Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Judge Tosses Trump Stolen Documents Case
Judge Aileen Cannon down in Florida has had not just her thumb but her whole arm on the scale in the Donald Trump stolen classified documents case. She issued a 93-page ruling this morning that said the special prosecutor was unconstitutionally appointed, despite the last 20 years' of precedent to the contrary. She may believe this helps the former, felonious president, but in fact, this gives Special Prosecutor Jack Smith all he needs to get her off the case. He can appeal to the Eleventh Circuit, which will almost certainly reverse this decision. At that point, he has enough ammo to ask for her removal. His election would render all of this irrelevant, but if he can be kept out of office, this is the case that should end his political career.
The facts are simple enough. The first felon took more than 300 classified documents when he left the White House. He was not entitled to take them. Under the Presidential Records Act, these files belong to the National Archives. The National Archives asked for them back repeatedly, and were rebuffed. When the agency got a subpoena for them, the man held civilly liable to what amounts to rape moved the documents and lied about it. There is even an audio recording of him showing them off to people without security clearances, another felony.
"The former president was charged with 40 counts of illegally retaining classified defense information and obstructing government efforts to retrieve the material. Some of the documents found in an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club, contained information about top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many seniorproa national security officials are kept in the dark about them," The Washington Post reported last year.
With this decision, the case is over unless the appellate court reverses her decision. But unless there is prosecutorial misconduct or some hidden evidence, this case is open and shut. This is not a case of failing to file a report, nor is it a matter of moving money improperly. This is a case that directly compromises American national security. If any member of the CIA or NSA had these documents at home, there would be decades in Levenworth, no debate. Judge Cannon may think she is protecting the guy who got her the job, but she is putting the US at risk.
The prosecutor will certainly appeal, and he will almost certainly win at the Eleventh Circuit. Then, the case will go to the Supreme Court because that is how the Trump lawyers play. Whether the Supreme Court chooses to take the case or not, they will have succeeded in delaying the trial until after the election. This will prevent swift justice in a criminal sense in addition to preventing the American voters from hearing all the details of this case before the election. And as has been said over and over, if he wins the election, there will be no case at all.
In the event he does not win, however, and if the appellate court acts in a timely manner, the case could be back on with a new judge. This egregious decision is not her first in the case, and there is cause here to replace her. The circuit court would just hand the keys over to another jurist, and the trial could then move forward. If that happens, one expects the big question to be how much jail time does a former president get for stealing national security secrets and preventing their return by violating a court order?
© Copyright 2024 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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