Righty perspective: Sure Trump is guilty but since he is a candidate any attempt to prosecute him is political so he should just be warned not to commit treason anymore.
Pence has not been charged. Pence cooperated and returned documents. And what does the DOJ have to lose? Well, they tried the approach of asking Trump to just return the documents. He lied to them, moved the documents, and then lied again. Like everything Trump, he causes his own problems through unmatched hubris.
Everything you said here is correct, but it doesn't answer what the DOJ has to lose when Trump has a nasty federal indictment staring him in the face. Maybe he says yes, and if he says no... he just might pay a greater price for it, politically. It's a win-win.
Reading the entrenched position of MAGA on this thread is like watching Dana Bash interview Jordan and point out that, in Trump's own words, he was handling classified information and did not declassify them and could no longer do so since he was not President. Jordan simultaneously says he believes whatever Trump says, and when faced with what he says regarding the documents, disputes what Trump says to defend him. How can you argue with this?
Imagine the crying and whining from some people if he were prosecuted in DC. This was the DoJ saying we have the confidence to try the case in enemy territory.
Well, this NPA liberal read the indictment. My TV got hit by lightning before the indictment came down so haven’t been able to watch any of the MAGA boogie channels.
I mean, we know Trump thumbed his nose at the prospect of a criminal case, when he lied in response to the subpoena, moved documents, and then lied to his lawyers about the existence of other documents. Should DOJ offer him a plea now? How do you know they didn’t? I suspect they did, and if not, they will. They always do. However, we may never hear about it.
In that case, I would tell him to hold his ground. They will prosecute him either way and there is a legitimate chance he’ll be able to successfully argue that he declassified them. He has thousands of state secrets in his head that he could recite at a moment’s notice. He was the POTUS, after all. Arguing the retention of these documents in non-electronic format is a threat to national security is dubious. Now, if they were on a private email server that could potentially be hacked, that’s a different story.
It would make them appear more credible so they have every reason to leak that sort of thing. Now there can be a legal case and policy rationale for not publicly disclosing plea terms in something like this, but this is a case where I would I really want to see it. I know as an evidentiary matter, plea negotiations are generally not admissible in court.
Nah, dude. Strictly legally speaking, I think the DOJ has the Donald by the balls right now, and I'm not sure he knows it. He has some political and public perception cover, but that only goes so far. If the DOJ throws him a rope, he needs to take it.
That ship has sailed and Trump has no one else to blame but the guy in the mirror. Here is an outline/timeline of the government's efforts to retrieve the documents. Although noticeably absent is a "we really, really really, really mean it this time" notice, the government went way beyond what it was required to do prior to initiating criminal charges. Timeline: The government's efforts to get sensitive documents back from Trump's Mar-a-Lago
I think the argument, from what I’ve read, is that the DOJ should try and offer a plea. I agree a reasonable plea should be offered. And if (and when) a plea is offered, I hope like hell it is leaked, just as Gator715 stated. I’m not sure they will leak it unless accepted, because Jack Smith has consistently kept things quiet. But I’d like still like to see it.
They'll make him an offer if he requests one, but he's not even entitled to the acceptance of responsibility adjustment.
The DOJ has no intentions of making any sort of deal with him, so admitting wrongdoing isn’t going to help him. It can only hurt him. Plus, he has a legitimate chance at being vindicated and acquitted.
How in the world could anyone trust him at this point that he doesn't have copies, actual or electronic?
