As the sordid case of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago continues to evolve, Donald Trump’s potential culpability has largely been seen as evaporating.
At this point, after all of the ever-wider nets have been cast by any number of federal agencies in the case, any sort of charges they would throw at Trump would be considered offensively frivolous to the nation at large.
Still, it appears as though his legal team is at least preparing for the possibility.
The Justice Department and lawyers for Donald Trump filed separate proposals Monday for conducting an outside review of documents seized at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home, with key disagreements over how the process should work and Trump’s team acknowledging that the criminal probe could lead to an indictment.
Both sides referenced a “draft plan” given to them by Judge Raymond J. Dearie, the newly appointed special master. Trump’s lawyers expressed concern that Dearie posed questions about the documents that the judge who appointed Dearie has left unasked, arguing that Trump might be left at a legal disadvantage if he answered them at this stage of the process.
Here’ where it gets a little worrisome:
Specifically, the legal team objected to what it said was Dearie’s request that it “disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government.”
Essentially, it appears as though Trump’s legal team is arguing that we have to take Trump as his word regarding the declassification of the material, as he would be the utmost authority on the subject.
Were the legal team to subject themselves to making that arbitration, it would open them up to vast consequences that a former President may not be affected by.
For now, no charges have been leveled against Trump.
