{"id":1949119,"date":"2023-06-16T12:27:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T16:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-federal-prosecutor-trump-indictment-misses-crucial-point\/"},"modified":"2023-06-16T12:32:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T16:32:04","slug":"former-federal-prosecutor-trump-indictment-misses-crucial-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-federal-prosecutor-trump-indictment-misses-crucial-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Federal Prosecutor: Trump Indictment Overlooks Key Aspect."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/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%2Fformer-federal-prosecutor-trump-indictment-misses-crucial-point%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=1949119&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--><div class=\"entry-content\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Photo by Anna Moneymaker-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>OAN\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/tag\/daniel-baldwin\">Daniel Baldwin<\/a><br \/>9:21 AM \u2013 Friday, June 16, 2023<\/h2>\n<p>Former Federal prosecutor Will Scharf explained to One America News that the Department of Justice\u2019s indictment of former President Donald Trump faces a significant issue.<\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1\" style=\"min-width: 320px; min-height: 50px;  text-align: center;\">  \t<script>  \t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1663871513696-art-1'); });  \t<\/script>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-slot__ad-label\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be very difficult for the government to show that [Trump] knowingly violated the law,\u201d Scharf, who is also running for Missouri Attorney General, said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Scharf specifically highlighted <a href=\"https:\/\/uscode.house.gov\/view.xhtml?path=\/prelim@title18\/part1\/chapter37&#038;edition=prelim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">793(e) of the Espionage Act<\/a>, the aspect of the law that involves intent.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201c[Trump\u2019s] being charged for having, in the government\u2019s view, unlawfully withheld National Defense Information that was in his possession from a government official who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/parents-must-have-tough-conversations-with-their-kids-to-counter-a-progressive-onslaught\/\" title=\"Parents Must Have Tough Conversations With Their Kids To Counter A Progressive Onslaught\">lawfully entitled<\/a> to possess it or to take possession of it,\u201d Scharf explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" data-placeholder-image=\"https:\/\/c3.oann.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/complianz-gdpr\/assets\/images\/placeholders\/twitter-minimal.jpg\" class=\"cmplz-placeholder-element twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">(1) Interplay between the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act<\/p>\n<p>A lot of my friends have spoken insightfully about the scope of the Presidential Records Act. I\u2019d direct you to Mike Davis\u2019s (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrddmia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@mrddmia<\/a>) commentary on the subject, and also Michael Bekesha of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Will Scharf (@willscharf) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/willscharf\/status\/1669333165930868736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 15, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-service=\"twitter\" data-category=\"marketing\" async data-cmplz-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Scharf broke it down in a now viral Twitter thread, saying \u201cSection 793(e) requires the government to prove that the Defendant KNEW he had National Defense Information (NDI) in his possession, and also that the Defendant KNEW that there was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/6-reasons-dojs-get-trump-documents-case-is-seriously-flawed\/\" title=\"6 Flaws in DOJ's 'Get Trump' Documents Case\">government official entitled<\/a> to receive the Information, and also that the Defendant then WILLFULLY failed to deliver it to that official.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the former federal prosecutor, this adds even more complexity to a case that the DOJ wants the American people to believe is very simple.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201c[The government] wants everybody to think that this is a very, very simple case, that they found some documents with classified markings at Mar-a-Lago, and that therefore President Trump has to go to jail,\u201d Scarf told OAN. \u201cMy point is that in light of the actual statutory text and the language in the indictment, this case is a lot more complicated than that, and it\u2019s going to be a lot tougher to prove.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Scharf says this aspect of the Espionage Act sets a significantly high bar of <strong>mens rea<\/strong>, otherwise known as guilty state of mind, for the DOJ to clear in a trial.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThe question isn\u2019t necessarily whether these documents should have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-federal-prosecutor-trump-indictment-misses-crucial-point\/\" title=\"Ex-Federal Prosecutor: Trump Indictment Overlooks Key Aspect.\">designated presidential versus personal<\/a>,\u201d Scharf explained. \u201cThe question is really what was President Trump\u2019s intent and what was his knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Presidential Records Act, which special counsel Jack Smith neglected to mention once in his 49-page indictment, permits the president to choose what records to return, and what records to keep at the end of his term. The \u201c<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/newsroom\/judicial-watch-clinton-sock-drawer-audio-tape-case-exonerates-pres-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">Clinton Sock Drawer<\/a>\u201d case lays this out explicitly.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThe PRA contains no provision obligating or even permitting the Archivist to assume control over records that the President \u2018categorized\u2019 and \u2018filed separately\u2019 as personal records. At the conclusion of the President\u2019s term, the Archivist only \u2018assumes responsibility for the Presidential records.\u2019 . . . PRA does not confer any mandatory or even discretionary authority on the Archivist to classify records. Under the statute, this responsibility is left solely to the President,\u201d wrote Obama-appointed Judge Amy Berman Jackson.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Building off of these points, Scharf claims that there is a \u201cvery good argument\u201d that the 45th president viewed his own documents as personal records.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cMy view is that there\u2019s a very good argument that President Trump packaged up these boxes thinking that they contained his personal records, personal memorabilia from his time in office,\u201d said Scharf.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cIf [Trump\u2019s] intent was to retain only personal records, if that was what was in his mind, I think it\u2019s going to be very difficult for the Special Counsel\u2019s office to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what they\u2019re required to prove under the Espionage Act,\u201d Scharf continued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Scharf claims that if Trump believed his boxes were personal records, he may have thought the National Archives did not have a claim to receive them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cMeaning that he did not willfully withhold anything from an official he knew had the right to receive them,\u201d Scharf wrote on Twitter. \u201cBecause he didn\u2019t believe that anyone had the right to receive them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Scarf even pointed out that Smith, in his official public statement, emphasized that it was the government\u2019s burden to prove that Trump was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And given the obligations and rights bestowed upon a president under the PRA, Scharf says that will be a difficult, if not impossible, hill for the DOJ to climb.<\/p>\n<p>Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.oann.com\/alerts<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Lara Trump<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Melissa O\u2019Connor and Carrie Prejean<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Bob Bianchi<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>with Col. Doug Macgregor<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>HONG KONG (Reuters) \u2013 Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the global rise of artificial intelligence (AI) with Bill Gates and said he\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>(Reuters) -Britain\u2019s competition regulator on Friday cleared Amazon.com Inc\u2019s planned $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp, maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner.\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>BERLIN (Reuters) \u2013 Volkswagen\u2019s battery unit PowerCo will be ready for investors at the beginning of next year, battery chief Thomas Schmall\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>(Reuters) -Binance, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uk-regulators-ban-binance-the-worlds-biggest-cryptocurrency-exchange\/\" title=\"UK Regulators Ban Binance, The World\u2019s Biggest Cryptocurrency Exchange\">largest cryptocurrency exchange<\/a>, said on Friday that it was leaving the Dutch market because it had been unable to\u2026 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Federal prosecutor Will Scharf stated that the Department of Justice&#8217;s indictment of ex-President Donald Trump encounters a major hurdle. Scharf believes proving Trump&#8217;s awareness of the situation will be a challenging task for the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2062,"featured_media":1949121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[542],"tags":[23347,28545,15074,7233,28849,6215,3634],"class_list":["post-1949119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oann","tag-aspect","tag-ex-federal","tag-indictment","tag-key","tag-overlooks","tag-prosecutor","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\/1949119","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\/2062"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1949119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1949119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1949121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1949119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1949119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1949119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}