GAME OVER
The DOJ waited until nearly midnight eastern time before filing its forty page response in the Donald Trump classified documents case. Officially, this filing was to convince a judge that Trump’s belated request for a special master is pointless. Unofficially, the filing was the DOJ’s opportunity to show the public just how guilty Trump is, without having to so much as hold a press conference.
Now that the filing has been released, let’s just say that it should be enough to put Trump away for a long, long time. The DOJ included photos of highly classified documents, clearly identified by their cover sheets, that were found in boxes amongst (possibly fake) framed Time Magazine covers of Trump. So in that sense the DOJ just proved Trump guilty of narcissism and espionage at the same time. But it gets far worse.
The filing also reveals that the DOJ found classified documents inside Donald Trump’s personal desk at Mar-a-Lago. This is the part that erases any reasonable doubt argument he might have tried to make when this gets to trial. Even if he tried to claim that someone on his staff stole those boxes of classified documents and took them to Mar-a-Lago without Trump’s knowledge, this would never explain why some of the documents were inside Trump’s desk. This is, in effect, game over.
But it gets worse for Trump. The filing also reveals that Trump received a grand jury subpoena for all of the classified documents several months ago. This means that when Trump only turned over some of the documents and falsely claimed that they were all of the documents he didn’t merely defy a DOJ request; he defied a grand jury subpoena. That’s textbook felony obstruction of justice.
Now we’re officially on Trump indictment watch. It’s coming. It’s anyone’s guess as to when. It could be next week or next year. But the DOJ doesn’t get this deep into an espionage and obstruction probe without bringing charges. Donald Trump knows it too, which is why he spent all of Tuesday having the meltdown of a lifetime. Now he’s staring at life in prison.
