (June 13), a day before his 77th birthday.
    (Production: Tom Rowe)
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