Losing any of the many cases against Donald Trump would be catastrophic for the American political system…
There is NO doubt the former President HAS broken procedures and propabaly laws on different fronts…
Remember ….
The Doucuments case is NOT the only that has a sitting criminal grand jury…
Garland CAN get indictments ….
But Trump is adiment….
The ‘law’ does NOT apply to him as President or ex-President….
THAT IS DANGEROUS to the American political system….
I’m not talking about politics….
I’m talking about LAW….
Political fallout, precedent and national security risk are just some of the intangibles Garland will have to consider as he considers what would potentially be the highest-profile criminal case in American history, according to former prosecutors, intelligence agency lawyers and Justice Department officials.
One consideration for Garland is how Trump’s alleged actions stack up against other cases DOJ has brought or not brought over mishandling classified information. A second factor is how confident prosecutors are they could win at trial — knowing the political fallout of a losing case against a former president could be devastating.
And finally, Garland has to consider the damage that a trial might have on national security secrets, given the nature of the Mar-a-Lago document seizures.
Of course, one unknown ultimately looms large over all the other machinations: Does Garland view Trump’s cavalier and even defiant approach to the national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago as something of sufficient magnitude to bring the first criminal case against a former president in U.S. history?
“They’re going to have to be satisfied that they’re going to have a very, very strong case to present to a grand jury and ultimately to a jury,” said former CIA general counsel Jeffrey Smith. “If the prosecutors can get over all those hurdles, given that it’s a former president, it will be a tough call for the attorney general.”
“It seems to me it’s moving in the direction of warranting criminal charges,” said David Laufman, former chief of the counterespionage section at the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “I think [Trump] has significant criminal exposure. Whether they ultimately decide to exercise prosecutorial discretion in favor of prosecuting him is another question.”….