Yes, the walls really are closing in on Donald Trump
The bad news for Donald Trump just keeps coming. The man was a disaster for this country, and he continues to be a disaster. An expert at breaking norms, Trump took documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, and several outlets reported that some of those documents were classified national security information. It is bad enough that Trump thought anything in the White House belonged to him, but to take classified national security information into his private life is simply unforgiveable. What in the world could he want with those documents? Some believe he was planning to sell them to the highest bidder, which could prove disastrous for the United States.
While members of Congress and the National Archives have asked the DOJ to investigate Trump’s violation of the President Records Act, something far more serious should come from Trump’s acts. USA Today reported that Trump thought taking official records “routine and no big deal,” but he is wrong. He had the nerve to say: “In actuality, I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years.” First, if Trump could even read legal rulings, he would not understand them. Second, he is simply lying—again. There have been no such rulings made in history that justify what he did. Former presidents do not routinely remove official White House records when they leave. No one has ever done this before Donald Trump. Accordingly, there have been no lawsuits and certainly no rulings to cover this issue, and Trump knows it.
As Newsweek reported, former U.S. Army prosecutor Glenn Kirschner believes that Trump is “potentially facing a five-year felony” for removing classified documents from the White House. Trump’s claim about “legal rulings” is nothing more than a claim or just a lie, which he does so well. In fact, according to Washington Post, some of the documents taken by Trump were marked “top secret,” and documents marked “top secret” are to be viewed by a few high-level officials only. There is no way Trump truly believed it was okay for him to take these documents to his home. He was merely doing what he wanted to do because he has never had to suffer the consequences of his actions. Hopefully, that is changing.
Last week, a federal court ruled that Trump could be held civilly responsible for inciting the insurrection and is allowing the civil suits against him to proceed. Trump speaks without thought, and this time, it came back to bite him in his ass. CNN reported that Judge Mehta based his ruling on Trump’s speech to attendees as “working toward a common goal,” ruling that: “The President’s January 6 Rally Speech can reasonably be viewed as a call for collective action.” Judge Mehta further ruled that because Trump’s words had no official place in carrying out his duties, those words were unofficial, thereby denying him immunity.
Words have consequences, as Donald Trump is finding out. His words that taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago is “no big deal” will similarly come back to haunt him.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years