In documents case, intent is everything
There seems to be confusion surrounding the reasons that Trump is to be held criminally responsible for the mishandling of the classified documents, while Biden appears to get off scot-free. On the surface, both appear to have committed the same, or similar action.
I’m not a lawyer, but I DID see the movie Legally Blonde. LOL! In the movie, Reese Witherspoon (as Elle) is asked to describe the legal term: mens rae. The term refers to whether an alleged offender intended to commit the crime.
As biased as the Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report was (in favor of Trump), after an exhaustive investigation, Hur was unable to establish that criminal charges against Joe Biden were warranted as mens rae could not be proved. In other words, no “intent” to commit a crime was established. In fact, Biden’s staff, at his direction, alerted the FBI that that classified documents were located at the Biden home. Biden voluntarily agreed to multiple searches of his home, offices, and vehicles to locate the presence of other possible documents. Biden was also voluntarily interviewed by the Special Prosecutor for five hours, although he was not required to do so. No mens rae.
Trump, on the other hand, denied the presence of classified documents. He insisted the documents belonged to him, although he was no longer president. Trump directed employees to move the documents and lie to the FBI about the second location. The FBI had to obtain a subpoena to search the home and another off-site storage facility to recover the missing classified documents. Trump was even seen on video waving around a classified document to an employee, saying “You can’t see this — it’s classified!” In addition, many of the documents contained information of national security, such as nuclear capabilities and military strategy. Mens Rae was clearly established, according to the grand jury, and an indictment was presented.
This led me to wonder . . . WHY would Trump keep such documents? What did he plan to do with them? I could only come up with one theory: he meant to sell them. In waving them around and announcing that these items were “classified,” he was advertising the availability of documents that might be very valuable to certain nations. Again, this is my theory, possibly true or not true. But WHY is he still insisting that he has a right to them? Why not just give them back and get on with his campaign?
If Trump is reelected, our intelligence allies will not be able to share information on which we rely to keep our nation secure. The Five Eyes Alliance will be come Four and we will be on our own.
Pat McLean is a resident of Boynton Beach.