Home Opinion Anti-Trump Political Witch Hunt or Valid Criminal Indictments?

Anti-Trump Political Witch Hunt or Valid Criminal Indictments?

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – Former President Donald Trump faces a slew of legal onslaughts, the latest being a federal indictment by Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) for violating the Espionage Act by mishandling classified information.

Like the FBI raid on his Florida home, this divisive and politically charged indictment is an unprecedented development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government.

And the political fallout will be huge.

Trump denies any wrongdoing and is calling the indictments a witch hunt. And yes, he has been unfairly targeted before – many times.

But is this case really part of that same anti-Trump vendetta? And does it matter?

The latest indictment is for the willful retention of highly classified national security documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, corruptly concealing documents, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.

Many will point to the later discovery of classified documents in Joe Biden’s homes and properties connected to him without him facing criminal charges (yet) as proof that this is an anti-Trump witch hunt.

Last week, the DOJ also cleared former Vice President Mike Pence of any wrongdoing after a small number of classified documents were found at his Indiana home in January.

Trump posted a slew of angry social media posts against federal investigators Tuesday highlighting different treatment.

“The Marxists and Fascists in the DOJ & FBI are going after me at a level and speed never seen before in our Country, and I did nothing wrong,” Trump wrote in one of several posts.

And yes, as I have repeatedly written about, the DOJ and the FBI have been heavily politicized, or even weaponized against conservatives.

But, as with Richard Nixon and Watergate, the problem for Trump here is the cover-up. Had he simply returned the documents once they were discovered, it would have been far less likely he would have been indicted.

Instead, Trump repeatedly refused to turn over the materials to federal officials once he left the White House, and then provided a series of bizarre justifications for his actions, before the FBI raided his home.

A separate special counsel is investigating Biden’s handling of classified material after documents were found at his Wilmington, Del., home and a Washington, D.C., office from his time as vice president. 

The difference here is Biden’s team alerted federal officials upon discovering the documents and promptly turned them over.

Trump’s own former Attorney General Bill Barr pushed back on Trump’s claims that a special counsel’s ongoing documents probe is politically motivated. 

As reported by The Hill:

“Over time, people will see that this is not a case of the Department of Justice conducting a witch hunt,” Barr said in an interview on CBS on Tuesday. “In fact, they approached this very delicately and with deference to the president, and this would have gone nowhere had the president just returned the documents. But he jerked them around for a year and a half.”

The indictment carries serious legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if he’s convicted. Trump will appear at a federal courthouse in Miami on June 13.

In March, the notoriously liberal, Soros-backed Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, indicted Trump on state charges related to hush-money payments to a former porn film star in 2016. 

That local indictment appears far more political and ‘Trumped-up’ (pun not intended) than this federal one. The trial for this case begins in March 2024.

Jack Smith, the special counsel coordinating federal investigations into the Espionage Act indictments, oversees other inquiries related to Trump, including those regarding the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021.

But none of this will prevent Trump from continuing his campaign for president. “Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” University of California, Los Angeles law professor Richard Hasen told CNN.

The Constitution requires only three things of candidates. They must be a natural-born citizen (not a naturalized one), at least 35 years old, and residents of the U.S. for at least 14 years.

So theoretically, Trump could be convicted and still be elected President.

Not only won’t this keep Trump from running, but it will probably help him with his core base of supporters in the GOP primary.

And Trump won’t even go to trial for any of this until well into the next presidential term.

But the optics and politics of all this is the biggest issue.

As the Daily Caller reported Pence as saying: “I think this is going to be terribly divisive for the country. I also think it sends a terrible message to the wider world that looks at America as a standard of not only democracy, but of justice.”

The question is when does all of this come to a head? And what will happen when it does?

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

8 COMMENTS

  1. FUCK THE DAMNED DEMOCRATS … ALL THE CAN DO IS GO ON WITCH HUNTS ! THEY LIE CHEAT AND STEAL AND JUST BECAUSE THE LIVE ON THE LEFT ARE CONSIDERED INNOCENT !
    I WILL NEVER EVER BOTE FOR SNY FUCKING DEMOCRAT !

  2. So when is the DOJ going to go after Hillary Clinton for her private email server that was used for official, potentially classified, State Dept emails? Oh I forgot, she is a Democrat and they are above the law!!

  3. So, why hasn’t Hillary been convicted? The Biden coverup since October of 2019. It is sickening what he and his administration have done to our country. We can’t afford food due to inflation yet we have millions crossing the border that our taxes are funding. Biden thinks he can just print money and it will be fine. Everyone says he would be a great president because he has been in government for 50 plus years which is true but he has done absolutely nothing for our country. He is a narcissist and a liar.

  4. The democrats are the chicken littles of the political world . Anyone who actually puts any value to their rants is in that category of too stupid to fix.

  5. Trump is guilty of underestimating his enemies, overestimating his popularity, and boundless arrogance. These flaws have enabled his enemies to flourish and convince the dummies that propagate the Democrat Party to be easaly fooled. He is his own worst enemy and he is dragging us down with him. If only he would wake up and wise up. We would all benefit. If he doesn’t we are doomed because the Democrat Party has been taken over by the radical leftist, Marxist, haters of America and its ideals.

  6. To finish, I believe the accusations against Trump are lies colluded by greedy, power-crazed criminals. I pray Trump will wise up and save AMERICA.

  7. Bill Clinton took home classified docs; Bush took home classified docs.
    0bama took home classified docs; Pence took home classified docs.
    Hillary Clinton had classified docs on her email server at her residence.
    Biden had classified docs in his garage.
    Trump is the ONLY ONE being indicted.
    It’s political & it’s DIRTY.
    It’s all part of the Democratic Marxists manipulation to push 0bama’s “Fundamental Transformation” from a Constitutional REPUBLIC to a Communist Dictatorship. And thus far, it’s working! 🤬

  8. Its a witch Hunt:
    Rigged evidence
    Planted evidence
    For politics
    Distract from Biden antics
    2024 for Deep State in election

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