![]() "Even if Trump was convicted in the Manhattan case, he is unlikely to go to prison on those counts," Butler said, referencing a separate case against the former president. "When he was asked to return these documents, not only did he refuse, according to the indictment, he conspired with his valet to keep them from the government and to cover up what he’d done."īutler acknowledges there have been many different accusations against Trump over the years but that there has "never been anything this detailed and this consequential in terms of Trump's criminal exposure." might respond if it were attacked," Butler told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly. "In the simplest version, the indictment accuses the president of taking sensitive documents pertaining to national security that he knew didn't belong to him, including documents related to the country's nuclear programs and documents about how the U.S. Georgetown University law professor and former federal prosecutor Paul Butler says the indictment against former President Donald Trump "tells a story that anyone can understand," calling the charges "very serious." "I think everyone involved is extremely careful to make sure that those lines don't get crossed." "That's really kind of the whole idea of a special counsel is to separate them from political influence and also from the Justice Department itself, so that they will be operating independently and will exercise their own judgment, obviously subject to the approval or veto by the Department of Justice by the attorney general," Caldwell added. ![]() Caldwell said it's "quite possible" to separate the actions of DOJ from the administration itself. The case was handled by a special counsel to avoid the appearance of any political interference from the Biden administration. ![]() And what was happening with these documents," Caldwell said. "I was surprised, actually, to see the extent to which he was personally involved on an ongoing and pretty regular basis. "One of the most striking things about the indictment to me at least was the extent to which which it alleges President Trump's actual personal involvement in various things, including directing the movement of boxes, asking whether things really had to be returned or turned over, inducing lawyers to make essentially false statements to the government," Caldwell said. ![]() Among the counts are the willful retention of national defense information, making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice. And I think it lays out a very damning story if the allegations proved to be supported by sufficient evidence," Caldwell told NPR's Ailsa Chang.įederal prosecutors unsealed their indictment against Trump earlier today, making him the first former president to ever face federal charges. "The indictment is very clear, very concise, very specific, very easy to understand. Leslie Caldwell, former assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's criminal division, called many of the allegations laid out in the indictment against former President Donald Trump "quite stunning."
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