Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Former President Donald J. Trump’s history is that he does what he wants to do, when he wants to do it, without regard to traditions, laws or public perception.

There are those who see that as an endearing quality, the fellow willing to ditch tradition and be his own man, a man willing to challenge the system and speak what he sees as the truth. That’s probably what got him elected in 2016; he was seen as a man who would challenge the status quo and change things.

Most of his life, to protect himself from “the system,” he has kept a choir of lawyers who would do his bidding and bail him out when someone chose not to see things his way or when some governmental agency, business or person tried to call his bluff.

And when he didn’t have the winning argument he had the resources to try multiple appeals and sometimes simply wear down opponents who couldn’t afford to keep paying their lawyers to continue up the appeal ladder.

Perhaps the most serious case former President Trump currently faces is the classified documents case. As he left office the National Archives office would normally have gone through President Trump’s papers and told him what he could keep and what belonged to the country.

This can be a hectic process because a president is president until noon of inauguration day. Then another president takes over. So a little forward planning is necessary to get the “older” stuff cleared so only the most recent items that the president might need can be quickly cleared.

For whatever reason, President Trump chose to ignore the tradition, the Presidential Records Act and probably his own lawyer’s advice.

The National Archives continued to ask and the former president didn’t cooperate. After nearly a year and a half the FBI came to get documents with a court subpoena.  And it took several trips and involved roughly 300 classified documents.

That is why former President Trump has been indicted for the classified documents. Had he cooperated initially it probably would now be over. That is what happened to his vice-president, Mike Pence, who quickly cooperated. And that is what happened to current President Joe Biden, he too quickly cooperated.

Mr. Trump is charged with felony level crimes related to the classified documents. That’s serious stuff. He’s the first president to be so charged.

The indictment was handed down by a Federal grand jury in Florida based on evidence presented by the Department of Justice. The grand jury, comprised of Florida citizens, just hears the prosecution side of the case and decides whether or not there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial where both sides of the issue can be presented to a jury or judge for a final decision.

A previous case of note was Hillary Clinton who used a personal server for some of her official Secretary of State work and this violated Department of State protocols. According to CNN her emails mentioned classified documents 52 times (including the emails deleted from her server but found on 30 other electric devices she voluntarily turned over). She voluntarily submitted to 3.5 hours of questioning by the FBI. No charges were ever filed.

What makes Trump’s case different is that he simply refused to work with the National Archives people or follow the Presidential Records Act.

This is very new territory for the U.S. Some will see this as a blatant political prosecution while others will see it as proving that no person is above the law. No matter which side a person favors the whole situation could have been easily avoided.

If Mr. Trump had just cooperated in 2021 this issue would have died then and now be long forgotten. But he didn’t, so here we are.