Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The national security case against Donald Trump is damn serious

[Brexiter]

AP News:

Donald Trump stored, showed off and refused to return classified documents, indictment says

All told, Trump faces 37 felony counts — 31 pertaining to the willful retention of national defense information, the balance relating to alleged conspiracy, obstruction and false statements — that could result in a substantial prison sentence in the event of a conviction. A Trump aide who prosecutors said moved dozens of boxes at his Florida estate at his direction, and then lied to investigators about it, was charged in the same indictment with conspiracy and other crimes.

Trump responded to the indictment Friday by falsely conflating his case with a separate classified documents investigation concerning President Joe Biden.

Trump responded by lying.

Holy moly. The indictment lays out a pretty open-and-shut case. And it involves VERY highly classified intel—some of the code names/restrictions so highly classified they’re redacted in the indictment itself. This isn’t small potatoes.

— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) June 9, 2023

Please don’t recirculate nonsense about “Teflon Don”. Those days are over. Even the knee jerk reflex to circle the Republican wagons are only partially deployed, with much more complaint about ‘weaponizing DOJ than defending Trump on the merits.

That’s because no one wants to be seen as weak on national security, especially if you’re running for president. See also Forbes:

Here’s Why Trump’s New Indictment Could Hurt Him More Than Past Scandals

• But polling suggests Republicans view Trump’s mishandling of classified documents as more serious, with an Associated Press/NORC poll in April finding 47% of respondents overall view it as illegal (versus 41% for the hush money payments), and 20% of Republicans said the behavior was illegal versus 13% who said the same of the New York charges.

• A Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted May 25-30 put disapproval even higher, finding 63% of all respondents and 42% of Republicans view “taking highly classified documents from the White House and obstructing efforts to retrieve them” as a “serious crime,” versus 52% of all respondents and 28% of Republicans who said the same of “falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star.”

• If Trump is convicted of a “serious crime,” only 23% of Yahoo/YouGov respondents said he should be allowed to serve as president again, including 43% of Republicans—with 39% saying he should not be allowed—and only 51% of people who voted for Trump in 2020.

Steve Herman/Twitter:

Excellent graphic that sums up the serious charges.

EJ Dionne/Washington Post:

Trump’s indictment is tragic for our country but an imperative for justice

On Thursday, accountability overcame fear. In bringing the first federal charges ever against a former president, the Justice Department made the less political decision. Special counsel Jack Smith focused solely on the facts of the documents case, on the law and on what Trump allegedly did. “We have one set of laws in this country,” Smith said at a brief Friday news conference, “and they apply to everyone.”

Just read through the entire filing, to include the classification & descriptive general titles of the documents. Some of our nations most important secrets were in those kinds of documents, with those kind of classifications. Yes, it’s a very, very big deal. https://t.co/gVvAjprOxP

— MarkHertling (@MarkHertling) June 9, 2023

Fox News:

New Trump indictment over documents is a 'whole different ballgame,' says Jonathan Turley

After the indictment was unsealed Friday afternoon, Turley said on "America Reports" that the charges laid out are "extremely damning."

[JONATHAN] TURLEY: It is an extremely damning indictment. There are indictments that are sometimes called narrative or speaking indictments. These are indictments that are really meant to make a point as to the depth of the evidence. There are some indictments that are just bare bones. This is not. The special counsel knew that there would be a lot of people who were going to allege that the Department of Justice was acting in a biased or politically motivated way.

This is clearly an indictment that was drafted to answer those questions. It’s overwhelming in details. And, you know, the Trump team should not fool itself, these are hits below the waterline. These are witnesses who apparently testified under oath, gave statements to federal investigators, both of which can be criminally charged if they’re false. Those witnesses are directly quoting the president in encouraging others not to look for documents or allegedly to conceal them. It’s damaging.

Steven Beschloss/”America, America” on Substack:

The Rule of Law Is Still Intact Donald Trump has been indicted in federal court for his misuse of classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago

As The New York Times notes, “Mr. Trump is expected to surrender himself to authorities in Miami on Tuesday, according to a person close to him and his own post on Truth Social.”

“I think this is the worst day in Donald Trump’s life,” said legal expert Ari Melber on MSNBC, “and it’s only going to get worse from here.”

While neither Jack Smith nor a spokesperson for the special counsel provided any comment, Trump did not hesitate mouthing off. “I have been indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax,” he posted on Truth Social, concluding with this: “I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States…I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!” For days he’s been asserting that he did “NOTHING” wrong.

Do not doubt: Jack Smith knew that the longer he took to indict, the more complicated this case would become as the election season heats up. Trump can whine and rant—and he already has—that this indictment is the result of a corrupt Biden administration and it’s all political.

From Cliff Schecter:

YouTube Video


David Frum/Atlantic:

An Exit from the GOP’s Labyrinth of Trump Lies


The special counsel’s indictment offers party leaders their best escape from the loyalty trap yet—if they choose to take it.

It’s as sincere as the grief at a Mafia funeral.

Who believes that Governor Ron DeSantis—so badly trailing in the polls behind former President Donald Trump—is genuinely upset by his rival’s federal indictment? Or that Speaker Kevin McCarthy—so disgusted by Trump in private—does not inwardly rejoice to see Trump meet justice?

The Fox News talkers have been trying for months to sideline Trump and promote DeSantis. Now they have a turn of events that promises both to help their corporate political agenda and to stoke controversy and ratings. They must be positively ecstatic at the network’s New York headquarters today.

Fresno Bee:

Kevin McCarthy’s tweet on Trump indictment is either a bluff or really dangerous

Today is indeed a dark day for the United States of America. It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him. Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades. I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump…

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) June 9, 2023

McCarthy pinned a tweet to the top of his Twitter feed that said President Joe Biden was the one indicting Trump in the Mar-a-Lago missing documents case.

He called the indictment a “grave injustice” and offered this pledge: “House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.”

The tweet is a gross mischaracterization, of course. Biden did not indict anyone. The Justice Department brought the case against the former president. Yes, it is a part of the executive branch, but to claim Biden, a Democrat, was in charge is simply not true — presidents don’t indict anyone. McCarthy knows it.

House problems for Trump starting to surface, though there’s more firebrand defensiveness than sober statesmanship:

One GOP lawmaker tells me they don’t think the indictment changes the primary landscape. “I’d say if anything he will become stronger - it sucks the oxygen out of the other candidates,” they said.

— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) June 9, 2023

The above is conventional wisdom, and very well could be wrong.

“I’m done defending him. Would he ever defend any of us? Never. The J6 prisoners still rot in jail, why hasn’t he ever paid their legal fees? Many of us just want to be done with the increasingly absurd loyalty tests,” another GOP lawmaker said of the indictment.

— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) June 9, 2023

Coming at Trump from the right? ?

Rep. Don Bacon on the indictment: pic.twitter.com/HK52lkQew4

— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) June 9, 2023

Again, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Nothing changes until it does.

Be alert for when that happens, but national security might be the thing that ushers in changes.

As I’ve stated before, no one is above the law but every American is innocent until proven guilty. Still, the charges in this case are quite serious and cannot be casually dismissed.

— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) June 9, 2023

Politico:

What's happening: Sen. Mitt Romney only has one thing to say about Donald Trump's federal indictment: He brought it upon himself.

Well, that’s true. And by the way, Romney has been the one consistent Republican on the correct side of history.