Legal experts have been left flabbergasted and trying to figure out what Trump Camp is up to now after one of the ex-president’s top representatives released a new document very late last night that doesn’t appear to help Donald Trump’s case in any conceivable way. In fact, if you ask the experts, the newly released document is actually brutally damning for the scandal-ridden former guy, if anything.
At a bizarrely late hour last night one of the ex-president’s top official representatives for the National Archives and Records Administration, Conservative journalist John Solomon, publicly released a copy of a letter hailing from May 10th, from the National Archives and Records Administration, sent to Donald Trump’s legal team, on his website, JustTheNews.com.
In the wake of Solomon’s move, legal experts have been left scratching their heads, with more questions than answers as to the driving force behind the Trump rep.’s decision, as the letter is actually absolutely damning for the former president’s case.
The letter from NARA to Trump’s attorney, released by John Solomon, reads:
As you are no doubt aware, NARA had ongoing communications with the former President’s representatives throughout 2021 about what appeared to be missing Presidential records, which resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes of records to NARA in January 2022. In its initial review of materials within those boxes, NARA identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials. NARA informed the Department of Justice about that discovery, which prompted the Department to ask the President to request that NARA provide the FBI with access to the boxes at issue so that the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community could examine them.”
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Experts in the legal community were absolutely shocked to their cores, to say the least, and couldn’t help but point out the obvious.
Yikes. “In its initial review of materials within those boxes, NARA identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials.” https://t.co/qcKZ6BKHSd
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) August 23, 2022
This is incredible. https://t.co/frwVOWiP62
— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) August 23, 2022
Attorney Bradley Moss weighed in with a deeper analysis:
Does @jsolomonReports realize how bad that letter is for Trump?
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) August 23, 2022
Trump not only had classified records at Mar-a-Lago, not only had TS/SCI classified records, he had Special Access Program classified information.
Those are our most sensitive secrets. They were sitting in a damn basement.
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) August 23, 2022
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti had this to say:
The letter also confirms that Trump was on notice that the documents he possessed were federal government property and that he needed to return them to the government’s possession.
Very uphill battle for Trump’s team. https://t.co/pTjIWYUHsg
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 23, 2022
While Daily Beast correspondent Justin Baragona further explained:
The best part of this is that John Solomon posted the letter because he thinks it is extraordinarily damning for the Biden White House.
(Or he’s at least trying to preemptively frame it that way for Trumpworld.) https://t.co/R5mXMKJ9o5
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 23, 2022
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) expert Jason Leopold noted:
This is quite a damning letter.https://t.co/IiSYhV4dTK
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) August 23, 2022
Attorney Teri Kanefield was left stumped, trying to figure out what their motive could have possibly been:
I’m trying to figure out why John Solomon thought this letter would help Trump.
I’m stumped. https://t.co/aWm8AjbenK
— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) August 23, 2022
But it was University of Law Prof. Steve Vladeck who offered up one of the deepest analyses:
It’s also telling that, even though this letter really hurts the Trump version of events, it wasn’t released by the Biden Administration or NARA. It was released by Trump’s own team—both a self-inflicted wound and further proof of how the government has been playing by the rules.
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) August 23, 2022
Make it make sense…
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
