Trump indicted like an orange pussy meanie
- Thread starter mandrill
- Start date
If you wait long enough you may get an answer but it is likely to be "but what about Hunter.?
And that my friend is the key to being a conman to the other half of the bell curve.
“ IT wiLL OnLy MaKe HIm StrONgeR” #trump #indictment #congress #shorts
Bekijk je favoriete video's, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.
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His illiterate base just cannot think for themselves. Sad really!!“ IT wiLL OnLy MaKe HIm StrONgeR” #trump #indictment #congress #shorts
Bekijk je favoriete video's, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.
Even though he had a creepy relationship with Ivanka........ it seems to not matter to his cult followers even on this Board!!
Donald Trump was allegedly creepy about Ivanka – but will his fans care?
Donald Trump’s creepy Ivanka complex
If you’re eating anything right now I’d advise you to stop immediately because the next couple of paragraphs will turn your stomach. A new book by Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official, contains some extremely disturbing claims that Donald Trump repeatedly sexualized his daughter Ivanka Trump.
Taylor, you might remember, first made headlines back in 2018 when he wrote an anonymous op-ed for the New York Times called “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration”. People were besides themselves with excitement for a while thinking that Anonymous might be someone high-profile like Melania Trump. Some of that excitement died down when it transpired Taylor, who was the chief of staff of the Department for Homeland Security, wasn’t in Trump’s inner circle and wasn’t really doing any meaningful “resisting”. Still he’s been eking out his 15 minutes of fame ever since, issuing warnings about democracy and dropping scandalous anecdotes about how unhinged Trump is.
His latest allegations? That Trump was lewd about his own daughter. “Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her,” Taylor writes in an excerpt from his new book, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump, obtained by Newsweek. His remarks, Taylor writes, were so gross that John Kelly, who was White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, once had “to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter”.
There is, I should note, no incontrovertible proof that Trump said all these things. (John Kelly hadn’t publicly commented on the allegations at the time of writing.) But the idea that the former president was creepy about his daughter in private isn’t hard to believe. There is, after all, plenty of evidence, going back decades, of Trump being creepy about Ivanka Trump in public. Remember when he told Howard Stern, in 2003, that Ivanka Trump has “got the best body?” Remember when he said that, if Ivanka Trump weren’t his daughter, “perhaps [he’d] be dating her?”
Ivanka Trump obviously isn’t the only woman that Trump has said a lot of crude things about. While a lot of Trump’s misogyny is in the public domain, Taylor claims there are plenty of sexist episodes that haven’t made the news yet. “There still are quite a few female leaders from the Trump administration who have held their tongues about the unequal treatment they faced in the administration at best, and the absolute naked sexism they experienced with the hands of Donald Trump at worst,” Taylor told Newsweek.
Gee, I wonder why they held their tongues? Could it be because they know that any woman who speaks out about Trump’s sexism will inevitably a face a vicious new torrent of sexism from his supporters? Could it be because they know that “naked sexism” has never damaged Trump – rather it seems to have turbocharged his career.
Just look what happened with the advice columnist E Jean Carroll. Earlier this year a jury in New York found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll in a department store changing room 27 years ago. During the trial Carroll’s lawyer asked her why she hadn’t gone public about the assault when Trump first ran for president. “I noticed that the more women who came forward to accuse him, the better he did in the polls,” she replied.
Being found guilty of sexual abuse by a jury and ordered to pay $5m to Carroll didn’t jolt Trump into toning down his public misogyny – quite the opposite. The day after the Carroll verdict was delivered he swaggered onto a very ill-advised CNN town hall and called Carroll a “whack job” who had lied about the abuse allegations. Some audience members actually laughed when the CNN moderator, Kaitlan Collins, noted that Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse. They laughed.
While it is clear that Trump fans don’t care about the former president’s misogyny, might they care about the claims he sexualized his own daughter? After all, these are the same people who have whipped themselves into a moral panic about the non-existent danger LGBTQ+ people pose to children. These are the same people who can’t go a day without spewing unfounded slurs about gay people being “groomers”. These are the same people who are intent on banning books from school libraries because they’re worried that references to race or gender identity will harm their children. They’re the people triggered by a book about seahorses, for God’s sake, because it contained too many details about their mating rituals. And yet, they have no problem voting for a guy who pays off porn stars and allegedly fantasizes about his daughter. Republican family values in action.
Donald Trump was allegedly creepy about Ivanka – but will his fans care? | Arwa Mahdawi
A new book by Miles Taylor, an ex-Trump official, claims the former president repeatedly sexualized his daughter
www.theguardian.com
Isn't it obvious why he is a paragon of the Christian right.His illiterate base just cannot think for themselves. Sad really!!
Even though he had a creepy relationship with Ivanka........ it seems to not matter to his cult followers even on this Board!!
Donald Trump was allegedly creepy about Ivanka – but will his fans care?
Donald Trump’s creepy Ivanka complex
If you’re eating anything right now I’d advise you to stop immediately because the next couple of paragraphs will turn your stomach. A new book by Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official, contains some extremely disturbing claims that Donald Trump repeatedly sexualized his daughter Ivanka Trump.
Taylor, you might remember, first made headlines back in 2018 when he wrote an anonymous op-ed for the New York Times called “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration”. People were besides themselves with excitement for a while thinking that Anonymous might be someone high-profile like Melania Trump. Some of that excitement died down when it transpired Taylor, who was the chief of staff of the Department for Homeland Security, wasn’t in Trump’s inner circle and wasn’t really doing any meaningful “resisting”. Still he’s been eking out his 15 minutes of fame ever since, issuing warnings about democracy and dropping scandalous anecdotes about how unhinged Trump is.
His latest allegations? That Trump was lewd about his own daughter. “Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her,” Taylor writes in an excerpt from his new book, Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump, obtained by Newsweek. His remarks, Taylor writes, were so gross that John Kelly, who was White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, once had “to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter”.
There is, I should note, no incontrovertible proof that Trump said all these things. (John Kelly hadn’t publicly commented on the allegations at the time of writing.) But the idea that the former president was creepy about his daughter in private isn’t hard to believe. There is, after all, plenty of evidence, going back decades, of Trump being creepy about Ivanka Trump in public. Remember when he told Howard Stern, in 2003, that Ivanka Trump has “got the best body?” Remember when he said that, if Ivanka Trump weren’t his daughter, “perhaps [he’d] be dating her?”
Ivanka Trump obviously isn’t the only woman that Trump has said a lot of crude things about. While a lot of Trump’s misogyny is in the public domain, Taylor claims there are plenty of sexist episodes that haven’t made the news yet. “There still are quite a few female leaders from the Trump administration who have held their tongues about the unequal treatment they faced in the administration at best, and the absolute naked sexism they experienced with the hands of Donald Trump at worst,” Taylor told Newsweek.
Gee, I wonder why they held their tongues? Could it be because they know that any woman who speaks out about Trump’s sexism will inevitably a face a vicious new torrent of sexism from his supporters? Could it be because they know that “naked sexism” has never damaged Trump – rather it seems to have turbocharged his career.
Just look what happened with the advice columnist E Jean Carroll. Earlier this year a jury in New York found Trump guilty of sexually abusing Carroll in a department store changing room 27 years ago. During the trial Carroll’s lawyer asked her why she hadn’t gone public about the assault when Trump first ran for president. “I noticed that the more women who came forward to accuse him, the better he did in the polls,” she replied.
Being found guilty of sexual abuse by a jury and ordered to pay $5m to Carroll didn’t jolt Trump into toning down his public misogyny – quite the opposite. The day after the Carroll verdict was delivered he swaggered onto a very ill-advised CNN town hall and called Carroll a “whack job” who had lied about the abuse allegations. Some audience members actually laughed when the CNN moderator, Kaitlan Collins, noted that Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse. They laughed.
While it is clear that Trump fans don’t care about the former president’s misogyny, might they care about the claims he sexualized his own daughter? After all, these are the same people who have whipped themselves into a moral panic about the non-existent danger LGBTQ+ people pose to children. These are the same people who can’t go a day without spewing unfounded slurs about gay people being “groomers”. These are the same people who are intent on banning books from school libraries because they’re worried that references to race or gender identity will harm their children. They’re the people triggered by a book about seahorses, for God’s sake, because it contained too many details about their mating rituals. And yet, they have no problem voting for a guy who pays off porn stars and allegedly fantasizes about his daughter. Republican family values in action.
Donald Trump was allegedly creepy about Ivanka – but will his fans care? | Arwa Mahdawi
A new book by Miles Taylor, an ex-Trump official, claims the former president repeatedly sexualized his daughter
Even Trump's ex-Attorney is very concerned about the Trump audio tape that has been released to CNN:
'Problematic': Hear how ex-Trump attorney reacted to audio tape
Former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore shares how he and other members of the Trump legal team reacted to learning of an audio recording of a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where former President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.
www.cnn.com
'Problematic': Hear how ex-Trump attorney reacted to audio tape
Former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore shares how he and other members of the Trump legal team reacted to learning of an audio recording of a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where former President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.
Video: Hear how ex-Trump attorney reacted to Bedminster audio tape - CNN Video
Former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore shares how he and other members of the Trump legal team reacted to learning of an audio recording of a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where former President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.
www.cnn.com
Trump being thrown under the bus by his own Repugs. LMAO
Former top Arizona GOP official describes what Trump team gave him as ‘proof’ of voter fraud
Former top Arizona GOP official describes what Trump team gave him as ‘proof’ of voter fraud
GOP ramping up war on DOJ as walls close in on Trump
With Donald Trump likely facing more indictments coming from the Department of Justice, Republican Party lawmakers are ramping up for a full-scale war on the DOJ and the FBI, reports the Guardian.The former president is already facing 37 counts tied to the Espionage Act in a Florida courtroom...
www.rawstory.com
Georgia election workers suing Rudy Giuliani for defamation are claiming in court filings this week that the former Trump lawyer failed to turn over evidence despite “repeated reminders” from the court.
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who were Fulton County poll workers during the 2020 election, say that Giuliani has not taken “any steps, let alone reasonable steps,” to preserve electronic evidence in the case. Because of that, they’re asking U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing the case, to impose “severe” sanctions on Giuliani.
One such example of evidence not turned over is a Dec. 7, 2020, email thread where then-Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn sent an “urgent POTUS request” to a group of allies asking for examples of purported election fraud.
“Need best examples of ‘election fraud’ that we’ve alleged that’s super easy to explain,” Epshteyn writes. “Doesn’t necessarily have to be proven, but does need to be easy to understand.”
Giuliani in reply claimed that a security camera in Atlanta — which showed Freeman and Moss moving ballots — captured “theft of a minimum of 30,000 votes, which alone would change result (sic) in Georgia,” the filings say.
Another piece of evidence the Georgia election workers say is missing is a Dec. 13, 2020, email from Giuliani to Epshteyn approving a draft statement from Trump’s legal team again claiming that video evidence showed “30,000 illegal ballots cast after the observers were removed.” That email was released by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the election workers say.
Freeman and Moss have faced backlash in the years since the 2020 election because of their ties to Trump’s false election fraud claims. Investigations involving three law enforcement agencies — Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office and special agents with the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation — found that allegations against two Fulton County poll workers “were false and unsubstantiated.”
The election workers claim that Giuliani’s behavior “severely hampered” their ability to present their case and asserted his conduct is “disrespectful to the court.” They asked Howell to order a “default judgement” in the case — the most severe sanction available — which would essentially hand them a win.
A spokesperson for Giuliani told The Hill the request is part of a “larger effort to smear and silence Mayor Giuliani for daring to ask questions, and for challenging the accepted narrative.”
“The requests by these lawyers were deliberately overly burdensome, and sought information well beyond the scope of this case—including divorce records—in an effort to harass, intimidate and embarrass Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” said Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani.
Giuliani led the charge on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election with false claims of election fraud. Claiming Giuliani “seriously undermined the administration of justice” in those efforts, the D.C. Bar Association on Friday recommended that he be disbarred.
Georgia election workers urge sanctions on Giuliani for failing to turn over evidence (msn.com)
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who were Fulton County poll workers during the 2020 election, say that Giuliani has not taken “any steps, let alone reasonable steps,” to preserve electronic evidence in the case. Because of that, they’re asking U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing the case, to impose “severe” sanctions on Giuliani.
One such example of evidence not turned over is a Dec. 7, 2020, email thread where then-Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn sent an “urgent POTUS request” to a group of allies asking for examples of purported election fraud.
“Need best examples of ‘election fraud’ that we’ve alleged that’s super easy to explain,” Epshteyn writes. “Doesn’t necessarily have to be proven, but does need to be easy to understand.”
Giuliani in reply claimed that a security camera in Atlanta — which showed Freeman and Moss moving ballots — captured “theft of a minimum of 30,000 votes, which alone would change result (sic) in Georgia,” the filings say.
Another piece of evidence the Georgia election workers say is missing is a Dec. 13, 2020, email from Giuliani to Epshteyn approving a draft statement from Trump’s legal team again claiming that video evidence showed “30,000 illegal ballots cast after the observers were removed.” That email was released by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the election workers say.
Freeman and Moss have faced backlash in the years since the 2020 election because of their ties to Trump’s false election fraud claims. Investigations involving three law enforcement agencies — Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office and special agents with the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation — found that allegations against two Fulton County poll workers “were false and unsubstantiated.”
The election workers claim that Giuliani’s behavior “severely hampered” their ability to present their case and asserted his conduct is “disrespectful to the court.” They asked Howell to order a “default judgement” in the case — the most severe sanction available — which would essentially hand them a win.
A spokesperson for Giuliani told The Hill the request is part of a “larger effort to smear and silence Mayor Giuliani for daring to ask questions, and for challenging the accepted narrative.”
“The requests by these lawyers were deliberately overly burdensome, and sought information well beyond the scope of this case—including divorce records—in an effort to harass, intimidate and embarrass Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” said Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani.
Giuliani led the charge on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election with false claims of election fraud. Claiming Giuliani “seriously undermined the administration of justice” in those efforts, the D.C. Bar Association on Friday recommended that he be disbarred.
Georgia election workers urge sanctions on Giuliani for failing to turn over evidence (msn.com)
How much prison time Trump faces if convicted on Espionage Act (msn.com)
Before a former FBI intelligence analyst was sentenced to prison last month, she asked a judge for leniency after pleading guilty to the same Espionage Act charge that former President Donald Trump is accused of violating.
"Her situation has been publicized locally and nationally — garnering mention alongside prominent political figures whose conduct appears uncannily analogous to Ms. Kingsbury's," her lawyer wrote in a sentencing memo that asked for probation.
The analyst, Kendra Kingsbury, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for willful retention of national security secrets, accused of illegally keeping 386 classified documents at her personal residence in Kansas. She pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Espionage Act that involved 20 of the documents.
Kingsbury's case and others involving Espionage Act violations offer a guidepost for the potential consequences Trump faces if he's convicted, but also highlight the uniqueness of his case.
A federal grand jury indicted the former president in June on 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of the government's efforts to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago club. Of those charges, 31 are for alleged violations of the Espionage Act.
"Charging a former president of the United States under the Espionage Act of 1917 … is one of the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever put forward in an American court of law," Trump told his supporters on June 24. "The Espionage Act has been used to go after traitors and spies."
Though the nation's most notorious spies were prosecuted under the Espionage Act, Trump is not charged with being a spy. He is charged with violating 18 U.S.C. 793(e), a provision of the law that makes "unauthorized possession" of documents "relating to the national defense" a crime. He has pleaded not guilty.
"It is rare that these cases ever go to trial," Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer, told CBS News.
Since 2017, at least seven cases involving the same provision of the Espionage Act ended in guilty pleas, including Kingsbury's. Another went to trial, resulting in a guilty verdict. None were sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison — sentences ranged from 18 months to nine years — and more than half received lesser sentences than the government had asked for.
"Usually the sentences are around three to six years," Zaid said.
Prosecutors accused Kingsbury of taking home documents from the FBI that were classified at the secret level and included information on "sensitive human source operations in national security investigations, intelligence gaps regarding hostile foreign intelligence services and terrorist organizations, and the technical capabilities of the FBI against counterintelligence and counterterrorism targets." She kept the documents in an "unsecure space, readily available to whoever may have had access to her residence," according to court documents.
"[Trump] had much higher level information than she did and that too would be taken into account in any punishment," Zaid said.
The Trump indictment alleges the former president kept documents that were classified from top secret to secret in boxes stored at Mar-a-Lago, including in a bathroom and shower, a ballroom and his bedroom. The documents allegedly contained information on U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to a military attack and plans for potential retaliation in response to an attack.
Robert Birchum, a former Air Force officer, was sentenced to three years in prison in June after pleading guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act. Prosecutors said he removed more than 300 classified documents and files, including top-secret information, from secure locations and stored them at his Florida home, in a storage pod parked in his driveway and at his overseas officer's quarters. He possessed files containing information on the National Security Agency's capabilities that, if released, could "cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States," prosecutors alleged.
Birchum also cited Trump's handling of classified documents, as well as the actions of other prominent officials, in arguing that he should not have to serve any prison time.
"One must not look very hard to find the numerous news articles, internet opinions, and television coverage of the spate of recent cases involving allegations of mishandling classified information," Birchum's legal team wrote in a sentencing memo that asked for probation.
Harold Martin, a former NSA contractor, received the nine-year sentence in 2019 after pleading guilty to one count of violating the willful retention provision in what was said to be the largest theft of its kind from the U.S. government. The government described the sentence as "one of the longest ever imposed in this type of case." Documents that were classified at the top-secret level and could reveal sensitive sources, methods and capabilities were among the 50 terabytes of data he was accused of stealing and keeping at his Maryland home and in his car.
A guilty plea increases the likelihood of a lighter sentence and reduced charges, while going to trial could end in an acquittal but if convicted, a defendant is likely to receive a lengthier sentence.
"Because of the nature of how the Classified Information Procedures Act works, there's very little by way of legal argument that exists by the time the trial would come around," Zaid said. "So it becomes a factual debate. Did the person do it or not? And given in these cases, as with Trump, it is uncontested the individual was in possession of the national defense information. So they plead."
The statute, known as CIPA, was designed to address the use of classified information in criminal trials. The pre-trial process limits defendants from threatening to disclose classified information at trial in an attempt to force the government to drop the charges. But a judge could also determine during the process that classified information is relevant and helpful to a defendant, meaning the government would have to make a choice between disclosure or dismissing the charges.
For Trump, who is running for president, the case has political ramifications.
"[There's] the spectacle of it, and fundraising opportunities and all of the ways in which he's sort of a unique animal when it comes to the criminal justice system," Emily Berman, an associate professor at the University of Houston's Law Center, told CBS News.
Zaid said Trump's best legal strategy is to delay the case as long as possible and hope he wins the presidential election.
"This federal case will go away because he will have the authority to make it go away," he said.
On Monday, Trump's legal team asked the judge overseeing the case to delay his trial, potentially until after the 2024 election.
Zaid said Trump's case will have an impact on similar cases in the future, noting that he cited former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and Gen. David Petraeus' mishandling of classified information to minimize punishment for a client who then received probation.
"When you are dealing with high-level public officials and a high-profile prosecution, it will impact all the little people down below," he said.
Yet, not every outcome that applies to Trump would apply to other civilians who may be convicted of the same crime. For instance, Berman said she doesn't expect that other defendants would succeed in avoiding prison, even if Trump is convicted and does not face any time behind bars.
"There's all sorts of other factors to take into account," she said, giving the hypothetical that the former president could be sentenced to house arrest. "The next defendant comes along and says, 'Well, I want to be subject to house arrest instead of going to prison.' But you don't have Secret Service protections. You're not running for office or holding public office or any of the crazy scenarios we might find ourselves in."
Before a former FBI intelligence analyst was sentenced to prison last month, she asked a judge for leniency after pleading guilty to the same Espionage Act charge that former President Donald Trump is accused of violating.
"Her situation has been publicized locally and nationally — garnering mention alongside prominent political figures whose conduct appears uncannily analogous to Ms. Kingsbury's," her lawyer wrote in a sentencing memo that asked for probation.
The analyst, Kendra Kingsbury, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for willful retention of national security secrets, accused of illegally keeping 386 classified documents at her personal residence in Kansas. She pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Espionage Act that involved 20 of the documents.
Kingsbury's case and others involving Espionage Act violations offer a guidepost for the potential consequences Trump faces if he's convicted, but also highlight the uniqueness of his case.
A federal grand jury indicted the former president in June on 37 counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of the government's efforts to retrieve them from his Mar-a-Lago club. Of those charges, 31 are for alleged violations of the Espionage Act.
"Charging a former president of the United States under the Espionage Act of 1917 … is one of the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever put forward in an American court of law," Trump told his supporters on June 24. "The Espionage Act has been used to go after traitors and spies."
Though the nation's most notorious spies were prosecuted under the Espionage Act, Trump is not charged with being a spy. He is charged with violating 18 U.S.C. 793(e), a provision of the law that makes "unauthorized possession" of documents "relating to the national defense" a crime. He has pleaded not guilty.
"It is rare that these cases ever go to trial," Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer, told CBS News.
Since 2017, at least seven cases involving the same provision of the Espionage Act ended in guilty pleas, including Kingsbury's. Another went to trial, resulting in a guilty verdict. None were sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison — sentences ranged from 18 months to nine years — and more than half received lesser sentences than the government had asked for.
"Usually the sentences are around three to six years," Zaid said.
Prosecutors accused Kingsbury of taking home documents from the FBI that were classified at the secret level and included information on "sensitive human source operations in national security investigations, intelligence gaps regarding hostile foreign intelligence services and terrorist organizations, and the technical capabilities of the FBI against counterintelligence and counterterrorism targets." She kept the documents in an "unsecure space, readily available to whoever may have had access to her residence," according to court documents.
"[Trump] had much higher level information than she did and that too would be taken into account in any punishment," Zaid said.
The Trump indictment alleges the former president kept documents that were classified from top secret to secret in boxes stored at Mar-a-Lago, including in a bathroom and shower, a ballroom and his bedroom. The documents allegedly contained information on U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to a military attack and plans for potential retaliation in response to an attack.
Robert Birchum, a former Air Force officer, was sentenced to three years in prison in June after pleading guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act. Prosecutors said he removed more than 300 classified documents and files, including top-secret information, from secure locations and stored them at his Florida home, in a storage pod parked in his driveway and at his overseas officer's quarters. He possessed files containing information on the National Security Agency's capabilities that, if released, could "cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States," prosecutors alleged.
Birchum also cited Trump's handling of classified documents, as well as the actions of other prominent officials, in arguing that he should not have to serve any prison time.
"One must not look very hard to find the numerous news articles, internet opinions, and television coverage of the spate of recent cases involving allegations of mishandling classified information," Birchum's legal team wrote in a sentencing memo that asked for probation.
Harold Martin, a former NSA contractor, received the nine-year sentence in 2019 after pleading guilty to one count of violating the willful retention provision in what was said to be the largest theft of its kind from the U.S. government. The government described the sentence as "one of the longest ever imposed in this type of case." Documents that were classified at the top-secret level and could reveal sensitive sources, methods and capabilities were among the 50 terabytes of data he was accused of stealing and keeping at his Maryland home and in his car.
A guilty plea increases the likelihood of a lighter sentence and reduced charges, while going to trial could end in an acquittal but if convicted, a defendant is likely to receive a lengthier sentence.
"Because of the nature of how the Classified Information Procedures Act works, there's very little by way of legal argument that exists by the time the trial would come around," Zaid said. "So it becomes a factual debate. Did the person do it or not? And given in these cases, as with Trump, it is uncontested the individual was in possession of the national defense information. So they plead."
The statute, known as CIPA, was designed to address the use of classified information in criminal trials. The pre-trial process limits defendants from threatening to disclose classified information at trial in an attempt to force the government to drop the charges. But a judge could also determine during the process that classified information is relevant and helpful to a defendant, meaning the government would have to make a choice between disclosure or dismissing the charges.
For Trump, who is running for president, the case has political ramifications.
"[There's] the spectacle of it, and fundraising opportunities and all of the ways in which he's sort of a unique animal when it comes to the criminal justice system," Emily Berman, an associate professor at the University of Houston's Law Center, told CBS News.
Zaid said Trump's best legal strategy is to delay the case as long as possible and hope he wins the presidential election.
"This federal case will go away because he will have the authority to make it go away," he said.
On Monday, Trump's legal team asked the judge overseeing the case to delay his trial, potentially until after the 2024 election.
Zaid said Trump's case will have an impact on similar cases in the future, noting that he cited former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and Gen. David Petraeus' mishandling of classified information to minimize punishment for a client who then received probation.
"When you are dealing with high-level public officials and a high-profile prosecution, it will impact all the little people down below," he said.
Yet, not every outcome that applies to Trump would apply to other civilians who may be convicted of the same crime. For instance, Berman said she doesn't expect that other defendants would succeed in avoiding prison, even if Trump is convicted and does not face any time behind bars.
"There's all sorts of other factors to take into account," she said, giving the hypothetical that the former president could be sentenced to house arrest. "The next defendant comes along and says, 'Well, I want to be subject to house arrest instead of going to prison.' But you don't have Secret Service protections. You're not running for office or holding public office or any of the crazy scenarios we might find ourselves in."
Any way to go back and change the tread title? Every time I see it it seems to malign orange monkeys, most of which are very cute and never shit on anyone...
