| We’re now one of those countries. One of those countries that criminally indicts their former heads of state because they are so corrupt, so dismissive of the rule of law, so determined to twist democracy for their personal benefit that the government has to act to save the country from authoritarianism. (We would have become one of those countries decades ago had Gerald Ford not pardoned Richard Nixon.) But yesterday’s action against Donald Trump was also an indictment of the sycophantic Republican lawmakers who leapt to his defense and accused President Biden of orchestrating fake charges just to eliminate Trump as a political opponent. How humiliating for the institution of Congress. Even worse, it was a devastating indictment of the American electorate. Far too many voters were willing to elect such a person to the highest office in the land despite reams of evidence that he is an unscrupulous businessman, a sexual predator, and an unrepentant narcissist who warmly embraces authoritarianism. That’s not just embarrassing; it’s dangerous. Because we all knew who Trump was, and millions of people voted for him anyway. He drove six companies into bankruptcy and has at least 13 failed businesses. He swindled hundreds and hundreds of independent contractors and small businesses out of millions of dollars by refusing to pay them for work they did for his projects. He set up a fake university that ripped off students for millions of dollars; courts ordered him to pay $25 million to 7,000 of those students. He set up a fake foundation with his three oldest children that funneled other people’s money to his businesses and political campaign and that he used to buy gifts for himself; a court ordered him to dissolve the foundation and pay $2 million to eight charities. As president, he was impeached twice: Once for trying to strong-arm the president of Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election by lying about Joe Biden, and once for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. Dozens of women have accused him of sexual assault, and a Manhattan jury recently convicted him of sexual abuse in a rape case. He admitted on tape to sexually assaulting women. While president, he used the Justice Department to hurt his enemies and protect himself from punishment. Most egregiously, he has been working assiduously for more than two years to upend our election system and undermine democracy simply because he’s a sore loser. And now he’s a criminal defendant, accused of taking classified documents from the White House, keeping them at both Mar-a-Lago in Florida and his golf club at Bedminster, N.J., showing sensitive papers to people who didn’t have security clearance to view them, hiding them from the government, and lying about it. It’s an incredibly sad day for the country. How on earth did we end up here? And yet … we can’t despair of our democracy. This indictment proves that it’s working. Every day, public servants — be they attorneys and investigators in the Justice Department, uncorrupted lawmakers in Congress, or state and local officials — toil away at trying to craft fair and effective public policy. And do so within the law. The most important sentence uttered by special counsel Jack Smith today was this: We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. I have to admit: I got a few goosebumps when I heard him say that. No matter how many people get duped, this behavior will not stand. As long as we vigorously defend the rule of law, our democracy will be protected from even malign characters like Trump. We have to be that kind of country. The indictment: The documents that Trump is accused of taking from the White House included information on US nuclear programs as well as the defense and weapons capabilities of the US and those of other countries. (!) The indictment — unsealed today — says Trump was personally involved in packing many of the boxes. There are 38 counts as part of 7 main charges. The first 31 are willful retention of national defense information, a violation of a provision of the Espionage Act. Counts 32 through 38 charge him with conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal, and two counts of false statements and representations. The indictment is remarkable because it includes so much detail, including photos of piles and piles of dozens of boxes stacked openly on a stage in a public ballroom, in a bathroom, in a shower, in an office, in a storage area, and in his bedroom. Some boxes are open and documents are spilling onto the floor; some are visibly marked Classified. What a slob! I bet he leaves his boxer shorts on the floor, toothpaste in the sink, and orange hair dye all over the shower walls. The devastating indictment says Trump told an aide (who also was indicted) to move or hide boxes from the FBI. He told one of his attorneys to lie to the FBI and the grand jury, telling them that Trump didn’t have the documents they were seeking, and told that same attorney to hide or destroy documents. He had another attorney certify that all documents had been turned over when Trump knew they hadn’t. He also moved boxes from Mar-a-Lago to Bedminster when his family moved north for the summer. Meanwhile, Trump is fundraising off the indictment. But of course he is. No words needed |