The Department of Justice believes that former President Donald Trump tried to obstruct the DOJ investigation when it executed a search warrant for papers at his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago home on August 8 under pressure from Democrats in Congress and the media. The DOJ now claims that Trump concealed the whereabouts of an additional 25 boxes of sensitive materials removed from Mar-a-Lago on August 8 despite 15 boxes of documents being removed in June. Instead of extending a benefit of the doubt, the DOJ accuses the 76-year-old former president of obstruction of justice, which is a more serious accusation. Attorney General Merrick Garland has come under fire from Democrats and the media to accuse President Trump of breaking federal records laws for mishandling confidential papers since he left the White House on January 20, 2021. Democrats, the DOJ, and the media portray Trump as having hidden the documents.
It’s impossible that Trump had anything to do with the boxes of documents moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago given his frantic lifestyle. Trump was unlikely to be aware of the materials’ classification, refuting the DOJ’s most recent charge that he tried to obstruct an FBI or DOJ investigation. When the DOJ, Democrats, and the media last accused Trump of obstructing justice, it was in relation to the 62-year-old former FBI Director James Comey’s termination on May 8, 2017. Rod Rosenstein, a former deputy attorney general, gave in to pressure from Democrats and the media on May 17, 2017, naming 78-year-old Robert Muller as special counsel to look into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mueller’s investigation of Trump with an eye toward eventual impeachment gave Democrats and the media the impression that they had the upper hand.
Democrats in the House and Senate exhaled a sigh of relief when they realized Mueller would uncover the truth about Trump’s alleged connections to the Russian government. Rosenstein was aware that the 75-year-old former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton’s sponsored opposition research, also known as the Steele dossier, served as the foundation for the FBI’s counterintelligence probe of Trump, also known as Crossfire Hurricane. Rosenstein was therefore aware from the beginning that the Mueller inquiry would not produce any results because all of the unfounded accusations against Trump were made up by Hillary’s opposition research. Trump had no clue that Hillary’s claim that he was a “Putin puppet” would follow him throughout his presidency when they debated in Las Vegas on October 20, 2016. Democrats and the media never lost up on the notion of charging Trump with having connections to the Kremlin. So there is plenty of history when the DOJ talks about “obstruction of justice.”
When lawyers and other media pundits weigh in on the Mar-a-Lago raid, their opinions are solely partisan. Trump is wanted by every political hack for violating American records laws or, as the DOJ claims, for obstructing the course of justice. Democrat pundits speculate about whether Trump knew what was in the locked basement of Mar-a-Lago and look to 70-year-old Attorney General Merrick Garland to file charges. What a strange thing to hear Director of National Intelligence [DNI] Avril Haines, 52, discuss how the recovery of boxes of trash from Donald Trump’s basement affects American national security. Can you picture Haines’ intentions to assess the impact of Trump’s closed basement’s boxes of useless documents on American national security? Haines avoids addressing the immediate dangers to American national security posed by Biden’s proxy conflict with Russia in the Ukraine or fresh Taiwanese war threats.
Trump’s retrieved documents at Mar-a-Lago are the only topics the biased media covers, not actual dangers to American national security. Has Haines heard Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson for China’s foreign minister, remark that China will continue to exercise its sovereignty over Taiwan whether or not it begins a war? Officials from Taiwan declared today that they will thwart any attempt by Beijing to retake control of the Island Nation with the utmost military force. Haines makes no mention of how the visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on August 2 sparked a panic in American national security. Last year, Haines was tasked with tracing the lineage of the dangerous new coronavirus, but she informed Biden that China prevented her from finishing her research. How much can anyone rely on Haines to evaluate the importance of 25 boxes of useless trash discovered in Trump’s closed basement for national security?
It is absurd to refer to the documents that Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago as proof of obstructing the administration of justice given that Trump was not involved in moving White House documents to Mar-a-Lago. Regarding Trump’s interference with the legal system or harm to American national security, Haines has nothing new to report. Haines’ only option is to act like a Democrat political hack while highlighting potential harm to American national security. It makes no logic to imply that Trump was involved in hiding key White House documents. Although obstruction of justice is difficult to prove, DOJ officials still want to charge Trump with a crime. How could Trump possibly hide secret papers from the DOJ if he had little to no knowledge of the contents of the boxes that were carried from the White House to Mar-a-Lago? House Democrats and the media have switched to Plan B since it appears doubtful that the House Select Committee would indict Trump on January 6.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
This article has been rephrased by InfoArmed
