The history, the familiar reactions, and how it might play in 2024.
For the second time in a little more than two months, Donald Trump has been indicted. In late March, it was for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments in Manhattan; now, it’s long-anticipated federal charges connected to his retention of and failure to return classified documents.
Details of the indictment are scant, but The reports that in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, Trump has been charged with seven counts, including illegal retention of government secrets, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Trump is due to appear in court in Miami on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Below are some takeaways.
1. Clues from what we know about the charges
While we know few details, we have learned some things about the charges, in addition to the number.
Appearing on CNN on Thursday night, Trump lawyer Jim Trusty said the court summons suggests the charges will include violating the Espionage Act, multiple false-statement charges and a somewhat surprising one: obstruction of an official proceeding.
Charges under the Espionage Act wouldn’t necessarily mean Trump engaged in spying; this portion of federal law can involve merely failing to turn over documents when requested, and it was cited in the warrant for the FBI search of Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in August. It was also at issue in the Hillary Clinton emails probe.
The false statements could certainly pertain to assurances by Trump’s legal team that they had turned over all documents requested, when in fact they had not.
As for obstruction of an official proceeding? This has most often been invoked in the context not of the classified documents probe, but rather the other portion of Smith’s investigation: Jan. 6. It’s a charge used against many Jan. 6 defendants accused of delaying Congress’s counting of the electoral votes that day. But obstruction of an official proceeding can also apply to court cases, including instances of witness tampering.
2. Familiar GOP response: Denounce the process without defending the man
As with the Mar-a-Lago search, we were greeted Thursday night with responses that were remarkably consistent within each party, but very different in tone between the sides.
While Democrats emphasized a wait-and-see approach, the rule of law and even the principle of being innocent until proven guilty, Republicans, just as they did after the Mar-a-Lago search, leaped to cast the charges as a witch hunt, despite us again knowing little about the evidence relied upon.
