Excitement Builds As Trump Indictment On Espionage Charges Nears

"World Leaders" by Nancy Ohanian

I’m so old that it’s almost inconceivable that an American president— ex-president— could be charged with espionage. In fact I was so dumbstruck by the news that Señor Trumpanzee might be charged immensely with espionage that I had to look the word up. Wikipedia said “Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). And I asked HAL. Here’s our conversation:

Writing for The Independent, Andrew Feiberg reported that “The Department of Justice is preparing to ask a Washington, DC grand jury to indict former president Trump for violating the Espionage Act and for obstruction of justice as soon as Thursday.” Section 793 of the Espionage Act “prohibits ‘gathering, transmitting or losing’ any ‘information respecting the national defence.’ The use of Section 793, which does not make reference to classified information, is understood to be a strategic decision by prosecutors that has been made to short-circuit Trump’s ability to claim that he used his authority as president to declassify documents he removed from the White House and kept at his Palm Beach, Florida property long after his term expired on 20 January 2021.”

Feinberg also reported that “A separate grand jury that is meeting in Florida has also been hearing evidence in the documents investigation. That grand jury was empaneled in part to overcome legal issues posed by the fact that some of the crimes allegedly committed by Trump took place in that jurisdiction, not in Washington. Under federal law, prosecutors must bring charges against federal defendants in the jurisdiction where the crimes took place. Over the course of the last year, grand jurors have heard testimony from numerous associates of the ex-president, including nearly every employee of Mar-a-Lago, former administration officials who worked in Mr Trump’s post-presidential office and for his political operation, and former high-ranking administration officials such as his final White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows has already given evidence before the grand jury and is said to be cooperating with the investigation into his former boss. It is understood that the former North Carolina congressman will plead guilty to several federal charges as part of a deal for which he has already received limited immunity in exchange for his testimony… According to ABC News, Mr Meadows has given evidence in both the documents matter and the January 6 investigation.”

A team of Washington Post reporters, wrote that “the bulk” of the indictment charges would be in Florida, not in DC. This is a decision made by Jack Smith. Perjury and false statements charges could still be filed in Washington. “If Trump is charged on his home turf, he could face a significantly different jury pool than the one in Washington. Such a move could also speed the path to a trial, said former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason, because it could eliminate potential legal challenges about whether charges were being brought in the right place.”

Hugo Lowell, reporting from Miami for The Guardian, wrote that “Federal prosecutors formally informed Trump’s lawyers last week that the former US president is a target of the criminal investigation examining his retention of national security materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstruction of justice, according to two people briefed on the matter. The move dramatically raises the stakes for Trump as the investigation appears to near its conclusion after taking evidence before a grand jury in Washington and a previously unknown grand jury in Florida that was impaneled last month.”

Continuing the media feeding frenzy, Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman reported that “tensions ran high” among Trump’s aides and advisers “that charges might soon be filed against him… A few hours after [former spokesman Taylor] Budowich left the grand jury, which is sitting in Federal District Court in Miami, John Solomon, a conservative writer who serves as one of Trump’s representatives to the National Archives, published an article claiming that federal prosecutors had notified the former president that he was a target of their investigation and was likely to be indicted ‘imminently’ in the documents case.” Trump told the NY Times reporters that it is “not true.” He’s always a good source. Not.

Late yesterday, NBC News reported that Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed a couple of weeks ago by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6 coup attempt and insurrection-- Trump’s efforts to stay in office.

3 LITTLE UPDATES: