As Donald Trump continues to ramp up his inflammatory rhetoric against the FBI, some think it amounts to incitement. But according to former CIA intelligence officer David Preiss, Trump can be held legally accountable only if someone is directly influenced by his words.
"The bigger threat, of course, is just the overall political environment at a time when the former president should be explaining how it's possible there [was] all this classified information documents inside his residence," Preiss said during a segment on CNN this Monday.
"Instead of explaining that, he's going on the offensive and taking on people. Like, he calls the radical left leadership of the FBI, forgetting that he appointed the [FBI Director] himself -- that's a losing argument for him politically except with a very small base."
"It does put him in some legal jeopardy, but I think the bigger fear at this point is simply that he's not bothering to defend himself from some very serious charges."
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The Justice Department has said in court filings that highly classified government documents, including some marked "Top Secret," were discovered in Trump's personal office during the raid.
A detailed list of what was seized also showed Trump held on to more than 11,000 unclassified government records that he claims are his to keep -- but legally are owned by the National Archives.
Among the papers seized were 18 documents labelled "top secret", 53 labelled "secret" and another 31 marked "confidential."
Of those, seven top secret files, 17 secret files and three confidential files were retrieved from Trump's private office.
Agents also found several dozen empty folders labelled "classified" in the office, raising speculation that sensitive documents may have been lost, destroyed or moved.
Trump, who is keeping supporters and commentators guessing about whether he intends to run for president again 2024, has sued to have the documents turned over to a neutral "special master," a move that could slow the government's probe.
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With additional reporting by AFP
