Trump letter shows he 'has no viable defense' in documents case: former prosecutor

Former president Donald Trump's recent letter asking House Republicans to bail him out of the Department of Justice investigation into his mishandling of classified documents shows that he has "no viable defense" in that case, according to a former prosecutor.

The letter by Trump's attorneys, which inadvertently revealed non-public information about the Justice Department probe, "effectively confirmed that Trump has no viable defense against the likely Justice Department charges for Trump’s obstruction," Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor and Chief Assistant City Attorney in San Francisco, wrote for Justia's Verdict. The letter argued that no crimes were committed, that it was Trump's aides' sloppiness that caused the problem, and that other political leaders have made similar document blunders.

"If these contentions are a preview of Trump’s defenses to an indictment from Smith’s grand jury, Jack Smith can rest easy," Aftergut wrote. "The arguments are so abysmally weak that they leave any knowledgeable observer with a simple inference: Trump and his lawyers know an indictment is coming soon and there’s nothing they can do about it but offer smoke and mirrors."

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The problem for Trump, Aftergut argues, is that "Jack Smith has mountains of evidence that contradict Trump’s claim that his improper possession and retention of those classified documents was inadvertent."

"It doesn’t take a prosecutor to infer that the central crime is likely obstruction of a grand jury investigation," the ex-prosecutor argued, adding that Trump "can’t hide from coming charges for obstructing the return of government secrets that weren’t his."