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From the search warrant: alleged violations of 793 and 2071.
793 is pretty much all encompassing, and can get him as much as 10 years. Even if he had the papers legally, causing them to be removed from their proper custodial places is illegal.
2071 has to do with concealment and removal of said documents, enough to get him another 3 years. But, it also takes away his right to ever hold office again. This is what we want.
So, if they counted each doc as a single instance or violation of these two codes, they might each be worth as much as 13 years apiece. So, he could potentially get 3,900 years in prison. This would be a life sentence. Of course, that was from the first 15 boxes. There are another 11 boxes which have even more docs. If they counted each page as a separate violation, he could get as much as 9,100 years in prison. Or more, based on the boxes removed by warrant.
His defense is flimsy at best. Just having those docs in his basement after he was (and probably before, but let's not quibble) a private citizen is enough to wrap him up. His basement is not a proper place of custody. Just waiving his magic mushroom over nuclear secrets is not enough to declassify them. His wishful thinking is not enough to declassify them. If I were Trump, I'd pack up and leave before indictment.
The key wordage is "gross negligence" and "wilfully and unlawfully" and "relating to the national defense." Just thinking he had some Trumpian right to possess the documents is not enough to get him out of it.
I wouldn't mind a listing of all such documents by title. I've been thinking about this. How much would it hurt? I am in particularly wishing to know for sure whether he had nuclear classified docs in his basement. That would be real bad.
When some Judge is deciding how much time to give him, I hope they don't hand down some tiny sentence or house arrest, not if he purloined nuclear data, not unless the documents are treated singularly.
msongs
(67,477 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,064 posts)There is no bar on Congress making laws that limit offices, as they have such as term limits.
Quote the part(s) of the Constitution that makes that section of law unconstitutional.
He can run from prison but he would not qualify to get on the ballot except for corrupt states.
YoshidaYui
(41,869 posts)Him up!
gab13by13
(21,479 posts)Indicting Trump has nothing to do with evidence because the evidence has been there. The drawback used to be "criminal intent" but now we have all kinds of examples of Trump's criminal intent.
Trump stole government documents, that is a crime that can be charged right now.
1. Has Merrick Garland decided to indict a former president? That is an enormous decision.
2. If Garland has decided to indict Trump, is he waiting until after the election even though Trump is not on the ballot?
3. Adam Schiff was on Chris Hayes last night and he intimated that DOJ has not gone after Trump strongly enough in his role in the insurrection, will that carry over to the classified documents crimes?
Think of the optics, I'm sure that Garland is. How would they get Trump to appear before a grand jury? They will never in a million years handcuff him. They have treated trump with kid gloves the entire time he was president. This search warrant affidavit should never have been released, it isn't done until a perp is indicted. The judge should have immediately dismissed the request on that basis. Now Magats are going to cry a river about how the FBI is hiding the truth. Teflon Don once again gets his way.
NJCher
(35,795 posts)His communication is monitored now, and maybe has been since they have been aware of this situation.
He will have to be sequestered, away from all possibilities of communicating with Kim jomg Il, Putin, etc.
gab13by13
(21,479 posts)NJCher
(35,795 posts)There isnt one?