So you think falsely equating yourself for being called to account for your own actions to being mudered by a brutal despot is "presidential"? What the hell is "a Navalny"? Notice how besides acknowleging that Navalny was "a very brave man", not a single word about his murderer? You know the one who Trump praises incessantly?
I'm curious... As a rule when you obsrve someone being tried for crimes are you more interested in their rationale to excuse their actions or whether or not they actually committed the crime they're being charged with? I mean Trump can misitnterpret what the PRA says (and why it was enacted in the first place) till the cows come home. Doesn't make his claims any less ridiculous...
In which trial proceeding is he actually going to offer a claim of innocense (as in I didn't do that) rather than trying to excuse his own actions? Do you even know that he shared classified info with the ghost writer in Bedminster about a month before the NARA initially contacted him about missing documents? At the time no one knew about Bedminster, that info only became known subsequently when someone at that meeting felt it was their duty to inform the DOJ that Trump was blabbering to unauthorized people.
In other words Trump had already progressed past merely stealing secret docs to possible violations of the Espionage Act prior to the FBI/DOJ even being notified there was a problem. That "sudden unjustified raid on MAL" that Trump is constantly blabbering about? That occurred on Aug 8 2022. For perspective these are the events which proceeded that "sudden,unjustified" raid by the FBI...
In May 2021, Trump directed various boxes which were later discovered to include Classified info moved into a ballroom, toilet and various other parts of MAL. He also had a few boxes transferred to Bedminster. On May 6 2021 the NARA notified Trump that documents were missing and politely requested he send them to the NARA, as required by the PRA.
When repeated requests are ignored, the NARA informs Trump in June 2021, that they will refer the matter to the FBI if he fails to comply. Instead Trump directs various co-conspirators to move the boxes to a storage area in a highly accessable part of MAL.
None of this was even known to the NARA at the time, including that boxes had been moved to Bedminster. Again it was only after the fact that the July 21, 2021 incident at Bedminster became known.
As to the NARA, after some 15 boxes were finally returned in Jan 2022, they discover that strewn among the boxes were secret files, outside of their folders and carelessly left in plain sight. In all there are 197 classified docs, with 69 marked confidetial, 69 marked secret and 30 marked top secret. This is nearly 9 months after the NARA threatened to involve the FBI if the boxes weren't returned...
Nearly a month later after conducting a review of the returned documents the NARA finally refers the matter to the DOJ.
"Feb. 9, 2022: The National Archives refers the matter to the Justice Department after a preliminary review finds the boxes contain numerous classified documents. The special agent in charge of the agency’s Office of the Inspector General writes,
“Of most significant concern was that highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records” and otherwise improperly identified."
Eight days later the NARA sends a letter to a Congressional Oversight Committee and turns the boxes over to the FBI. The FBI launches their investigation on March 30, 2022. So while Trump had nearly 10 months from the time the NARA requested the return of all the documents, Trump instead sent back a few and hid the rest.
The Grand Jury was convened on April 26, and the subpoena demanding that Trump turn over all classified documents was issued on May 13. On May 22, Trump's lawyers urge him to comply but he refuses.
A lot of these events were discovered after the fact by reviewing MAL security footage. But nearly a year from the time he was first contacted by the NARA,Trump is still trying to illegally retain classified info. At any point all he had to do was return everything, and no one would ever be the wiser. But instead he continued to break the law, and this cat and mouse game continued up till the raid on MAL on Aug 8
There's a reason Trump doesn't want this to go to trial-he's guilty as sin. What's he going to say in front of a jury- "I didn't do it"? Spouting nonsense about it being "his property" works fine in front of delusional Trump crowds, but reasonable people are going to see that he had a year to willingly comply and refused to do so.
And remember this is a year AFTER he told an official from his PAC at Bedminster that he wasn't supposed to show them what he showed them. So he knew he had classified documents that he was not supposed to have...
Fortunately someone with a conscience came forward to inform Smith about that. Just another criminal act that Trump wants to try and alibi away...Again like I said before, the main witnesses in both Smith trials will be Republicans, some of whom were once very close to Trump.
Yeah that was a real "presidential" appearance from Trump last night. If lying so frequently that it's hard for even fact checkers to get to all of them is your idea of "presidential"...
