Because of his status as a former president, Donald Trump could get away with some, but not all, potential charges for taking top-secret White House documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office, analysts say.
According to The Washington Post, most federal workers who access secret information must “read”a process that involves the signing of documents at the beginning of their functions, and the “reading aloud” with another signed declaration that acknowledges their legal responsibilities and affirms that they do not possess any classified material, but the presidents do not.
David Priess, former CIA officer, indicated that presidents are not formally read. “There is a myth that presidents have a formal security clearance. They don’t,” she explained.
It also noted that presidents have the authority to classify and declassify documents, and that former presidents may have limited access to those materials.
“A former president could receive access to limited classified material after leaving office to help write memoirs or at the discretion of the current president (…) but this is not a formal security clearance,” Priess explained.
Although since January of this year, the National Archives received 15 boxes of material from the former president’s advisers, including more than 100 classified documents, due to his status as former president, probably federal prosecutors will focus solely on what Trump did after May, after receiving a grand jury summons.
Brandon Van Grack, an attorney who has worked on classified mismanagement cases as a federal prosecutor, noted that eThat is one of the difficulties of prosecuting a former president.
“It is yet another reason why criminally investigating and prosecuting a former president has complexities (…) What stands out is that the criminal case focuses on what happened after May, not what happened before that date,” he said. .
Nevertheless, his status as former president may not protect Trump of two other possible charges on the search warrant: destruction of records and concealment or mutilation of government material.
“As for former presidents, Congress itself has recognized by statute that former presidents would still have access to at least some of their records, although Congress has also made it clear that former presidents do not own those records personally,” Ashley said. Deeks, a law professor at the University of Virginia.
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Source: La Opinion
