Former President Trump Faces Indictment Over Illegal Retention of Intelligence Files

Former President Donald Trump faced a grand-jury subpoena in May 2022, which required him to surrender intelligence files he had illegally retained at his Mar-a-Lago resort club and estate in Palm Beach. Trump was intent on defying the legally enforceable court order, and during a meeting with two lawyers he had retained to help him handle the subpoena, he turned the conversation to Hillary Clinton and a lawyer who had represented her in a similar situation. Trump praised the lawyer for making incriminating evidence disappear and taking the fall for it, so Clinton escaped jeopardy. Trump’s lawyers recounted this story in their testimony, which was used in a 37-count indictment against Trump. One of Trump’s lawyers, Evan Corcoran, provided lurid testimony reflecting Trump’s suggestions that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that he did not have classified documents and that he “pluck” anything “really bad” out of a package of documents responsive to the subpoena. Corcoran did this because the law required him to, not because he wanted to hurt Trump. The problem is not that Democrats are going after Trump for partisan advantage, but that officials who violate the law and cover up their actions should be prosecuted, regardless of their political affiliation. The lesson of the Hillary Clinton precedent is that Joe Biden should be investigated and prosecuted to even out the scales of justice. Trump’s lawyers, who were trying to help him, would not have testified that he tried to destroy evidence and obstruct justice unless he really did.