Spurred by Democrats in Congress and the media, the Department of Justice, in executing a Aug. 8 search warrant of documents at former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago residence, claims Trump attempted to obstruct the DOJ investigation. Given 15 boxes of documents removed in June, the DOJ now says Trump concealed the whereabouts of additional 25 boxes of classified documents removed from Mar-a-Lago Aug. 8. But instead of giving Trump the benefit of the doubt, the DOJ screams obstruction of justice, the more serious charge against the 76-tear-old former president. Democrats and the media have pressured Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to charge Trump with violating federal records acts, for improperly handling classified documents since leaving the White House Jan. 20, 2021. DOJ, Democrats and the press act like Trump himself concealed the documents.
Given Trump’s frenetic lifestyle, it’s inconceivable that he had anything to do with the boxes of docs transferred from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. Doubtful Trump knew anything about the classified nature to the contents, disputing the DOJ’s latest accusation that Trump, himself, attempted to thwart a DOJ or FBI investigation. When DOJ, Democrats and the press last charged Trump with obstruction of justice, it was over the May 8, 2017 firing of 62-year-old former FBI Director James Comey. Former Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, 57, caved in to Democrats and media pressure, appointing May 17, 2017 78-year-old former FBI Director Robert Muller as Special Counsel to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 presidential elections. Democrats and the press thought they had their ace-in-the-hole, having Mueller investigate Trump with possible impeachment in mind.
House and Senate Democrats were so convinced that Mueller would get the goods on Trump’s alleged ties to the Kremlin, they breathed a sigh of relief. Rosenstein knew at the time that the FBI counterintelligence investigation of Trump AKA Crossfire Hurricane, was built off 75-year-old former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research AKA the Steele dossier. So, Rosenstein knew from the get-go that the Mueller investigation would turn up nothing because all the fake charges against Trump were fabrications by Hillary’s opposition research. Trump had no idea when he debated Hillary in Las Vegas Oct. 20, 2016, that when she said “Trump was a Putin puppet,” it would dog him for his entire presidency. Democrats and the press never gave up on the idea of accusing Trump of having Kremlin ties. So when the DOJ talks about “obstruction of justice,” there’s plenty of precedent.
When lawyers and other media pundits give their two cents about the Mar-a-Lago raid, it falls purely on partisan lines. Every partisan hack wants Trump convicted of breaking U.S. records laws or, as the DOJ says, obstruction of justice. Democrat pundits look to 70-year-old Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to press charges, ask the question whether Trump had any clue what was in Mar-a-Lago’s locked basement. How odd to hear 52-year-old Director of National Intelligence [DNI] Avril Haines talking about how boxes of recovered junk from Trump’s basement affects U.S. national security. Can you imagine, Haines plans to determine how much boxes of worthless files in Trump’s locked basement affects U.S. national security? Haines doesn’t talk about urgent threats to U.S. national security posed by Biden’s Ukraine proxy war against Russia or new threats of war in Taiwan.
All the partisan media talks about is Trump’s recovered docs at Mar-a-Lago, not real threats to U.S. national security. Has Haines listened to Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesman Zhao Lijian saying today that China will continue to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan, whether it starts a war or not. Taiwan officials said today that they would resist with the strongest military response any attempt by Beijing to regain control over the Island Nation. Haines says nothing about how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Aug. 2 trip to Taiwan sent U.S. national security into a frenzy. Haines was supposed to find the origin of the deadly novel coronavirus last year but told Biden she couldn’t complete her analysis because of China. How much can anyone count on Haines to assess national security significance of 25 boxes of worthless junk found in Trump locked basement?
Calling Trump’s Mar-a-Lago docs evidence of obstruction of justice is preposterous when you consider Trump had nothing to do with the transfer of White House files to Mar-a-Lago. Haines has nothing new to report on Trump’s obstruction of justice or damage to U.S. national security. All Haines can do is play Democrat political hack emphasizing hypothetical damage to U.S. national security. Suggesting that Trump was involvement with concealing sensitive White House documents makes zero sense. DOJ prosecutors wish to charge Trump with a crime but obstruction of justice is tough to prove. If Trump knew almost nothing about the contents of boxes shipped from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, how could he possible conceal classified documents from the DOJ? As the Jan. 6 House Select Committee looks unlikely to charge Trump, House Democrats and the press have gone to Plan B.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
