09-20-2022, 10:14 PM
Yes, if he had not been the president, his possession of the documents would already have him in jail. However, as president he presumably had a right to have them in his possession, so the crime consists of his taking them from the White House and keeping them when he was no longer the president.
I would guess that the DOJ and the Biden administration are being very careful because they don't want to give any future administration an excuse to investigate and indict any/every Democratic former president.
I saw an interesting argument on another site earlier today, in response to a question about whether an indictment of Trump would result in a civil war. The answer was that we are already in one and have been in it for a while, as evidenced by the random acts of right wing violence as well as the organized acts of right wing violence such as the tiki torch parade and riot, the January 6 riot, and various state house attacks and the hundreds of threats.
I would guess that the DOJ and the Biden administration are being very careful because they don't want to give any future administration an excuse to investigate and indict any/every Democratic former president.
I saw an interesting argument on another site earlier today, in response to a question about whether an indictment of Trump would result in a civil war. The answer was that we are already in one and have been in it for a while, as evidenced by the random acts of right wing violence as well as the organized acts of right wing violence such as the tiki torch parade and riot, the January 6 riot, and various state house attacks and the hundreds of threats.