According to a report, Donald Trump restated recently that he had not disclosed classified, sensitive material to others after departing the White House, contradicting what prosecutors allege in an unprecedented charge against him, featuring an alleged tape of him stating otherwise.
Bret Baier of Fox News interviewed the former president, during which he questioned him on the indictment, which details the 37 federal counts against him.
The indictment claims that on July 21, 2021, at Trump’s property in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump presented what he termed “secret information” to other persons while still acknowledging that it was classified and “highly classified.” Trump, though, hit back when Baier highlighted that section of the indictment.
According to a report, since former U.S. Attorney Jack Smith and his team presented their federal indictment on Donald Trump, many arguments have been made for ending the South Florida prosecution’s circus. Multiple legal challenges have been filed against Smith’s indictment.
Smith missed or ignored the elephant in the room when he failed to mention that previous presidents have unhindered access to Presidential documents they claim are theirs under the Presidential Documents Act, codified in 44 U.S.C. 2205 (3). Any dispute over the designation of a document is to be addressed by a civil dispute, not a criminal prosecution, in a US District Court. The National Archives may assume ownership of such records only after consulting with the former President.
As a former president, Trump may see and provide access to any and all of his presidential documents, even those marked as classified.
Even if the Espionage Act does not take precedence above the Presidential Records Act. The president has the authority to declassify any record he sees fit. The fact that Trump declassified all documents in his custody before leaving Washington is his supplementary defense against the “Espionage Act” claims.
The report concludes that Former President Trump is free to seize and designate anything, regardless of its classification, and to provide access to any documents to any agents he chooses. And the idea that Trump would spy for a foreign power, which gave rise to the Espionage Act in the first place, is just absurd.
