To be honest I don’t really disagree with most of what you said here. Someone’s reaction to any of these indictments really just depends on how they view Trump.
There are two reasons why I think that he was aware enough of the true results of the election that he knew he was spreading misinformation.
The first one comes from a detail of the documents investigation. I mentioned it already, but he admitted that he knew that he couldn’t declassify them on tape. At the same time, he was denying the whole case by saying that presidents could somehow magically declassify documents without any paperwork etc. That shows that he does have self awareness, and is willing to lie to the American people to protect himself.
The second one has more to do with the election itself. When every accusation of voter fraud was being disproven by pundits as well as trump appointed judges, could a reasonable person think that the election was stolen? Beyond that, his closest advisor and conspirator was telling him that the claims didn’t have merit.
It’s probably just a question of what evidence the prosecution can find, and it’s difficult to say what the result of this court case will be at the moment. A key aspect will likely be the testimony of his associates like Pence. And, given what he’s said about pence, I honestly can’t say that the testimony will be good for trump.
Your first point honestly doesn’t connect. He could still think the election was stolen at that point in time. The not declassifying on tape really doesn’t have anything to do with what he actually believes on the election results. As far as the tape is concerned on the classified documents. It depends on how specific he was on tape. If he was vague about the document they could litigate it was a love letter from Kim Jong Un and fall under the presidential records act and he was merely exaggerating. Lots of ways to litigate that one depending on factors. I do think the obstruction charge is the strongest part of that case.
As far as your second point goes. The disproven claims etc really didn’t happen until after Jan 6. Even if his advisers were telling him he didn’t have the evidence you are still assuming he accepted and believed that answer. You also assume he was in a reasonable state of mind. Honestly that’s a really hard thing to prove. I really don’t think that one is going to fly in court.
My question is why did they wait to bring this indictment now? You can’t tell me they didn’t have this information 2 years ago. If I’m being honest it does look suspicious. As far as the evidence and witness testimony goes…I can’t disagree with that statement. However as far as Pence is concerned it doesn’t seem like they have him as a witness. If they did wouldn’t they argue coercion instead? They really danced around that point without actually saying it. Leads me to believe he didn’t turn on trump. Who knows though.
Ohh something I completely forgot about something on the obstruction charge via classified documents. Hillary Clinton also committed obstruction. Hillary in attempt to destroy the evidence, destroyed hardware and used a computer program to wipe the servers and hard drives. I believe that program was called bleach bit. The FBI however would not prosecute and that now seems to be the precedent that was set just a few years before. Thoughts?
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u/Blobbo9 Aug 05 '23
To be honest I don’t really disagree with most of what you said here. Someone’s reaction to any of these indictments really just depends on how they view Trump.
There are two reasons why I think that he was aware enough of the true results of the election that he knew he was spreading misinformation.
The first one comes from a detail of the documents investigation. I mentioned it already, but he admitted that he knew that he couldn’t declassify them on tape. At the same time, he was denying the whole case by saying that presidents could somehow magically declassify documents without any paperwork etc. That shows that he does have self awareness, and is willing to lie to the American people to protect himself.
The second one has more to do with the election itself. When every accusation of voter fraud was being disproven by pundits as well as trump appointed judges, could a reasonable person think that the election was stolen? Beyond that, his closest advisor and conspirator was telling him that the claims didn’t have merit.
It’s probably just a question of what evidence the prosecution can find, and it’s difficult to say what the result of this court case will be at the moment. A key aspect will likely be the testimony of his associates like Pence. And, given what he’s said about pence, I honestly can’t say that the testimony will be good for trump.