Lawfare: Why Would the Biden Administration and not Trump be Found Guilty

Considering a more than likely and approaching announcement by former President Donald J. Trump to be the Republican nominee for President, looking at the November 2024 Presidential elections, who also has strong support from conservative voters, especially after the execution of the search warrant of his Mar-a-Lago residence by the FBI (58% of voters support the former President according to the latest Consult/Politico poll), the United States is going through very difficult but crucial times looking at its immediate future, with a mid-term election to be held in November 2022 where Republicans could regain the majority in Congress, these elections will almost certainly also be a referendum on the abysmal failures of the current Joe Biden administration.

As the poll results shows, it is no longer just a majority of Republican voters whom believe in former President Trump's strong leadership as the undisputed leader of the free world, but now a growing number of independents are more motivated than ever to vote in the upcoming midterm elections for a Republican candidate. United by a generalized anger over the alleged politicization of the Department of Justice and the FBI over its latest performance, and as the hyper-partisan January 6 Commission that outrages so many continues to unfold, what seems clearer than ever is that the Biden-Harris administration needs these kinds of media headlines and attacks on the former President in order to change the narrative and try to survive politically, after having succeeded in converting the country into a unrecognizable America in record time: turning a recovery into a recession, going from being a nation of law and order to a reference of injustice and insecurity, or turning the last beacon of hope of freedom in the world to a country that allows an defends the persecution of dissidents or attacks on life and liberty.

The arguments used to execute the search warrant

Focusing on the facts already known about the controversial execution of the search warrant on the former President Trump's residence in Mar-O-Lago, several legal arguments and the lack of precedent reveals the intention behind those who defend it stand out.

The document approved by the U.S. Attorney General to investigate Donald Trump included an alleged obstruction of justice, the violation of the Espionage Act and the criminal handling of government documents. The order, which was granted by a federal judge, authorized FBI agents to seize any evidence that might reveal efforts by Trump to illegally withhold documents that could help U.S. adversaries or to hide or destroy U.S. government documents. Trump responded by denying any wrongdoing on his part and stated that he had been cooperating with the FBI for months. Regarding the accusation of having classified documents, his lawyers argued that they were not classified and were safe.

What did the FBI take

It has been made public that among the documents seized by the FBI there were about twenty boxes, photos and documents labeled as "Top Secret" or "Confidential", one titled "info re: President of France" or a request for pardon drafted in the name of a political strategist and close friend Roger Stone. The list of published documents also shows that the agents searched and found documents marked with the acronym "SCI" or "Sensitive Compartmentalized Information" and others as "Miscellaneous Secret Documents". All of them are expected to be the subject of a long dispute in court for their admission as evidence of an alleged crime for mishandling or obstruction of Justice, depending on their real value and the level of confidentiality that the former president should have handled them. On the other hand, it will be important to see if the case finally moves forward and whether or not there were certain violations of any laws described in the filling of the search warrant, it will also depend on the legitimacy of the FBI's actions or the political implications that the prosecution of a former President would foresee.

Was the purpose of the search really about classified documents?

As we have learned in the last few hours, the FBI took not only the documents that could be classified, confidential or top secret, but, according to what was reported by the former president himself, they also took his personal travel documents, three of his own passports (two of them which were expired) and his active diplomatic passport, in what we understand to be an attempt to prevent him from fleeing the country. (These passports were later returned by the DOJ to the former President). This new unprecedented, intrusive and extremely aggressive types of operations, is further evidence of how much the Democrats and the politicized DOJ are tightening the rope without taking into account that these actions, usually have not only a grave immediate impact on the basic rights of citizens but also an absolute rejection of the discriminatory treatment being given to the 45th President. Of course, it is very likely that when conservatives retake both houses of Congress, they could thoroughly investigate or press charges against anyone who has not fully complied with their ethical duties or functions, abused their powers and look for any possible links to a conspiracy or political persecution against conservatives.

On the other hand, and according to information published by the courts, this operation would be justified by a possible violation of articles 793 (on collection, transmission or loss of defense information), 1519 (on destruction, alteration and falsification of documents with possible obstruction of justice) and/or 2071 (on concealment of documents). Therefore, according to several analysts and Democratic lawyers, this shows, they say, that thanks to the strategy used against the former president, not only could he be prosecuted without the need to prove that he withheld classified documents, but if found guilty, this would prevent him from running for the presidency, which is the ultimate goal behind this political persecution.

However, and even assuming that, for example, they wanted to prosecute Donald Trump under Section 2071 which specifically states that any person who "willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, erases, falsifies, or destroys" government documents can be found guilty of a felony and the penalty is up to three years in prison and fines of $2,000, or that any person who violates such law would lose their office and be disqualified from holding any public office in the US. This would not disqualify him from the presidential race, since it is only the U.S. federal Constitution itself and specifically Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution, together with the 22nd Amendment, that establishes the requirements and limits to be president of the U.S., that is, to be born in the U.S., to be at least 35 years old and to have resided at least 14 years in the nation. In short, the Constitution is above any other law and Congress lacks any authority to alter the list of criteria for candidacy, such as adding the requirement of not having been convicted of unlawfully taking, destroying or failing to return government documents.

In conclusion, what is certain is that despite this search warrant to remove Trump from the political scene, it has been the current Biden administration alone that has not been able to avoid any crises, but rather has created them since his arrival to the White House in 2021. This administration has led the country to have an international credibility crisis with the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, to the biggest national security crisis with the uncontrollable illegal immigration and open border policy at the southern border and to a historic and unprecedented economic crisis due to the mismanagement of the inflation and excessive and uncontrolled spending.

For all these reasons, if we really apply the law equally regarding Presidential obligations, Joe Biden will sooner or later be found guilty of the politicization of the justice system and plunging this great nation into misery. The verdict would be rendered in the next elections, both in the mid-terms November 2022 and the presidential elections in 2024 in which a big red wave appears to be approaching.