The Florida grand jury indictment was unsealed earlier this afternoon. It’s not good for the former President. Don’t take my word for it; read it for yourself.
The background information highlights several issues that will likely be brought up by the DC Classified Document grand jury if they are allowed to continue. The problem in Florida starts when, after being subpoenaed by NARA to turn everything over, Trump directed Walter Nauta, the former President’s valet, to remove 64 boxes from the storage room and bring them to Trump’s personal residence. Only to later order Nauta to put 30 of them back just before the lawyers showed up to do the records search. Neither Trump nor Nauta informed the lawyers they had hidden 34 boxes in Trump’s residence. After completing the search of what the lawyers thought was everything, one of them signed a document swearing that everything had been thoroughly searched, and the documents found were all that was left. Except, that was NOT true, and Trump and Nauta knew it. Thus both men caught a charge for this document.
Altogether there are 38 counts, 37 against Trump, and seven against his co-defendant, Nauta. Counts 1 through 31 are the 31 documents found in the boxes in question at Mar-a-Lago. The DOJ gave him a separate count for each document. Counts 32-36 all have to do with hiding the 34 boxes from his lawyers when they came through to search for documents. Count 37 is the charge for the document the lawyer signed, verifying that a thorough search of all of his stuff had been done. Count 38 is on Nauta alone for lying to the FBI when he said he had no idea how boxes got to Trump's residence, among other lies. They have surveillance footage and text messages proving Nauta repeatedly lied to the FBI & investigators.
However, former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore said in an interview with CBS prior to the release of the indictment that he was amazed by the amount of prosecutorial misconduct during the DC Grand Jury hearing into this case. He also claimed NARA refused to help Trump with finding a secure location for his files. However, NARA released a FAQ refuting Parlatore’s claims. They say that because Trump did not request help setting up a presidential library, all of the former president’s files are, by law, to be maintained by NARA.
Anyone who believes that Hilary Clinton should be in jail over her mishandling of classified documents and deletion of thousands of emails in violation of the law should be consistent and demand that Trump be held responsible as well. Last year, there was a woman in Hawaii who was sentenced to three months in jail and a $5,500 fine in a case with similar charges to what the former president and his valet are facing.
That said, if this government refuses to prosecute Hilary for her issues, will not even consider prosecuting Biden for mishandling classified documents going back to his days in the Senate, or go after Pence for his “unauthorized storage," they should not be going after Trump either.
*This article was edited to add NARA’s response to Parlatore.
Lorraine Yuriar is a wife, mother, and a lifelong conservative, currently stuck in a very blue state.
at least the boxes weren't in his garage next to the corvette. That's a plus, right?
Need to read what Dershowitz has to say before jumping overboard ......