Department of Justice inscription is seen on at the headquarters building in Washington, D.C., United States on October 20, 2022. BEATA ZAWRZEL/BENZINGA
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A former U.S. Army prosecutor said former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate suggests “premeditation to obstruct justice.”
Glenn Kirschner, reacting to The Washington Post’s Thursday report, which revealed that Trump employees supposedly moved documents at Mar-a-Lago, said it showed premeditation and the intent to commit crimes on the part of Trump and his allies.
“What Donald Trump and his criminal associates did at Mar-a-Lago is no different from what those bank robbers in those movies we’ve all seen did,” Kirschner said in his YouTube video.
Reporters from the Post claimed that the classified documents’ case could raise high exposure to the Espionage Act.
Trump will have to deal with two different cases with the special council during his third run for the White House.
“A trial run, a dress rehearsal, because they wanted to succeed in the crime they were intending, they were planning, they were premeditating. And that is why the government, through the prosecutor, is asking you to vote guilty, simply to hold Donald Trump accountable for the crime he committed. For the crime, the evidence proves he has committed.”
As per the Post’s report, Trump employees allegedly relocated documents in June last year, just before FBI agents and a prosecutor arrived with a subpoena to collect them.
The report added that Trump and his associates conducted a practice session, dubbed “a dress rehearsal,” for moving the documents in the face of mounting pressure to return them.
Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents is among several cases under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and special counsel Jack Smith.
Despite several pieces of evidence pointing otherwise, Trump continues to assert his innocence in the case of the document, as he has done in all other legal disputes, including the cases involving adult film star Stormy Daniels and writer E. Jean Carroll.
He also contends that he had the authority to possess the documents at his residence since he had declassified them prior to his departure from the White House.
Former Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran had recused himself from representing him in the classified documents case.
He testified before a grand jury in March for over three hours. Corcoran claimed attorney-client privilege but was forced to turn over evidence to investigators.
A current Trump attorney testified before the grand jury in December as part of the special council’s probe.
“I voluntarily and happily chose to go into the grand jury so that I could present my client’s case to them in the context of our search efforts,” said Tim Parlatore, a Trump attorney who testified in December “During my testimony, it was clear that the government was not acting appropriately and made several improper attempts to pierce privilege and, in my opinion, made several significant misstatements to the jury which I believe constitutes prosecutorial misconduct.”
Produced in association with Benzinga
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