Trump May Be Indicted On Espionage Act Charges Tomorrow
The Independent reports that charges include obstruction
Writes The Independent:
The Independent has learned that prosecutors are ready to ask grand jurors to approve an indictment against Mr Trump for violating a portion of the US criminal code known as Section 793, which 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 Mr 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.
At issue are the files seized by the FBI when they searched Mar-a-Lago after Trump claimed he had already returned everything to the National Archives. The cache they hauled away included 18 files marked “top secret,” 54 marked “secret,” and 31 marked as “confidential,” including a number of documents that were found in Mr. Trump’s personal office.
Prosecutors may also ask grand jurors to indict Trump on charges that he obstructed justice during its year-long investigation and caused false statements to be made by his lawyers to law enforcement and DOJ investigators. The obstruction charges may come from federal courts in Florida, rather than in Washington, as a matter of legal venue.
Finally, ABC News is reporting that White House aide Mark Meadows has been giving testimony—possibly in exchange for immunity—in both the classified files case and with regard to Trump’s possibly indictment for inciting insurrection in the January 6 cases, which are pending.
If indictments come tomorrow, they may be sealed, and it may be weeks or months before the full indictments are released.