Senate Intel Committee likely already has the Russia documents it just asked Donald Trump campaign for
The Senate Intelligence Committee has now taken the definitive and sweeping step of asking everyone from Donald Trump campaign to turn over every document that have any relation to Russia (link). Some have asked what’s taken so long, and why the committee didn’t make this request sooner. But best I can gather, this isn’t about getting the documents. It’s about something else entirely.
I’ve spoken with current and former attorneys who have experience with these matters in general, and they’ve all told me the same thing: this kind of tactic is often used when copies of the documents being asked for are already in hand. The point of the request is essentially to dare the individuals in question to not turn over their own copies, or even to destroy their copies. In a civil action, that would demonstrate bad faith intent on their part. In a criminal matter such as this one, it means they’ve committed obstruction.
So it seems likely that the Senate Intel Committee has already obtained copies of the documents it’s now asking for, from individuals within the Donald Trump campaign who have already begun working in private with the investigation in exchange for leniency. In fact I’m taking the committee’s decision to publicly ask for the entirety of the documents as a sign that the committee has now finally obtained all the documents it needs. And yeah I’ve waited a couple of days before publicly pointing this out, just in case any campaign staff are reading this.
To be clear, I’m not basing this on any inside knowledge of the Senate Intel Committee’s decision making process in particular. Instead I’m simply basing it on how attorneys have explained to me that these things tend to work in general, as well as the basic logic involved. The committee would be foolish to put out a blanket all-call for documents it doesn’t already have, due to the strong chance that campaign staffers will panic and destroy them. But if some of them want to commit obstruction by destroying documents that the committee already has anyway, then by all means, the committee is happy to have something to hang over their heads. Follow Palmer Report on Facebook and Twitter.
