The other day, on June 8, former president Donald J. Trump was indicted on 37 different federal charges. Most surround his retention of sensitive documents. The rest involve various other federal offenses, from obstruction of justice to effectively–if not legally–perjuring himself. Today is his arraignment. In the past five days, in two speeches this past Saturday (Georgia and North Carolina), as well as posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump has made many comments regarding the charges. Many of them are exaggerated, misleading, or downright lies. Here are a few.
THE CHARGES THEMSELVES:
CLAIM: In a speech in Georgia on Saturday, Trump claimed that 36 of the 37 charges were invalid. That he was really being accused of one crime and they “made it 36 [more] times”. He backed that up by suggesting that lawyers on television were surprised that the Justice Department just multiplied the charges.
THE FACTS: Trump wasn’t charged the same charge 36 times (or 37, the actual total of charges). Here’s how the charges break down: 31 regard the breaking of a single statute, that makes it illegal to retain classified documents–with charges for each of the individual sensitive documents,* one charge for withholding a document or record, one charge for concealing a document or record in a federal investigation, one charge for scheming to conceal, one charge for making false statements to federal authorities during an investigation, and obstruction of justice.
*During the raid on Mar-a-Lago, 102 classified documents were found. This amounts to far more than the 31 charges for retaining classified documents. So, obviously, it is not only untrue that the Justice Department just added to a single charge, but it seems they could have charged him several times over and beyond that 31. It should also be noted that there isn’t really anything shocking in multiple charges for what seems a single offense. He kept multiple classified documents, he was charged for each of them, minus many others special counsel (Jack Smith) chose not to bring against him, for whatever reasons.
TRUMP’S COMMENTS ON BIDEN’S HANDLING OF DOCUMENTS:
CLAIM: in his Georgia speech, Trump made a series of claims regarding his rival, current president Joe Biden. He said Biden had done the same thing on a larger scale (i.e. kept classified documents). He claimed Biden had kept over 1800 boxes, calling his own “peanuts”. He also said that Biden was fighting the government on the boxes, to keep them from seeing them: i.e. obstruction of justice. His strongest comment was an accusation that this was a personal witch hunt by a political opponent to a political opponent.
THE FACTS: Biden legally donated the 1800 boxes to the University of Delaware. They contained records from his 36 years in the Senate, which isn’t illegal; the records supposedly don’t include any records from his years under Obama, which would presumably fall under the Presidential Records Act. [It should also be noted the documents were donated during the first Obama/Biden term, when documents were not yet boxed up.] There is a special counsel examining those records, to assure none among them are records he shouldn’t have kept. The investigation is also about the documents that were found at Biden’s two Delaware homes. From the beginning, Biden has cooperated with authorities, not trying in any way to thwart them, and certainly not trying to hide records or impede any investigation. Finally, while it is certainly true that Biden stands to benefit from charges, trials, and any convictions against Trump, there is no indication that Biden has done anything but keep his distance. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, also seems to have kept his distance once handing the investigation over to special counsel.
BOXES, PHOTOS, AND WITNESSES, OH MY!: DID THE FBI MISHANDLE OR PLANT ITEMS?
CLAIM: in the past few days, Trump has spoken repeatedly about a topped box found at Mar-a-Lago, strongly suggesting, if not outright accusing, the FBI of toppling the box–that he claimed had no documents, just newspapers and pictures. That the FBI must have knocked over several other files because they took a photo of files strewn on the floor and said Trump had piled the documents on the floor himself. And that, finally, that they planted evidence, citing that no witnesses protecting Trump were allowed in there during the search.
THE FACTS: There’s a lot to unpack here. Trump mentioned a photo that was included in the indictment, which showed a box that had toppled over, spilling documents onto the floor. His suggestion that it was done during the FBI search isn’t borne out by the facts. The photo from the indictment was apparently taken in December, 2021, several months before the FBI executed its search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, clearly showing that whoever toppled the box, it wasn’t the FBI; by the same token, they couldn’t have planted anything at the time. In addition, the photo in question does not prove there were no documents. In fact, there is at least one cover that has a mark normally indicating redacted content in it. Regarding the other photo he references–of piles of records on the floor–the FBI never said Trump piled the documents. In fact, they said the documents were recovered from a container. As for taking the photo, that is a usual thing in collecting of evidence, to document the finding of pieces of evidence. Regarding the accusation that the FBI planted evidence and nobody was the wiser, while it is theoretically possible that someone could plant evidence, it isn’t usual (to say nothing of the agents who probably voted for Trump), and not having anyone protect the interests of the suspect, investigators are always going to ask the suspect, family and friends, and yes, even their lawyer(s), to exit the premises during a search. The absence from the search isn’t abnormal and it certainly isn’t proof something hinky was going on.
NARA and the PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT:
CLAIM: Trump insisted he was cooperating –“as every other president has done–with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the branch of the National Archives that deals with presidential records that fall under the Presidential Records Act. He claims, further, that because he was cooperating, the search warrant was, to pardon the pun, unwarranted, and an assault on his rights (which he claims wide authority on as a former president).
THE FACTS: First, a word on the Presidential Records Act. This law was passed in 1978 and stated that all official records of Presidents and VPs that were created or received after January 20, 1981, were to be turned over to special administrators at NARA to manage. For all practical purposes, this law took effect the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office, so the Reagan/Bush administration onward. In 2014, the law was amended, which added several new provisions, including establishing public ownership of all the documents, that VP records are to be treated the same as presidential records, and notably, and that the president bears full responsibility for ensuring all documents are turned over to NARA. Such records are due to NARA on the day the new president is sworn in, for the Archivist to control the custody, preservation, and access to the records. Trump made one correct statement: all other presidents, from Reagan to Obama, have turned over their records. There has never been a problem. But records being found at Mar-a-Lago is proof that Trump did not follow proper procedure. Furthermore, he had a history, albeit brief, of not cooperating with NARA. The National Archives had been trying since Trump left office in January, 2021, to get the documents. In January, 2022, a full year later, he turned over 197 documents, but not all. In June, 2022, under subpoena, he turned over another three dozen or so. NARA was aware they were well short of everything, and thus the search warrant was issued in August, 2022, which yielded 102 more documents. Whether more remains hidden or was destroyed is anybody’s guess. But the fact that NARA had to repeatedly pursue this and be given documents piecemeal, is proof that Trump was not, in fact, cooperating, his statements to the contrary.