Former President Donald Trump, who was responsible for executing and upholding the laws of the United States, met with two lawyers on May 23, 2022, to handle a grand-jury subpoena that required him to surrender intelligence files he had illegally retained at his Mar-a-Lago resort club and estate in Palm Beach. However, Trump was intent on defying the order and refused to surrender the files.
During the meeting, Trump spoke of a lawyer who had represented Hillary Clinton when she was in a similar situation and had received a subpoena demanding that she turn over emails from her non-government, non-secure server system. Trump praised the lawyer for helping Clinton handle the subpoena by deleting incriminating emails and taking the fall for it so that Clinton would not face any consequences.
The evidence of this conversation does not come from Trump’s enemies, but from his own lawyers who were trying to help him minimize his criminal exposure. One of these lawyers, Evan Corcoran, was even subpoenaed and forced to testify after Trump used him to provide false information under oath in response to the subpoena. Corcoran provided lurid testimony, including Trump’s suggestions that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that he did not have classified documents and “pluck” anything incriminating out of the documents responsive to the subpoena.
While some may argue that Trump is being unfairly targeted for prosecution, the real problem is that every official entrusted with access to the nation’s secrets who violates the law and covers it up should be prosecuted. The lesson of the Hillary Clinton precedent is that Joe Biden should be investigated and prosecuted if he has committed similar offenses. The fix for a two-tiered justice system is not equal injustice under the law.
In this case, Trump’s own lawyers testified against him, suggesting that he did indeed try to obstruct justice and destroy evidence. It is not a matter of Democrats targeting Trump, but rather a matter of upholding the law and holding all officials accountable for their actions.
