For as long as he was involved in the world of politics and corruption, Donald Trump called for ‘lengthy jail terms for anyone who mishandled classified information. His supporters constantly chanted, “lock her up,” because Hillary Clinton had used a private email server, although the FBI exonerated her.
“On political corruption, we are going to restore honor to our government, ” Trump said in August 2016. “In my administration, I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.”
“One of the first things we must do is to enforce all classification rules and to enforce all laws relating to the handling of classified information,” he said in September 2016.
As the Mar-a-Lago investigation continues, more questions have arisen. Dozens of classified documents have been discovered, but nearly as many folders were found, but the contents are missing. There is no doubt that they were in Trump’s possession, but where has he hidden them?
Not only are there questions about where these documents might be, but what was Trump’s part in all of this: what were his intentions? As a novelist, it brings questions to mind about past spies from foreign nations who obtained secrets for felonious purposes.
FBI investigators are hoping for a simpler solution to the missing documents.
“The ideal scenario that would describe this is that the empty folders are actually for the records that are somewhere else in the boxes — that someone just didn’t keep them in the folder in the way they were supposed to, so they’re not actually out there in the wild somewhere,” said Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, a nonprofit law firm specializing in national security law.
From past pictures of Trump in his New York office, this may be the answer to their questions. Trump’s desk appeared disorganized and even disheveled. From his rambling speeches to “his people,” it is obvious that his mind cannot focus on a single thought for more than seconds. We know he once walked out from a meeting in the Oval Office with then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan when he became bored after a few minutes.
However, Trump’s insistence on punishment related to the handling of classified material must be taken seriously. When he became angry with former FBI Director James Comey, he called for his prosecution for ‘leaking classified documents.’
“He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted,” one Trump tweet in April 2018 said, with another saying Comey should be in jail.
Trump should be treated in a manner required by his own words. Across the nation, political writers are beginning to write, “lock him up.”
I have other concerns. We know that he frequently exchanged phone conversations with Vladimir Putin while pretending to be your president. What information was being passed to the Russian President? He spoke several times to Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and freely gave him information about our nation’s nuclear secrets. What other matters did they discuss?
I have no doubt that historians will discover the truth about Trump. He was never an active president; his agenda was personal. When he was in the White House, not golfing, holding hate rallies, or partying at Mar-a-Lago, he was in the residence for most of the day, occasionally sitting in a room adjacent to the Oval Office watching Fox News.
The information about the existence of the stolen documents at Mar-a-Lago was allegedly offered to the DOJ by someone close to Trump. Many believe it was a family member. Will this individual offer other information about Trump’s four years in office?
As they used to say on television, “stay tuned, there’s more to follow.”
By James Turnage, Novelist
Sources:
The Hill: Scrutiny builds over FBI’s discovery of empty folders at Mar-a-Lago; by Rebecca Beitsch
CNN: Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lengthy jail sentences for those who he claimed mishandled classified information; by Andrew Kaczynski and Samantha Woodward
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Julie Tuason’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Ministerio del Interior 2018’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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