This is the first time that I've heard he was ordered to turn over materials and refused.
Got a reference for that?
-This is a PDF of the actual indictment. It’s item #52 on page 21 (I am on a phone and can’t copy text from the PDF itself).
https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/sites/dcd/files/22gj37 Emergency Application for Order.pdf -this is a PDF of a request to be able for the government to engage in a limited discussion of the grand jury probe into the documents. Again, PDF so I can’t copy, it it’s discussed on page 3, halfway down; specifically, what they requested.
Trump received subpoena in spring for documents not turned over: Sources -and this was one of many news stories discussing it at the time as well.
I've heard none of this. All accounts I've heard kn this is that Trump and his legal team were in constant communication with archives and records and other branches of the Government. They even upgraded security at Government request. Then the FBI used those communique as the basis for their raid. I'm sorry, this just doesn't fly.
Well, a lot of the constant communication was “sure, we are totally handing everything over as soon as we get through it,” since there were more than just the 15 boxes that had been turned over. Basically, in terms of communication after that, it was “yeah, we need time to go through some more stuff we just found (even though it hadn’t been ‘just found’), but NARA and the DOJ -who are required by law to be involved any time documents bearing classified markings are found- gave the okay (deadline was extended from April 11th to April 29th). Then, when the Trump team asked for another deadline and it became clear this was Trump trying to get indefinite delays (something he and his lawyers are notorious for doing in the various civil cases he’s been involved in over the years), the DOJ’s response was “No, we aren’t playing this game” and issued the subpoena. Trump then had discussions with Nauta (his personal aide), two other staffers, and his attorneys on what to do, whether he could ignore it, or only partly comply, etc. (There are things listed in the actual indictment, which, again, is actually quite straightforward as a read, just written in a different format than normal; I’ve handled a few of these as part of my work duties so I’m used to seeing them. Also gotten subpoenas for records as well over the years, again as part of work duties).
From everything we’ve learned so far, a bunch of stuff was moved before the attorney (Evan Corcoran, according to news reports) searched the boxes and found an additional 38 documents that the subpoena required. Thinking that was all that was left, he handed those over two senior FBI officials, and one of the other attorneys, Christina Bobb, handed over an affidavit (a sworn declaration) that these were the only documents that were required to be handed over that had been in Trump’s possession. The FBI officials left, but, knowing Trump’s pattern of past behavior, spoke with a couple of staffers who worked at Mar-a-Lago and then subpoenaed video surveillance of the areas where additional boxes were reportedly located. After going through all that and determining that it was very likely Trump had retained some documents in violation of the subpoena (establishing probable cause, in legal terms), they applied for and received a search warrant, executed it on August 8th, and lo and behold, found over 100 documents that fit the description of documents requested, and hauled them away.
Then Trump tried pulling civil litigation to run out the clock on the probe (the special master request he made in August & September); however, he isn’t the first person who’s tried to pull that and it promptly got rejected by the circuit court, and the Supreme Court declined to review the circuit decision.
It really comes down to Trump taking the stuff, then intentionally failing to comply when legally required to do so, and since this is a criminal rather than civil matter, it’s not something where he can just ignore any consequences. Ironically, for all that he complains about the kid glove treatment Clinton got over her server, Clinton at least was smart enough to destroy any evidence that could have been used against her.
And yes, it’s quite obvious that DOJ wants to make an example of Trump, but had he not been an asshole over the whole thing and just done what he was ordered to, he wouldn’t have been charged (since Biden and Pence had clearly done the same thing; however, once they found the stuff, they were both savvy enough to let the FBI go through everything they had in case anything else turned up).
Partisan hit job on Trump? Sure. Unfair and politically dangerous? Possibly. Did he do it, though? Based on what we know so far, also yes. Trump fucked around and now he’s finding out.
The only source who insists he totally cooperated is Trump himself, and all other reports who agree on that are ultimately taking him at his word, which with his history isn’t exactly credible.
Whether this convinces you or anyone else (shrug). I don’t particularly care; I just thought it would be better to have context on this, because just hearing from one side is never healthy, and because there’s a lot more to it.
Then you have the consitutional argument that as president Trump can declassify anything he damned well wants.
This is one of those things that could easily go to the supreme court with said court telling the left to go pound sand.
Whether those documents were declassified or not is completely irrevelant, for a couple of reasons. Yes, Trump originally made a big deal of it because he apparently thought it would help his case, but it doesn’t.
1) The subpoena (which is a legal order and can result in jail time if ignored) demanded that Trump or his office turn over all documents “
bearing classification markings, including but not limited to” and then lists various markings as examples.
2) The legal wording in the Espionage Act involves “national defense information,” which is exactly what it says: Information vital to the national defense, i.e. national security. “Classified” means information that requires specific permission and a need to know such information. Declassified means it no longer requires that specific permission, but it does
not mean it’s no longer relevant to the national defense (an example being the identity of a top agent in North Korea, for example). That could be declassified, but if the wrong people found out, U.S. security is compromised because that would mean the agent would be executed and the U.S. loses an important intelligence source and hamstrings its ability to gather useful information on North Korea.