Jonathan Turley: This indictment is a ‘serious threat,’ ‘significant impact’
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley tells ‘America’s Newsroom’ that this indictment is a ‘different ballgame’ from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s indictment against Trump.
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley joined "America's Newsroom" to discuss how the new indictment over classified documents will look different from the Manhattan indictment for President Trump. The constitutional law professor said the Alvin Bragg prosecution is "political" but says the Miami indictment is a "whole new ballgame."
JONATHAN TURLEY: I know a lot of people have criticized [Jack] Smith for his background, but he's no Alvin Bragg. He's a serious prosecutor. The Alvin Bragg prosecution is a political prosecution. It is what Trump says it is. It is a weaponization of the criminal justice system, in my view. This is a different ball game.
After the indictment was unsealed Friday afternoon, Turley said on "America Reports" that the charges laid out are "extremely damning."
TURLEY: It is an extremely damning indictment. There are indictments that are sometimes called narrative or speaking indictments. These are indictments that are really meant to make a point as to the depth of the evidence. There are some indictments that are just bare bones. This is not. The special counsel knew that there would be a lot of people who were going to allege that the Department of Justice was acting in a biased or politically motivated way.
This is clearly an indictment that was drafted to answer those questions. It’s overwhelming in details. And, you know, the Trump team should not fool itself, these are hits below the waterline. These are witnesses who apparently testified under oath, gave statements to federal investigators, both of which can be criminally charged if they’re false. Those witnesses are directly quoting the president in encouraging others not to look for documents or allegedly to conceal them. It’s damaging.
TRUMP INDICTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES RELATED TO DOCUMENT HANDLING AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Trump has been indicted on federal charges that emerged out of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s months-long investigation. He has been ordered to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.
Trump himself announced the indictment on his social media platform, Truth Social. Sources say federal prosecutors informed Trump's attorneys of the indictment a short time before he revealed it.
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower, Monday, April 3, 2023, in New York. Trump arrived in New York on Monday for his expected booking and arraignment the following day on charges arising from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
"The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is "secured" by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time," Trump said on Truth Social.
Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records at his Mar-a-Lago home.
The Justice Department had been investigating the matter after the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on his private residence in August 2022.
NARA told Congress in February 2022 that Trump took 15 boxes of presidential records to his personal residence in Florida. NARA recovered the 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago and "identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes." The matter was referred to the Justice Department by NARA.
Those boxes allegedly contained "classified national security information," and official correspondence between Trump and foreign heads of state.
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Classified material that was reportedly confiscated by the FBI during the FBI's raid in August included a letter to Trump from former President Obama, a letter from Kim Jong Un, a birthday dinner menu and a cocktail napkin.
Fox News' Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson and Bill Mears contributed to this report
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