{"id":1801261,"date":"2023-01-10T13:05:40","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T18:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1801261"},"modified":"2023-01-10T13:08:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T18:08:35","slug":"cnn-legal-analyst-admits-doj-cant-charge-trump-over-classified-docs-without-charging-biden-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-legal-analyst-admits-doj-cant-charge-trump-over-classified-docs-without-charging-biden-now\/","title":{"rendered":"CNN Legal Analyst Admits DOJ Can&#8217;t Charge Trump Over Classified Docs Without Charging Biden Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcnn-legal-analyst-admits-doj-cant-charge-trump-over-classified-docs-without-charging-biden-now%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1801261&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/d2eccf4a-8302-4d44-b1f3-18f25b00b2e1-1110x740-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cReally?\u201d Poppy Harlow exclaimed. Yes,\u00a0<em>It is really<\/em>. Theoretically the Department of Justice could still indict Donald Trump for his alleged criminal violations of classified documents.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, though, Merrick Garland would have to explain why he\u2019s not charging Joe Biden for the same crimes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/news\/really-poppy-harlow-shocked-when-cnn-analyst-says-biden-news-makes-it-almost-impossible-to-charge-trump-over-mar-a-lago-raid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as CNN legal analyst John Miller explains<\/a>. They may not be the same situation, but it\u2019s close enough to make it awkward:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>DON LEMON &#8211; I said it last night, Merrick Garland is in an odd place. They didn&#8217;t know what was coming. It was November. I said, well, you know, look, I\u2019m just asking here. Maybe Merrick Garland didn\u2019t. Everyone\u2019s wondering why he didn\u2019t act, did he know this was coming?<\/p>\n<p>JOHN MILLER &#8211; The White House is a news agency that knows how to quickly get information out and how to slow it down. You can see the analysis in the fact that they did the contretemps and announced it after that.<\/p>\n<p>KAITLAN COLLINS: I\u2019m so interested that you said it helps Trump because I was talking to people close to his legal team yesterday and they were saying this is a huge gift to them because they believe, you know, politically speaking, of course, the obstruction is obviously the big part of the Trump story. He refused to give them up for so long. But they believe it helps make their argument that it\u2019s pretty easy actually, to innocently and mistakenly perhaps take classified documents. Does this actually stand up in court<\/p>\n<p>JOHN MILLER: So it doesn\u2019t hold up in logic.<\/p>\n<p>KAITLAN COLLINS &#8211; But is it able to stand up in court?<\/p>\n<p>JOHN MILLER: Let alone court. It is a valid argument in court. Both are covered by the law. It\u2019s just, you know, the balancing act of you\u2019ve got a special prosecutor, you know, Jack Smith, who\u2019s going to is going to make a recommendation, and then the attorney general is going to have to make a decision. These developments have placed him in an awkward position in terms of decision-making.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The two situations aren\u2019t identical, at least at the moment, but they don\u2019t appear to be different enough to matter politically. Miller also notes that there is an obstruction charge that could be brought against Trump, an element that doesn\u2019t appear to be present in this instance, at least not\u00a0<em>Yet<\/em>. It would be more difficult to charge obstruction without an underlying criminal offense for document retention.<\/p>\n<p>Katie Cherkasky, a former federal prosecutor, also highlights the distinction on obstruction. But she also points out that the underlying criminalities are too similar to be ignored by prosecutors and maybe even a court.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<blockquote>\n<p>CHERKASKY, I think again about the obstruction that is not in this case. But the mishandling of classified documents \u2014 if that is an offense that is being looked at, that happens at the time the documents are removed, potentially, if they\u2019re done so under inappropriate circumstances. Legally, I believe these analyses are much closer to the truth. \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Merrick Garland seems to be in a difficult spot. \u2026 Ultimately, I think there\u2019s going to need to be a special counsel appointed to look into whether this is a criminal offense or whether this is something that is prosecutable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The problem for the crowd \u2014 mainly in the media \u2014 screeching that Trump\u2019s obstruction makes this different is the precedent set by the DoJ for Hillary Clinton. The retention of documents was due to her home-brewed e-mail system.\u00a0<em>Many thousands<\/em> You can store classified data\/documents for as long as six years. Clinton\u2019s motive for employing this system for her official e-mails was clearly to obstruct Congressional review of her communications at State. Clinton also instructed her underlings not to remove classified markings from emails before they were sent, which is illegal and a clear sign of obstruction. Clinton refused to give access to the email server and erased half the 65,000 emails. She claimed that the emails were personal. It is also an act of obstruction.\u00a0 Yet, the DoJ refused Clinton to be charged or prosecuted, claiming that Clinton was innocent. \u201cintent\u201d that doesn\u2019t exist anywhere in statute and that her behavior completely contradicted anyway.<\/p>\n<p>So Merrick Garland\u2019s decision was already awkward even before this latest development belatedly emerged. Now, we have a sitting president accused of doing exactly what Trump is being charged with. And this was without even the pretense of declassification. If Garland presses forward on a prosecution against a Republican candidate while taking a pass on two Democrats for the same crime, it\u2019s going to look Very,\u00a0<em>very<\/em> political. After that, it will be Katy bar-the-door in any Republican administration that is responsible for political prosecutions. This next Republican administration could be closer than Biden or the media believe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/01\/10\/politics\/biden-classified-documents-iran-ukraine-united-kingdom-beau-funeral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN Reports<\/a> that the classified material related to Ukraine \u2014 which is where Hunter was cutting deals at the time:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Among the classified documents from Joe Biden\u2019s time as vice president discovered in a private office last fall are US intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom, according to a source familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 10 documents with classification markings were found last year in Biden\u2019s private academic office and they were dated between 2013 and 2016, according to the source.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Hmmmmmm<\/em>. That doesn\u2019t sound like a coincidence.<\/p>\n<p>The latest episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/hotair-tv-ed-morrissey-show\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Podcast: The Ed Morrissey Show<\/a> Now up! Today\u2019s show features:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Voters had a great look at the next two years with Republicans winning the House and Ron DeSantis taking his place on the national stage. Andrew Malcolm and me discuss the differences and the similarities.<\/li>\n<li>We also examine the collapse of the Russian interference panic at Washington Post.<\/li>\n<li>Wyoming radio host Jeff Wallack from WyomingIsRight.com joins the discussion to discuss his interview with Donald Trump and his views on the 2024 campaign.<\/li>\n<li>Also, check out my latest editorial for SRN News\/Tonwhall Commentary<br style=\"clear: both;\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Ed Morrissey Show can now be downloaded and streamed at \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3RTM1Y1EusyuAhRzBYddM0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-ed-morrissey-show\/id1605699707\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC4Ul9qCAQCuKvRPxljtNH2g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The TEMS Podcast YouTube channel<\/a>, and Rumble as well as our in-house portal <a href=\"https:\/\/hotair.com\/hotair-tv-ed-morrissey-show\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visit the #TEMS Page<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cReally?\u201d Poppy Harlow exclaimed. Yes,\u00a0It is really. Theoretically the Department of Justice could still indict Donald Trump for his alleged criminal violations of classified documents. In reality, though, Merrick Garland would have to explain why he\u2019s not charging Joe Biden for the same crimes, as CNN legal analyst John Miller explains. They may not be &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1801264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[5216,9139,3620,5458,3680,4170,14259,7372,9373,7077,7076,4431,3819,3634],"class_list":["post-1801261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-admits","tag-analyst","tag-biden","tag-bongino","tag-cant","tag-charge","tag-charging","tag-classified","tag-cnn","tag-docs","tag-doj","tag-legal","tag-report","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1801261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1801264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1801261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1801261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1801261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}