I have to say that I am appalled but not surprised that so many people, including leading Republicans in the House of Representatives and many of Trump’s rival presidential candidates, are continuing to defend him in spite of the 44-page indictment that was issued by Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith. Having worked for almost my entire career in the defense industry and holding a Top-Secret clearance and various program accesses beyond that for most of that time, it just shocks me that so many people are more concerned about poor Donald’s well-being than about national security.
It is an absolute certainty that had I taken any documents like that home after I retired and tried to hide such a fact from the government, I would be in jail right now. I don’t think anyone would agree that if I were tried and convicted for violating the same statutes that Trump is being accused of violating that such a prosecution would be ‘politically motivated’. And yet here we are, with all of these Trumpians claiming this whole prosecution is politically motivated.
Many are trying to equate what Trump did to Hillary Clinton’s email server or the fact that classified documents were found in Biden and Pence’s possession after they left office. However, there are major differences that make this comparison more like comparing kumquats and watermelons.
First of all, the FBI did investigate the Clinton emails and, if we all remember, FBI Director Comey came out just before the 2016 election and basically torpedoed Clinton’s presidential hopes by stating they were re-opening the email probe. In the end, there was nothing there that they felt was sufficient to warrant charges and the few classified emails that were on Clinton’s server were 1) not marked properly and 2) no where near the level of classification of the stuff that Trump had.
When classified information was found at the Biden and Pence properties, they not only did not try to hide the fact, but they also cooperated in expanding the searches to ensure that nothing else was inadvertently taken. They did not, in any way, try to obstruct the investigation.
It is bad enough that Trump consciously took documents that, according to the law (Presidential Records Act), did not belong to him but it is unconscionable that he treated such sensitive information in a such a cavalier manner. Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) documents require special handling, special storage and are generally reviewed only in SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). The fact that the documents Trump took were in boxes in a ballroom, a bathroom and who knows where else. There was virtually no access control. This would be like a foreign intelligent officer hitting the mother lode of the Alaskan gold rush!
Some of the information held by Trump likely contained information on sources and methods of how that information was collected. In some cases, those sources and methods involve human beings – spies who are working for us. If those sources are compromised, those human beings can be captured, tortured and/or killed. For Trump to treat such information so cavalierly would be akin to him standing behind someone on the subway platform in New York and just pushing them in front of the train when it comes along.
In addition, since some of this information was shared by our closest allies, one has to wonder how likely they are to continue sharing important intelligence if they believe that most senior people in our government (the ex-president and certain members of Congress) cannot be trusted. We all have friends and relatives who cannot keep a secret under any circumstances! Will the United States now be viewed in that light?
I must say that I am truly afraid for this country. How can so many people support this man who has been impeached twice, has currently been indicted in two different investigations with two more pending, and who caused an insurrection resulting in what was essentially a coup attempt? I heard one professor, who is an expert on authoritarianism around the world make the statement that if Trump gets re-elected, he will never leave. And people wonder why we are preparing to leave the country. I still believe that the events of Jan. 6th could very well have been a dress rehearsal for what’s to come!
