I'm not trying to be a smarass either, but you seem to enjoy arguing small points of minutiae around the edges rather than addressing the problems with the whole motive of the prosecution.TXAggie2011 said:I'm not sure what the point about CIPA is. Not trying to be a smartass. I really don't know what point you're trying to make.jrdaustin said:Wonderful. The point stands. CIPA procedures used in the prosecution of a former POTUS for how he handled documents from his own presidency post-office is still most certainly novel, much less infrequent, is it not?TXAggie2011 said:I'm speaking of CIPAjrdaustin said:Ahh, I assume you're speaking of that 1917 act? And you're asserting that a 105 year old law applied for the first time ever to target a FPOTUS and current presidential candidate is NOT novel????TXAggie2011 said:There is a reason Congress created and passed an entire act defining how courts should conduct trials regarding classified information. This is hardly a novel nor infrequent issue.Stat Monitor Repairman said:
So the DOJ is seeking a criminal conviction based on secreted evidence?
The trolls are definitely out today.
Do you believe that Congress had this exact scenario in mind when they passed CIPA?
To answer the question, CIPA states it applies to "any defendant in any criminal case in a district court of the United States." I'm sure they did not think exactly about a former President being criminally prosecuted, unless Nixon or something came up. But I don't understand the point. CIPA's an evidentiary procedural rule. Under that standard, does any rule of criminal procedure or evidence apply to this case?
So let me try it this way. (It's going to ramble a bit because I have to leave and cannot completely organize this as I would like)
What is the actual crimes committed in the first 31 counts with respect to the documents? Set aside the obstruction for a moment. What is the government alleging? Is it:
- That Trump mishandled classified documents?
- That he failed to return NDI when asked?
- Some other offense that can be boiled down to a statement? I'm all ears.
- And when did the alleged crimes occur? On a specific date? Or on the day that documents arrived at Mar-A-Lago? The indictment counts list a range of dates beginning at Biden's inauguration.
Looking at the indictment, the governments seems to place a lot of emphasis on Trump's moving boxes as evidence of obstruction, and I understand that he was told at some point to refrain from accessing any of the boxes after the 15 were given.
But.... Under the PRA, a FPOTUS has the right to designate personal vs. presidential vs. NDI documents. How does he do this without being able to access said boxes? It has been argued that he should have done it before he left office. But can a single POTUS be named that did that? It seems the expectation was that Trump should have secluded himself for weeks to personally go through each box and CORRECTLY make the determination that would be 100% in agreement with the government. THAT'S the expectation.
So again, CIPA procedures are relevant - and NOVEL - in that we're not talking about somone who took a classified document home in a briefcase. We're talking about 100 documents that were buried in God knows how many boxes that were seized from a former POTUS who believed he was acting under the confines of the PRA. (I find it curious that I could not find the number of boxes seized - only 102 documents with classifcation markings)
To me, the government is alleging that this is a BIG DEAL based upon the classification markings. But they weren't looking for specific documents when they raided Mar-A-Lago. They were hoping. We don't know what those documents really say, and we DO know that a POTUS would have all types of classified documents cross his desk. Some serious, some not-so-serious. If they try CIPA procedures, the motive could easily be to overstate the actual impact on National Security. Again, we all know that this is a political action - not a law-enforcement action. The Espionage Act is simply the tool.
I'm sorry if the above is confusing. But I believe the indictment was designed to be confusing.