The indictment of former President Donald Trump on charges of mishandling classified documents is an overreach by the government, according to Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center.
“I think the government has overreached in this area and I think they’re going to have a hard time to prove these charges and convict Donald Trump,” Kamenar said in an interview with NTD’s “Capitol Report” on June 9, 2023.
Special counsel Jack Smith announced a 37-count indictment against Trump. The indictment includes 31 counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” as well as other counts of withholding a document or record, “corruptly” concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, conspiring to obstruct justice, scheming to conceal materials, and making false statements. The indictment also alleges Trump showed classified documents to other people on two separate occasions in 2021.
“They have to prove both a willful and knowing intent to violate the law, and I think that’s going to be difficult for the government to prove his mental intent, because Trump all along has said that he has the right, as he did, to declassify documents as president of the United States. And when he left office, he took these documents with him, and he’s said those were declassified,” Kamenar said.
“Even if they do find him guilty, I think the punishment would be basically probation. After all, that’s what the court did with [Gen. David Petraeus],” Kamenar said.
Kamenar said a much harsher sentence for Trump would be evidence of a “dual system of justice.” He also raised concern about the fact that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden both haven’t been charged for their own handling of classified information.
Click here or on the image to watch the interview.
