Jack Smith corners Donald Trump

| 3:00 pm EDT May 24, 2023
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

A former federal prosecutor once said that Jack Smith should “follow the money” to find Donald Trump’s reasons behind holding onto classified documents. Specifically, she mentioned the Saudis and their deal with Trump for golf tournaments. Interestingly, back in February, Jamie Raskin called for an investigation into Jared Kushner’s $2 billion Saudi deal. Now, Jack Smith is looking at Trump’s relationships with foreign governments. Clearly, Smith is looking for the party to whom Trump might have wanted to sell secrets of national security, and that makes sense. It has always made sense.

According to New York Times, Smith issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization for records relating to seven specific countries: China, France, Turkey, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and, of course, Saudi Arabia. When he first took office in 2017, Trump pledged not to do any business with foreign countries while he was president. That pledge ended when his “presidency” ended, and he and his son-in-law were all about making deals. One deal Trump made since leaving office was to license the name of a Saudi-based real estate company to a golf complex to be built in Oman. Though he waited until he left office to make that deal, he did so just before he announced his presidential campaign for 2024. So, would he walk away from that deal if he were to be elected again? Don’t count on it. If it’s making money for him, Trump will never walk away from it. He loves money more than he loves anything else, including any alleged allegiance to the United States.

Smith is no dummy, and he is looking at every possible angle to explain why Trump took and was determined to hold onto classified documents. An unnamed source told NYT that some of the documents Trump had related to Middle Eastern countries, as well as materials related to France’s President Emmanuel Macron. One can only wonder what Trump had up his sleeve.

Throughout this entire process, Donald Trump has continued to claim ownership of government documents. When he appeared on his CNN town hall last month, he admitted that he took the records, claiming that he did so because those documents were “his personal property.” Who other than Donald Trump would say such a thing? Who would believe such nonsense? Trump doesn’t believe it; he’s just determined to do whatever he wants to do. He claimed during his town hall: “I took the documents; I’m allowed to” and that he had an “absolute right” to the documents under the Presidential Records Act, which is wrong, dead wrong. The Presidential Records Act gives custody of presidential records to the government, not individual former presidents.

The thing is, in the end, Smith doesn’t need motive to indict and prosecute Donald Trump. All he needs is evidence of obstruction, and he is well on his way to doing that. Keep in mind that Smith is simultaneously investigating Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 election and his fraudulent fundraising on those lies. If Smith doesn’t get Trump on one thing, he will get him on another.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.