Legless In D.C.

The Espionage Act is a broad statute. Violating it does *not* necessarily mean you’re spying on the United States.

Most experts expected the search warrant to cite the Espionage Act.

The unexpected statute cited was 18 USC 1519, usually used to prosecute obstruction.

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 12, 2022

And declassification is not an issue here:

WSJ: "Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue that the former president used his authority to declassify the material before he left office."

But as @charlie_savage points out. NONE of the 3 crimes cited in the warrant turn on whether the information is classified.https://t.co/xcGr2LotPD pic.twitter.com/vmsbp1vD3z

— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) August 12, 2022

Although I still think violation of the Espionage Act trumps possession of government property without lawful authority. And yeah, this is very interesting:

People are focusing on the Espionage Act, but another law cited in the warrant is intriguing: 18 USC §1519. It's about document crimes that are part of obstructing an investigation or some other federal matter. So what is the thing that DOJ thinks Trump was trying to impede?

— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) August 12, 2022

But back to classification a minute (that issue is not gonna go away):

Nearly half the material taken had classification markings https://t.co/GPEXdCnIpO

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 12, 2022

It's my understanding classified documents must be physically marked as "declassified," in a very specific manner; otherwise, they are still to be considered classified. Which makes sense, when you think about it. And doesn't do much for Trump's "Double Super Secret Declassification," which he had to do by January 20, 2021, at noon. This is also an interesting point:

I think everyone is sleeping on the fact that before they got the warrants the DOJ was given surveillance footage of the rooms in which the documents were stored.
They got video of who looked at them THEN went in.
Chew on what that implies for a second. It tastes like treason.

— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) August 12, 2022

I'm gonna keep tellin' ya: this case, if there ever is one, is not gonna be simply about where the documents were and for how long, and what kind of documents they were.

"Look, there's only ONE decapitated corpse with my blood under its fingernails in my crawlspace, officer. Come on!" https://t.co/uZ4Hz5Bxl9

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 12, 2022

Can't get away from that classification issue.

*Declassification 😂

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 12, 2022

The judges accept "deassification," although it doesn't strictly apply in this context. And once more, with feeling, for all the "legal experts" on national security law:

You do know that classification has nothing to do with the Espionage Act, right? Or 2071, right? Or 1519, right? You can read, right? https://t.co/bFgP4GuKDX

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 12, 2022

The thing is, this debate on Twitter is pointless because the courts don't give a damn how non-lawyers understand the law.

The Mar-a-Lago warrant allows for the seizure of "all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of" various aspects of the Espionage Act. https://t.co/4YlT2GBH9U

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) August 12, 2022

I understand the Espionage Act is very broad (and is not limited to classified documents), which explains why it was used for this search warrant.

Key point:

Two sections of the Espionage Act (§ 793(d) & (f)) apply even to those *lawfully* in possession of national security information — and prohibit certain conduct even by those who were entitled to have the underlying material in the first place:https://t.co/0zbMjMdtma pic.twitter.com/6DCDTzISWw

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) August 12, 2022

Yeah, we can chew on this all we want, legal experts and lawyers (the former being those who actually practice in national security law) and lay people with no clue; the courts and the DOJ are going to do with this what the law allows and the DOJ decides (or not) to prosecute. Twitter won't even be a buzzing gnat in that room.

I mean, the “it was just an accident, didn’t mean to keep them, and also declassified them” is deeply humiliating, but Trump has just the people to carry that water. https://t.co/0lcmSZmF1S

— 18Hat793 (@Popehat) August 12, 2022

Speaking of gnats....

Turley is saying Trump was too busy trying to screw with the constitutional process to notice he hadn't done the paperwork to declassify this material.  Which, for the most part, doesn't matter anyway.* But Trump wants to focus on that, because he thinks it exonerates him.  But there's still the questions:  why did he have them?  Why didn't he return them?  What was he negotiating when he never had a right to them?

Trump says the federal government could have had the documents “anytime they wanted.” Still totally unclear why a) material remained behind at MAL after NARA had folks retrieve 15 boxes in Jan b) why Bratt either didn’t take or wasn’t given all the classified material in June

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 12, 2022

Those are interesting questions, no? Meanwhile, across the Pond:

President of France right now pic.twitter.com/zcfjlihYjT

— 18Hat793 (@Popehat) August 12, 2022

Here, let this sum it up:

Donald, which is it:dox were planted or dox were declassified? Can’t be both. And if you declassified them, you had to be aware of contents. Lucky that you operate in fact-free zone — but unfortunately for you juries don’t.

— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) August 12, 2022

And the other reason:

And yes, too late for that defense now. But he has dumb lawyers, so 🤷🏽‍♀️

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 12, 2022

Stupid is as stupid does.

National Archives: I can’t believe we had to release a statement debunking some crazy Trump statement.

Clorox: Tell me about it.

— Ken Schultz (@KSchultz3580) August 13, 2022

*As Asha Rangappa points out, what Trump secretly declassified, Biden could immediately secretly reclassify. That’s not how it works, but that’s the point. Trump doesn’t have a leg to stand on.