Donald Trump’s Miranda Rights
For those of you who aren’t veterans of ten thousand cop shows on TV and don’t know the Miranda Warning by heart, here it is. “You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present before and during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you without charge.” The newly-arrested suspect is then asked if they understand those rights.
Until the newly-arrested suspect is read his or her Miranda Rights, nothing they say is admissible in court. So Miranda applies only to people under arrest. It doesn’t apply to witnesses. Witness testimony can be used in court without Miranda.
The part of Miranda that says “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” is the part that concerns me today. It turns out that that part is one of the most widely misunderstood bits of Miranda because it is literally true. It means exactly what it says: if you open your mouth and talk after being read your Miranda Rights, not only can it be used against you, it WILL be used against you. This is why you should always keep your mouth shut if you’re ever arrested, even if you’re innocent. Especially if you’re innocent. Whatever you say, it will be used against you and NEVER in your favour. That’s just the way it is.
Many innocent men and women have gone to prison because they opened their mouths unwisely and started to chatter after being read their Miranda Rights because they “have nothing to hide.” That they may in fact have nothing to hide makes absolutely no difference. The police aren’t your judge or your jury. They aren’t there to decide your guilt or your innocence. You have NOTHING to say to impress the cops. So shut up and let your lawyer do the talking.
On both occasions when Donald Trump was arrested he was read his Miranda Rights. The arresting officers may have foregone taking his mugshot or putting him in handcuffs, as they emphatically would not have done with you or me, but they definitely read him his Miranda Rights. Since that time everything he has said can and will be used against him in a court of law.
Trump now knows his rights and he’s elected to shoot his stupid mouth off despite knowing his rights. That’s okay because he will have literally years of extra jail time with which to regret in loving detail every single one of his stupid indiscretions.
But the one indiscretion Trump made that concerns me today is what he claimed about his recorded statements on tape — a recording we all have recently heard. In the recording Trump appears to be showing the ghostwriters of Mark Meadows’ memoir top secret plans for attacking Iran. Trump claims that the plans he showed them weren’t top secret documents at all but “magazine articles.” Turns out that statement is contradicted by the very memoir his audience was ghostwriting!
That’s right, in “The Chief’s Chief,” Mark Meadows says (through his ghostwriters) that “The president recalls a four-page report typed up by [General] Mark Milley himself. It contained the general’s own plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops.”
If that four-page report was what Trump showed the ghostwriters of Mark Meadows’ new book then they will have to testify to that fact in court. They will have to testify that it was the exact same report that Milley put together. That report was and remains top secret. It proves beyond the shadow of all doubt, let alone a reasonable one, that Donald Trump lied in order to cover up his crime. Oops.
This is why Miranda is our friend. It keeps us from making colossal screw ups just like that. I for one am glad that Trump is too arrogant, too naive and too stupid to comprehend how much trouble he’s in and how much worse his stupid mouth is making that trouble for him. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.