By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… The first of what is a myriad of criminal indictments has been issued against Donald Trump. There are 37 criminal charges being brought against the former President. The first 31 counts are actually the same charge, just written over other incidents to make it more likely one will stick. “Willful Retention of National Defense Information.” All of these are deemed a violation of Title 18, United States Code, section 793 (e).
Count 32: Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice. Since a conspiracy takes more than one, they have also indicted a Trump employee, basically a “go-fer” named Waltine Nauta, under this count. It is alleged they conspired to hide classified documents Trump had taken with him when he left office. They contend this violates Title 18, United States Code, Section 1512 (k).
Count 33: Withholding a Document of Record in violation of United States Code 1512 (b) (2) (A), 2) “Trump attempted to persuade an attorney to hide ….documents from a federal grand jury….”
Count 34: Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record. This is very similar to Count 33. However, they added employee Waltine Nauta to this charge.
Count 35: Concealing a Document in a Federal investigation. Again they added Nauta in this charge. It is alleged that during an FBI investigation these two men hid and concealed a document from the FBI. It is further alleged that Trump continued to possess classified documents in violation of United States Code 1519 and 2.
Count 36: Scheme to Conceal. This count contends that Trump and Nauta hid and concealed; from the grand jury and the FBI; Trump’s continued possession of classified documents.
Count 37: False Statements and Representations. Trump’s attorney stated that all classified documents had been turned over. But it was later discovered “more than 100 documents with classification markings remained at The Mar-a-Largo Club…”
Counts 23-36 seem to be the same, or at least so similar, that if Trump is guilty of one, he is guilty of all.
Each of the first 31 charges carry a $250,000 fine and a ten-year jail sentence. The others carry a 20-year jail sentence and a $250,000 fine. If found guilty on all charges, Trump faces 430 years in prison and a $9,250,000 fine.
One begins to think maybe there is a little bit of over-kill here. If Trump is found guilty what will we do with Hillary Clinton who destroyed over 30,000 documents on her unsecure personal computer? How about President Biden’s garage documents, and former Vice President Mike Pence’s documents? All charges have been dropped against Pence and Clinton.
Here’s a thought! How many of those raiding the former president’s home had a clearance up to Top Secret? Would Trump have been violating the law by turning these documents over to those who did not have clearance to see them?
Here is another thought: Would anyone ever know what was in those documents if these hearings had not been held, the grand jury had not been called, and these indictments were not served?
I am not an attorney and I don’t play one on T.V. however, I have no answers for these thoughts.
No one asked me but… This whole issue of charging the most likely opponent to the sitting President in hopes he will be convicted and sitting in jail at the time of 2024 election brought to my mind the Presidential Election of 1920. While in prison in 1920, Eugene V. Debs garnered nearly a million votes in the U.S. presidential election as the Socialist Party candidate.
On May 21, 1918, to head off an anti-war movement, President Wilson had signed the Sedition Act into law. The law made it illegal for a U.S. citizen to “willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States government, or to discourage compliance with the draft or voluntary enlistment into the military.”
Apparently, President Wilson graduated from an inner-city school in Las Vegas and, therefore, was unable to read the First Amendment to the United States Constitution that protects free speech.
Debs defiantly disobeyed the law he deemed unjust. On June 18, 1918, in an address in Canton, Ohio, Debs stated that American boys were “fit for something better than for cannon fodder.”
He was tried and convicted of violating the Sedition Act and sentenced to ten years in prison.
On May 13, 1920, at its national convention in New York, the Socialist Party unanimously nominated Debs as their presidential candidate. His supporters wore buttons that read “For President, Convict No. 9653.”
Debs’ opponents were Republican Warren G. Harding and Democrat James Cox. Harding’s campaign manager, Mark Hanna, stated that Warren G. Harding “should not be allowed to campaign because someone might ask him a question and he was the kind of fool that would try to answer it.”
Harding’s campaign strategy was called “The Front Porch” campaign, perhaps a forerunner to Biden’s “Basement Campaign.” I might add for the same reason.
On May 29, 1920, newsreel cameras filmed a delegation from the Socialist Party arriving at the Atlanta penitentiary to inform Debs of his nomination. At motion picture theaters across the nation, audiences watched the selection ritual.
The New York Times was aghast that a felon might campaign using the motion picture screen. The Socialist Party, with tongue in cheek, announced that its candidate would conduct “The Front Cell” campaign.
Debs finished a distant third receiving 3.4% of the vote, over 900,000 total votes.
Debs’ personal best showing was in a presidential election of 1912, when he garnered 6% of the vote. Of course, in 1912 he was able to move about more freely.
President Harding took office in March. 1921. On Christmas Day of 1921, he commuted Debs’ sentence, along with that of 23 other prisoners who had been convicted under the Sedition Act.
As Debs exited the prison gates, his fellow inmates cheered as the newsreel cameras were waiting to greet him. It was the kind of photo-op that Donald Trump would have relished.
Thought of the week…Our worst enemies here are not the ignorant and simple, however cruel; our worst enemies are the intelligent and corrupt.
— Graham Greene
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3 thoughts on “No One Asked Me But… (June 14, 2023)”
Are you serious. How can anyone make excuses for the most corrupt person in history? Trump is a complete joke. And please, don’t tell me you sent a billionaire your hard earned money. Anyone who sends money to a billionaire had to be a the ultimate moron. As for the charges, all Trump had to do was return the documents and no charges. Biden and Pence did just that. Trump, however, refused to give them back, conspired to hide them, and obstructed the investigation. He was given at least a half dozen opportunities to do the right thing but deliberately lied and concealed the documents. And yet you MAGAts still support him. What is wrong with you? Other than giving tax cuts to billionaires, Trump did nothing to keep his promises. No new health care, no reduction in medical costs, no Mexican wall, no infrastructure, no immigration reforms. No nothing. I expect better from a former teacher.
MAGAt? Only a liberal would make it personal. Small towns buddy. Maybe you don’t throw rocks. Or hell, maybe you do and let’s get this cracking.
I am beginning to understand why no one asks you anything. Defending a criminal with a proven history of racism, tax evasion, and extortion.
Donald Trump is a weak man who is a Misogynist praises dictators of other countries because they are able to control the press, and the people and get rich from their position. He praises them because they are able to do what he dreams of doing. I have no problem with a Democrat or Republican or even an Independent gaining office in the next election but pray with everything I have that it is not Donald Trump.
Outside of packing what is becoming a surprisingly corrupt Supreme Court to overturn the abortion rights of women (misogynist again), Spending millions on a worthless border wall, and alienating allies there is nothing he has accomplished that is worth a return to office. He is obviously gifted with traits, similar to PT Barnum that appeal to people that believe they are being mistreated and he has created a following not unlike Unfortunately, he has too many boxes checked which makes him arrogant he shows signs of a narcissistic personality disorder. He expects people to like him and believe it is your loss if you don’t.
He has trouble with empathy, believes he knows what’s best for everyone, he is unable to view the world from the perspective of others. Most of all it should be obvious that Donald suffers from an Aristotle complex which is a set of unconscious behaviors and feelings, which make him feel he is always right. Someone who espouses untruths even when they are proven to be false.
Finally, I have a strong belief in America, I am a veteran willing to protect that belief, we have always had a country full of people that had different beliefs but that never stopped us from coming together. Now we have a radical right and a radical left that has truly split this country in half. We need to get back to just having different views from other people and not hate them. I am sad to say I also believed that the reason we have remained a democracy for 234 years and believe it to continue was that we as a people would always be smart enough to never elect a president that could or would hurt this country and that if we somehow did we would impeach him as soon as possible and be wiser for the future. In that belief I was wrong. We don’t need to love each other but respect would not hurt. Just stop the hate.