Arraigned today in U.S. District Court on Miami on 37 felonies related to his handling of classified documents found by the FBI Aug. 8, 2022 at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago estate, 76year-old former President Donald Trump pled not guilty. Trump was accused by Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland and 54-year-old Special Counsel Jack Smith of violating the Espionage Act, accusing the former president of sharing top secret files and obstructing justice. Legal experts complained that Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon was biased due to receiving her assignment by the former president. Yet when it comes to legal experts objecting, there’s no objections to Trump’s April 4 charges in 34 felonies charged by Manhattan District Atty. Alvin Bragg for Trump’s alleged payoff of former adult film star Stormy Daniels. When it came to Judge Juan Merchan, no legal experts had problems with Merchan’s Democrat Party ties.
Democrats and the press have been gunning for Trump for years with the House Select Committee spending a year-and-a-half amassing a case against Trump for planning the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection without any proof. House Democrats and Republicans on the Select Committee passed on their recommendations to indict Trump for his role in Jan. 6 riots. Former House Select Committee co-chairwoman former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) said Trump was guilty of planning and orchestrating the Jan. 6 riots. Smith didn’t decide the charge Trump with Democrats and the press wild accusations that Trump planned the Jan. 6 riots, despite no evidence to prove it. Indicting Trump today, Smith pulled the same stunt as Bragg, arbitrarily upgrading all of Trump’s alleged misdemeanors to felonies, when, for anyone else, the charges were common misdemeanors.
Bragg and Smith have much in common in their mutual hatred of Trump, with Bragg actually running his 2019 campaign on a promise to prosecute Trump. Bragg’s predecessor Cyril Vance Jr. refused to prosecute Trump for a lack of evidence needed to bring about an indictment. Yet Bragg promised voters he’d prosecute Trump no matter what. Trump finds himself wedged between Bragg and Smith, both claiming, for the same reason, the former president was guilty crimes deliberately upgrading charges to force Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. Smith said in charging Trump that no one, including the former president, was above the law. But does Smith think the same rules apply to him when it comes to following the law? Smith knows DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz De. 9, 2019 scathing DOJ report.
Horowitz found that the DOJ and FBI didn’t follow its own procedures in conducting a counterintelligence investigation of Trump and his 2016 campaign. What are Garland and Smith doing about corrupting at the DOJ and FBI? Smith has rolled out a 49-page indictment accusing Trump to violating the Espionage Act. Smith knows that Trump didn’t discuss classified or Top Secret documents with foreign officials, but stored worthless documents in boxes at various places at Mar-a-Lago. If Smith prosecutes Trump under the Espionage Act he’s going to have to prove that Trump intended to commit espionage. Instead of giving Trump the presumption of innocence, the broadcast and print media has already tried-and-convicted Trump of espionage, a talking about his conviction and prison sentence. If you watch network and cable TV, the undeniable anti-Trump bias defies imagination.
Smith has a tall order to nitpick about what documents, tape recordings or emails supporting the idea that Trump engaged in anything close to espionage under the 1917 act. Anti-Trump Democrats and Republicans have already convicted Trump of multiple felonies. But when you look at the real evidence, prosecutors must do gyrations to fit evidence into the Espionage Act, knowing that in all the found classified documents there’s nothing affecting U.S. national security. If anyone threatens U.S. national security, it’s 80-year-old President Joe Biden who has the U.S. in a proxy war against the Kremlin in Ukraine. Where’s the threat to U.S. national security hearing? When it comes to Biden, he’s signaled he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan in case of a Communist Chinese invasion. Yet Smith accuses Trump of breaching U.S. national security with worthless documents.
Prosecuting Trump in U.S. District Court in Miami, Smith exposes the government to the past Russian witch-hunt, raising questions to jurors of how the current indictment is another baseless witch-hunt. However the media tries-and-convicts Trump of treason, Smith must prove to jurors that worthless old documents found at Mar-a-Lago should be used against the former president. Voters have a difficult task to ascertain the danger of old classified docs that have little consequence on U.S. national security. Anyone watching the media report on Trump sees firsthand the extreme prejudice against the former president. Before Smith prosecutes Trump, he must answer question about the DOJ’s past malfeasance investigating Trump and his 2016 campaign for alleged ties to Moscow. No American can trust the DOJ and FBI until Smith comes forward with the truth.
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.
