Что происходит
Andrew McCarthy тоже пришел к выводу, что Трампу предъявят обвинения. И написал об этом статью в National Review: "Why Yesterday’s DOJ Filing Suggests a Trump Indictment Is Coming".
Напомню, что Маккарти был одним из видных защитников Трампа во время расследования Мюллера. Ну, и NR - мягко говоря, на либеральное издание.
Но дело не в этом. На мой взгляд, статья очень доходчиво объясняет, что происходит. Я процитирую некоторые места, но очень рекомендую прочесть статью целиком, если вы хотите разобраться. No Claim of Declassification
In January 2022, when Trump initially surrendered 15 boxes of presidential records - only after months of pleading by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which finally prompted NARA to warn that it would have to involve Congress if Trump persisted in ignoring the Presidential Records Act - a prodigious amount of classified information was included. At the time that this material - 184 distinct documents, containing over 700 pages classified at the highest levels - was handed over to NARA, Trump made no claim that it had been declassified. Furthermore, in subsequent correspondence, even after NARA pointed out that much of the material appeared to be classified, Trump’s counsel never made any claim that Trump had declassified any of it, much less all of it.
An Implied Admission that Nothing Was Ever Declassified
[...]
Beyond that, the Justice Department’s filing offers a significant point about classification: The subpoena required the production of any classified records in Trump’s possession, and Trump (through his representatives) produced documents on the recognition that they were classified documents responsive to the subpoena. Neither Trump nor his representatives ever claimed that he’d declassified any of the documents. They never claimed that he did not need to comply with the subpoena because any documents in his possession were no longer classified. His compliance with the subpoena - though only partial and deceptive - was tantamount to an admission that he’d been retaining classified documents in an unauthorized location, in violation of federal criminal law.
The Government Did Not Agree to Trump’s Retention of Records, Which He Barred Government Officials from Inspecting
[...]
To be clear, then, the government was not content to allow Trump to keep the boxes in the storage area. The Justice Department fully intended to pursue the boxes, though it was not prepared to escalate matters right there and then on June 3. The DOJ admonished the Trump team to tighten up security and later demanded surveillance video through an additional grand-jury subpoena. But these were interim measures to which the government agreed in deference to Trump’s status as a former president. (In similar circumstances, normal suspects who were withholding subpoenaed government records would have been treated to a view of the FBI’s carrying their boxes away, probably while being charged with obstruction, handcuffed, and taken away themselves.)
False Statements, Including Under Oath, to the FBI and the Grand Jury
At the June 3 Mar-a-Lago meeting, Trump’s representatives provided the sworn statement demanded by the subpoena. It reads:Based upon the information that has been provided to me, I am authorized to certify, on behalf of the Office of Donald J. Trump, the following: a. A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida; b. This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locate any and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena; c. Any and all responsive documents accompany this certification; and d. No copy, written notation, or reproduction of any kind was retained as to any responsive document.
I swear or affirm that the above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
The government’s court filing does not say who signed the sworn statement. Media reports indicate that the signatory was Trump lawyer Christina Bobb (though she has publicly said that Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran oversaw the supposedly “diligent search”). That the statement itself is patently false does not necessarily mean Bobb was lying when she signed it (if, indeed, she was the one who signed it) - we don’t yet know what information she was given and thus cannot assess whether she was willfully misleading investigators. We can safely assume, however, that (a) the lawyers who conducted the “diligent search” and provided the sworn statement for the grand jury (among other statements the lawyers made that day to the FBI) are subjects of the investigation - and likely to become central witnesses; and (b) the government would argue that Trump made false statements to the FBI and to the grand jury, reasoning that his agents’ statements are attributable to him, and he had to know, when he caused his agents to make these statements, that he was not providing all of the classified documents compelled by the subpoena.
We can also safely say that the government had reason to believe, even as the June 3 meeting was taking place, that the representations made on Trump’s behalf by his lawyers were false. Which brings us to the next point.
‘Obstructive Conduct’ and Fears of Witness Tampering
Not only did Trump, through his team, falsely represent on June 3 that all remaining classified documents were in the Redweld envelope they’d turned over; prosecutors stress that the search conducted at Mar-a-Lago on August 8 also “cast serious doubt on the claim in the [June 3] certification (and now in [Trump’s special-master motion]) that there had been a ‘diligent search’ for records responsive to the grand jury subpoena.”
That search yielded over 100 classified documents - which, the Justice Department emphasizes, is “more than twice the amount produced on June 3” in response to the subpoena. The government’s motion includes a photograph (Exhibit F) showing that many of the documents “had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status.” In the storage room alone, agents found 76 classified documents - meaning, prosecutors point out, that “the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former President’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform.” Most of the classified documents were found strewn willy-nilly in boxes. Three were located in desks in Trump’s “45 Office.”
Conclusion
[...]
Now that we’ve seen more of the government’s proof in this regard, I believe former president Trump is likely to be charged with obstruction of justice and causing false statements to be made to investigators. It does not appear that those charges would be difficult to prove. Proving them does not involve navigating the same complications that would arise from trying to prove classified-information offenses. Just as critical, they involve conduct that would be very easy for the public to understand, and for which the average person would be indicted.
Эта запись в DW: https://yakov-a-jerkov.dreamwidth.org/2054010.html
Напомню, что Маккарти был одним из видных защитников Трампа во время расследования Мюллера. Ну, и NR - мягко говоря, на либеральное издание.
Но дело не в этом. На мой взгляд, статья очень доходчиво объясняет, что происходит. Я процитирую некоторые места, но очень рекомендую прочесть статью целиком, если вы хотите разобраться. No Claim of Declassification
In January 2022, when Trump initially surrendered 15 boxes of presidential records - only after months of pleading by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which finally prompted NARA to warn that it would have to involve Congress if Trump persisted in ignoring the Presidential Records Act - a prodigious amount of classified information was included. At the time that this material - 184 distinct documents, containing over 700 pages classified at the highest levels - was handed over to NARA, Trump made no claim that it had been declassified. Furthermore, in subsequent correspondence, even after NARA pointed out that much of the material appeared to be classified, Trump’s counsel never made any claim that Trump had declassified any of it, much less all of it.
An Implied Admission that Nothing Was Ever Declassified
[...]
Beyond that, the Justice Department’s filing offers a significant point about classification: The subpoena required the production of any classified records in Trump’s possession, and Trump (through his representatives) produced documents on the recognition that they were classified documents responsive to the subpoena. Neither Trump nor his representatives ever claimed that he’d declassified any of the documents. They never claimed that he did not need to comply with the subpoena because any documents in his possession were no longer classified. His compliance with the subpoena - though only partial and deceptive - was tantamount to an admission that he’d been retaining classified documents in an unauthorized location, in violation of federal criminal law.
The Government Did Not Agree to Trump’s Retention of Records, Which He Barred Government Officials from Inspecting
[...]
To be clear, then, the government was not content to allow Trump to keep the boxes in the storage area. The Justice Department fully intended to pursue the boxes, though it was not prepared to escalate matters right there and then on June 3. The DOJ admonished the Trump team to tighten up security and later demanded surveillance video through an additional grand-jury subpoena. But these were interim measures to which the government agreed in deference to Trump’s status as a former president. (In similar circumstances, normal suspects who were withholding subpoenaed government records would have been treated to a view of the FBI’s carrying their boxes away, probably while being charged with obstruction, handcuffed, and taken away themselves.)
False Statements, Including Under Oath, to the FBI and the Grand Jury
At the June 3 Mar-a-Lago meeting, Trump’s representatives provided the sworn statement demanded by the subpoena. It reads:Based upon the information that has been provided to me, I am authorized to certify, on behalf of the Office of Donald J. Trump, the following: a. A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida; b. This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locate any and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena; c. Any and all responsive documents accompany this certification; and d. No copy, written notation, or reproduction of any kind was retained as to any responsive document.
I swear or affirm that the above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
The government’s court filing does not say who signed the sworn statement. Media reports indicate that the signatory was Trump lawyer Christina Bobb (though she has publicly said that Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran oversaw the supposedly “diligent search”). That the statement itself is patently false does not necessarily mean Bobb was lying when she signed it (if, indeed, she was the one who signed it) - we don’t yet know what information she was given and thus cannot assess whether she was willfully misleading investigators. We can safely assume, however, that (a) the lawyers who conducted the “diligent search” and provided the sworn statement for the grand jury (among other statements the lawyers made that day to the FBI) are subjects of the investigation - and likely to become central witnesses; and (b) the government would argue that Trump made false statements to the FBI and to the grand jury, reasoning that his agents’ statements are attributable to him, and he had to know, when he caused his agents to make these statements, that he was not providing all of the classified documents compelled by the subpoena.
We can also safely say that the government had reason to believe, even as the June 3 meeting was taking place, that the representations made on Trump’s behalf by his lawyers were false. Which brings us to the next point.
‘Obstructive Conduct’ and Fears of Witness Tampering
Not only did Trump, through his team, falsely represent on June 3 that all remaining classified documents were in the Redweld envelope they’d turned over; prosecutors stress that the search conducted at Mar-a-Lago on August 8 also “cast serious doubt on the claim in the [June 3] certification (and now in [Trump’s special-master motion]) that there had been a ‘diligent search’ for records responsive to the grand jury subpoena.”
That search yielded over 100 classified documents - which, the Justice Department emphasizes, is “more than twice the amount produced on June 3” in response to the subpoena. The government’s motion includes a photograph (Exhibit F) showing that many of the documents “had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status.” In the storage room alone, agents found 76 classified documents - meaning, prosecutors point out, that “the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former President’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform.” Most of the classified documents were found strewn willy-nilly in boxes. Three were located in desks in Trump’s “45 Office.”
Conclusion
[...]
Now that we’ve seen more of the government’s proof in this regard, I believe former president Trump is likely to be charged with obstruction of justice and causing false statements to be made to investigators. It does not appear that those charges would be difficult to prove. Proving them does not involve navigating the same complications that would arise from trying to prove classified-information offenses. Just as critical, they involve conduct that would be very easy for the public to understand, and for which the average person would be indicted.
Эта запись в DW: https://yakov-a-jerkov.dreamwidth.org/2054010.html