Charges against Trump in document affair: test for American democracy

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Trump and his lawyers announced this on Thursday evening (local time). The background is the affair surrounding Trump’s handling of classified government documents after he left the White House. The unprecedented indictment comes in the middle of the already fraught campaign for the 2024 presidential election and will once again test American democracy.

It is the first time that a federal charge has been filed against a former US president. According to consistent media reports and Trump attorney Jim Trusty, there are seven charges that are still classified. The allegations include illegal handling of sensitive US defense information, false testimony and obstruction of justice.

In August, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched Trump’s private property Mar-a-Lago in Florida and seized numerous classified documents, some of them classified at the highest level. The fact that the Republican kept the documents in his private home long after he left the presidency could have prosecuted him.

After Trump officially announced in November that he would run again in the 2024 election, the Justice Department enlisted independent special counsel Jack Smith to outsource the politically sensitive investigation into Trump.

In polls, Trump is far ahead of Republican presidential candidates. He assessed the allegations against him as “election interference at the highest level”. Trump again accused Democrats and US President Joe Biden, who is running for a second term in 2024, of conducting a politically motivated witch hunt against him to prevent him moving back to the White House. Trump complained it was “warfare” by legal means, claiming, “I’m an innocent man.”

Trump’s attorney, Trusty, said the judiciary had now “crossed the Rubicon.” High-ranking Trump supporters also immediately swarmed to spread the story on all channels that Biden personally directed his opponent’s prosecution and that this was all but the beginning of the downfall of American democracy.

Trump, of all people, had pushed American democracy to its limits: campaigning against the results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the violent storming of the Capitol. At that time, the constitutional system withstood the onslaught. But the country as a whole never fully recovered from the onslaught: Trump’s sown mistrust in the electoral system and state institutions has remained with many Americans — and is now fueled.

Trump was already indicted at the state level in New York in April for paying hush money to a porn star. In a civil suit a few weeks ago, the court held him responsible for assault.

So far, the allegations related to the documents have carried the heaviest weight. However, other cases against Trump are being investigated in connection with his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election. So more charges could potentially follow – and they could only get really dangerous for him.

So far, nothing has legally prevented Trump from running in the 2024 election. Depending on how accurate this payload looks and possible further payloads eventually turn out, that could change. The problem with this: whether a final judgment could be reached at all in any of the cases by the election date in early November 2024 is an open question.

The prominent Republicans are still on Trump’s side, dismissing one charge after another as politically motivated criminal charges. Even Trump’s closest contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, came to his aid and accused Biden of using federal law enforcement agencies as a “weapon.”

But can there be a fatigue effect at some point? Will the party establishment and its supporters still support Trump with verve after a possible third or fourth indictment?

Trump has used previous investigations and the first indictment against him to fuel his base and raise money. He does now. On his website on Friday, his team called for donations in view of the new charge. Democrat Adam Schiff argued, “Winning the presidency may be his only hope of avoiding prison.”

Irony of history: During the 2016 election campaign, Trump had harshly attacked his then Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton over similar allegations of handling sensitive government information. During her time as secretary of state, Clinton had also been sending emails through a private server – the affair was considered one of the main reasons for her defeat by Trump.

His supporters at the time shouted “lock them up”. And Trump himself railed that Clinton’s behavior disqualified her for the presidency.

(SDA)

Source: Blick