It’s hard to be sneaky when you’re stupid
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner has been all over Trump like-pardon the cliché-white on rice. Kirschner not only believes that Donald Trump is guilty of obstruction, but in his latest podcast, he said he is guilty of “premeditation to obstruct justice.” What does he mean by that? He is, of course, referring to documents being moved around Mar-a-Lago after it became knowledge that the government wanted the documents back. Kirschner refers to “a dress rehearsal” for moving the documents and actually moving them the day before their requested return. The original story was published by the Washington Post last week.
The Washington Post piece is clear that two employees moved boxes one day before the FBI and prosecutor arrived to retrieve classified documents. This piece also makes clear that Donald Trump had every intention of hanging onto the classified documents by conducting at least one “dress rehearsal” for moving the boxes. That shows that Trump knew: (a) the documents didn’t belong to him, (b) that NARA had the right to take the documents back, and (c) retaining the documents was not an option. WaPo also mentioned that prosecutors have evidence that Trump kept classified documents in his office that were not secured in any way and that he sometimes showed them to people.
Those classified documents were a prop for Trump; something to remember from his time in the White House. He had not one thought about national security or the danger that keeping these documents in public view posed, endangering the entire country and our allies around the world. According to WaPo, this is the very train of thought that the DOJ is investigating and could lead to possible charges of not only obstruction but for mishandling national security secrets. Glenn Kirschner outlines how he would present this new evidence to a jury. He leans heavily on the fact that Trump and his “criminal co-conspirators” (as Kirschner accurately calls them) were making “trial runs” of hiding the documents once the FBI came looking for them. As Kirschner points out, this is irrefutable proof of Trump’s intent to obstruct the FBI from retrieving documents that belonged to the government.
Kirschner makes a strong case for obstruction. When you think about Trump and his lackies creeping around, moving things from place to place, it’s hard not to see the premeditation at work. Trump needn’t think for one moment that the DOJ doesn’t see the same thing Kirschner is seeing. He is a former federal prosecutor, and he knows what he’s talking about. Trump, on the other hand, is still being Trump, calling the investigations a “witch hunt” and talking about himself in the third person. He would be wise to stop talking and start figuring out how he’s going to stay out of federal prison because that appears to be where he is heading. While all the talk right now is about the classified documents case, Jack Smith continues to investigate Trump’s other crimes. One way or another, Trump is going down.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years