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March 10, 2023, 5:29 PM ET
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According to one legal analyst, if a bombshell report from the Washington Post is accurate, Donald Trump could be facing even more serious charges under the Espionage Act from the Department of Justice.
In a column for MSNBC, attorney Norm Eisen wrote there is already plenty of evidence to indict the former president for obstruction of justice for not returning the stolen government documents hidden away at Mar-a-Lago, but reports that Trump left documents sitting around in plain view and may have shared them with others makes his legal peril infinitely worse.
According to Eisen, the new report means Trump's legal problems went from "bad to worse" this past week.
"If Trump had really showed off classified documents to people at Mar-a-Lago, then that would add to what we already know of his legal liability," the attorney explained. "Just by retaining the documents, Trump would face liability for apparent willful possession and retention of the classified documents pertaining to national defense. Under section 793(e) of the Espionage Act, it is a criminal offense for a person without authorization to willfully retain classified documents and fail to deliver them to an officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive them."
RELATED: 'Jack Smith is living rent free in Trump's head': Justice correspondent hails documents case
However, he explained, the new reports indicate the former president could face even more serious charges.
"... purposefully showing classified documents to others without authorization, in the manner reported by the Post and the Times, would go beyond retaining classified documents as prohibited by the statute. It likely constitutes an even more egregious violation of the Espionage Act under the clause prohibiting the willful communication, delivery or transmission of classified documents," he elaborated.
According to Eisen, the case by the DOJ "against Trump is becoming clearer and potentially more damning — and the possible consequences for Trump more dire."
He went on to note that there may be more that special counsel Jack Smith could have on the ex-president and added that Trump's "habit of lying his way out of accountability for his transgressions will not fly in the courts, and in facing the rule of law."
You can read more here.
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DeSantis slammed by former high-level FBI official after declaring how he would treat bureau’s independence
May 27, 2023
Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is under fresh fire after launching his presidential campaign and declaring he believes the Federal Bureau of Investigation and even the U.S. Dept. of Justice are not "independent" agencies, and they should be subject to the scrutiny of the President of the United States.
After disgraced GOP President Richard Nixon left office, a virtual wall between the White House and the U.S. Dept. of Justice, including especially the FBI, was created to prevent turning the chief law enforcement agencies of the federal government into political, partisan tools to do the bidding of the nation's chief executive and Commander-in Chief.
Days after the November, 2016 election, the Los Angeles Times reported on the "revelation that President-elect Donald Trump does not intend to seek a new investigation into Hillary Clinton," calling it "startling," but "not only because it seemed to reverse a campaign pledge."
"It also suggested that Trump thinks that that’s his decision to make, reflecting an apparent lack of regard for the cherished independence of the Justice Department, which is responsible for conducting investigations without the influence or opinion of the White House."
"Long-standing protocol dictates that the FBI and Justice Department operate free of political influence or meddling from the White House," The Times explained. "That’s one reason that the FBI director serves a 10-year term and does not turn over the reins as presidential administrations come and go. It also means that presidents are not supposed to supervise, initiate or stop law enforcement investigations."
As president, Donald Trump and his attorneys general would immediately obliterate those protocols, with the then-President literally directing his AGs to acquiesce to his demands, and he would do so publicly, via Twitter.
Under President Joe Biden that wall was quickly rebuilt, with Attorney General Merrick Garland issuing a "directive restricting Justice Department contact with the White House as a firewall against potential political interference," as USA Today reported in July of 2021.
"The order, which reaffirmed some policies of previous administrations, marks a sharp pivot from the Trump era when the former president casually broke with institutional norms, repeatedly calling on the department to launch investigations of his political rivals, including President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey."
And now, Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to not just rescind that order, if he wins the White House, he apparently wants to direct the activities of DOJ and FBI.
In a little-noticed portion of his rare Fox News interview Wednesday, DeSantis told former U.S. Congressman Trey Gowdy (who once was the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and thus should know better,) of his apparent plans to remake the DOJ and the FBI.
"I would not keep Chris Wray as director of the FBI. There’d be a new one on Day One. I think that’s very important,” DeSantis declared, as the right-wing National Review reported. DeSantis is ignoring the fact that Congress has mandated FBI Directors be appointed for a full ten-year term, while allowing Presidents to remove them, generally for cause.
"Under the Constitution," The National Constitution Center wrote in March of 2017, less than two months into Trump's term, "the FBI Director is an executive branch official and can be removed if needed. But only in one instance since 1908, after the FBI and its predecessor agency were formed, has a President removed an FBI Director from office."
Less than two months later, on May 9, Trump became the second president to fire an FBI Director. Trump terminated Jim Comey by falsely claiming it was over how he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, by announcing to Congress he was revisiting it after obtaining a laptop that had some of her emails. (Many, including FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver, and Comey himself, believe that move likely handed Trump the election.)
Now DeSantis, literally on the first day of his presidential campaign, is vowing to become the third president in history to fire an FBI Director.
“I think the DOJ and FBI have lost their way," DeSantis continued in his Fox News interview. "I think that they’ve been weaponized against Americans who think like me and you, and I think they’ve become very partisan. Part of the reason that’s happened, Trey, is because Republican presidents have accepted the canard that the DOJ and FBI are independent.”
“They are not independent agencies. They are part of the executive branch. They answer to the elected president of the United States.”
Semafor's David Weigel, pointing to the nascent GOP presidential candidate's remarks, writes via Twitter, "DeSantis's answer to Fox on why he'd fire Chris Wray = great example of how a norm fades away. D[emocratic] presidents grudgingly pick GOP FBI directors. Trump fires Comey, huge scandal, Mueller probe. DeSantis saying outright that the FBI is not 'independent,' president can reshape it."
Pete Strzok is a former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. He led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and earlier, as chief of the FBI's Counterespionage Section led the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server.
After being viciously targeted repeatedly by Donald Trump, Strzok was fired. he is suing for wrongful termination.
On Friday he responded to DeSantis' remarks and Weigel's tweet.
"ALL presidents pick GOP FBI directors. There has never been a Democrat FBI director. Ever," Strzok tweeted.
He added he agrees with national security and civil liberties journalist Marcy Wheeler, and says, "this isn't some norm fading away. This is a sudden assault on a generations-long norm by one man and those who support him, or seek the support of his base."
In October of 2017, nearly one year after Trump was elected President, NPR published a report: "'Breaching The 'Wall': Is The White House Encroaching On DOJ Independence?"
It includes remarks from several Democrats, weighing in on how Trump had been reshaping the White House's relationship with DOJ and the FBI.
At the time, despite his extreme actions, Democrats generally pointed to a "perception" problem, not the legal crisis it would become.
Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, however, was more forceful.
"There has to be a wall" between DOJ and the White House, Holder told NPR. "History has shown us that when that wall is too low, that's when Justice departments get in trouble."
NPR also quoted Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, then the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who at a hearing in October of 2017 said: "The attorney general's master is the people and the law."
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By Texas Tribune Staff, The Texas Tribune
May 27, 2023
"Ken Paxton updates: Texas House impeachment vote will be an intra-GOP showdown" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Watch the impeachment proceedings at 1 p.m.
May 26, 2023 at 7:08 p.m.The Texas House intends to take up a resolution to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton at 1 p.m. Saturday, according to a memo from the House General Investigating Committee.
Citing Paxton’s “long-standing pattern of abuse of office and public trust,” the memo said it was imperative for the House to proceed with impeachment to prevent Paxton from using his office’s “significant powers” to further obstruct and delay justice. The committee proposed allocating four hours of debate, evenly divided between supporters and opponents of impeachment, with 40 minutes for opening arguments by committee members and 20 minutes for closing statements. A simple majority is needed to send the matter to a trial before the Senate. If the House votes to impeach Paxton, the memo said, the House would conduct the trial in the Senate through a group of House members called “managers.”
The committee stressed that Paxton’s request earlier this year for the Legislature to pay $3.3 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit led to its investigation and ultimately the articles of impeachment. The memo also said impeachment is not a criminal process and its primary purpose is to “protect the state, not to punish the offender.”
The memo also addressed arguments by lawyers with the attorney general’s office who called the committee investigation illegal because impeachment proceedings could not be initiated against Paxton for crimes alleged to have occurred before his last election in 2022. The memo said the so-called “forgiveness doctrine” did not apply in Paxton’s case. The committee cited the most famous impeachment case in Texas history to support its argument, noting that in 1917, Gov. James Ferguson was impeached on four articles that related to his conduct before and during the 1916 election. The Senate convicted Ferguson on those counts.
— James Barragán
Accusations include bribery, obstruction of justice and dereliction of official duty
May 26, 2023 at 7:19 p.m.Attorney General Ken Paxton faces 20 charges in the Texas House — a range of criminal acts that include disregard of official duty, misapplication of public resources and obstruction of justice.
Collectively, the impeachment articles accuse the attorney general, reelected last year by voters who shrugged off his scandals, of a yearslong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking.
Paxton has faced allegations of wrongdoing for years, but Texas Republicans have largely avoided taking any official action against him. Shortly after first taking office, he was indicted on state securities fraud charges, a criminal case he continues fighting. In 2020, senior officials in his office asked the FBI to investigate allegations that he had abused his authority to help a wealthy friend and donor. Those claims led to a whistleblower lawsuit alleging Paxton retaliated against his former deputies.
For a full list of the impeachment charges, click here.
— Chuck Lindell, James Barragán and Patrick Svitek
Impeachment efforts set off political earthquake
May 26, 2023 at 7:20 p.m.For nearly a decade, Texas Republicans largely looked the other way as Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal problems piled up. That abruptly changed this week.
In revealing it had been secretly investigating Paxton since March — and then recommending his impeachment on Thursday — a Republican-led state House committee sought to hold Paxton accountable in a way the GOP has never come close to doing. It amounted to a political earthquake, and while it remains to be seen whether Paxton’s ousting will be the outcome, it represents a stunning act of self-policing.
The House General Investigating Committee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment of Paxton, citing a yearslong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking. The vote included all three Republicans who make up a majority on the panel — and it launched a process that will likely force every other Republican in the Legislature to go on the record.
That is something most Texas Republicans have avoided since Paxton was first elected as the state’s top legal official in 2014. Months into his first term, he was indicted on state securities fraud charges, a criminal case he is fighting to this day. And in 2020, senior officials in his office asked the FBI to investigate allegations that he had abused his authority to help a wealthy friend and donor. Those claims led to a whistleblower lawsuit alleging Paxton retaliated against his former deputies.
Along the way, there have been other scandals, like the revelation that he cheated on his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.
Read more here.
— Patrick Svitek
Conservative Republicans defend Paxton, who criticizes proceedings
May 26, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.Speaking briefly at a press conference a day before the anticipated House vote, Paxton said House members were “showcasing their absolute contempt for the electoral process” and “inflicting lasting damage” on their chamber, which is controlled by the GOP and whose speaker is also a Republican.
In statements and social media posts, conservatives accused their fellow Republicans in the Texas House — Speaker Dade Phelan in particular — of attempting to undermine voters and conservative values by attacking Paxton. And, largely without addressing the merits of the many accusations against Paxton, they framed him as the victim of a political witch hunt that was orchestrated by a cabal of Democrats and “Republicans in name only.”
“The impeachment proceedings against the Attorney General are but the latest front in the Texas House’s war against Republicans to stop the conservative direction of our state,” Matt Rinaldi, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, said in a statement. “This sham impeachment is the result of the Phelan leadership team empowering Democrats, allowing them to hold leadership positions and letting them control the agenda.”
Rinaldi is thus far the highest-positioned Texas Republican to condemn the investigation. Gov. Greg Abbott has remained silent, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who would preside over an impeachment trial in the Senate, has said it would be improper for him to weigh in.
National Republicans are filling the void, however. While former President Donald Trump — a Paxton ally who endorsed his campaign before last year’s GOP primary — has not commented, his son Donald Trump Jr. said Friday that the investigation into “America First patriot Ken Paxton” is a “disgrace.”
“MAGA stands with Ken Paxton against this RINO/DEMO led witch hunt!!!” Trump Jr. tweeted.
Other prominent right-wing figures have come to Paxton’s defense. Citing Paxton’s frequent lawsuits against the Biden administration, former Trump adviser Stephen Miller called on conservatives to “stand with Ken.” And Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of homicide after fatally shooting two Black Lives Matter protesters in Wisconsin, accused Phelan of working with “anti-gun Democrats” and “attacking our pro-gun attorney general.”
— Patrick Svitek, Robert Downen and Zach Despart
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/texas-ken-paxton-impeachment-updates/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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