FORMER U.S. President Donald Trump has become the most high-profile person ever to face criminal charges under the Espionage Act for the unlawful retention of sensitive national defense records.
In all, Trump faces 37 criminal counts, 31 of which relate to secret or top secret classified documents. He is also charged with obstructing justice, conspiracy, concealment and false statements. He has repeatedly declared his innocence.
WHAT IS THE ESPIONAGE ACT?
The Espionage Act is an anti-spy law enacted by Congress shortly after the start of World War One.
The statute criminalizes a broad array of conduct related to the mishandling of sensitive government records connected to the "national defense," a term generally referring to military records that if disclosed could damage U.S. national security.
Over the years, the law has been used as a legal tool by the Justice Department to prosecute people ranging from suspected Soviet spies to famous whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, and Edward Snowden, a former intelligence consultant who leaked classified National Security Agency records to reveal the existence of a domestic surveillance program.
During the Obama and Trump administrations, some of the Justice Department's most high-profile Espionage Act prosecutions targeted government employees who leaked classified information to the press or to the website WikiLeaks, such as former Army Private First Class intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and former intelligence contractor Reality Winner.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, though President Barack Obama later commuted her sentence, while Winner was sentenced to more than five years after she admitted to leaking a top secret report on Russian interference in U.S. elections to the media outlet The Intercept.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been charged under the Espionage Act, and is fighting extradition to the United States.
HOW DOES THE ESPIONAGE ACT APPLY TO TRUMP?
Special Counsel Jack Smith's office filed charges against Trump after the FBI searched the Florida resort where he lives in August 2022 and located about 13,000 government records, about 100 of which were marked as secret or top secret - the highest classification level, reserved for the government's most closely held secrets. Altogether, prosecutors say he improperly retained 337 classified records.
Trump has previously denied breaking the law, arguing that he declassified the records in question and that his broad presidential powers gave him the authority to disclose or declassify materials.
The Espionage Act itself does not explicitly require prosecutors to prove that the records themselves were classified, and neither Trump nor his attorneys have provided any evidence to suggest they were ever declassified.
Prosecutors have charged Trump with violating a section in the Espionage Act which applies to someone who has "unauthorized possession" of national defense information - the same crime to which Winner pleaded guilty.
This section of the law makes it a crime to willfully retain the information and fail to deliver it back to the proper U.S. government official.
WHAT WILL PROSECUTORS HAVE TO PROVE TO A JURY?
To obtain a conviction against Trump, the government will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he willfully retained the material and failed to turn it over to the government.
Prosecutors do not need to show that Trump knew it was national defense information, but rather that a reasonable person should have known it was.
Part of the government's evidence will likely entail laying out all the steps it took to get the records returned.
This includes a year-long effort by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, which repeatedly asked Trump through his attorneys to return missing records.
While Trump finally agreed to send the Archives 15 boxes of material a year after leaving the White House, some of those records were marked as classified, and the boxes did not include all of the records in his possession.
Even after the Justice Department tried to retrieve the remaining records with a subpoena, Trump only handed over an additional 38 pages marked as classified.
It took a court-approved search warrant before the FBI was able to retrieve the bulk of the records that remained.
The government will also present evidence from Trump's own attorney, who was compelled to testify to a grand jury about his communications with Trump. The indictment alleges Trump tried to get his attorney to lie to the government about the existence of the records, even going so far as to ask the attorney to destroy or hide them.
Reuters
Wed Jun 14 2023
To obtain a conviction against Donald Trump, the government will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he willfully retained the material and failed to turn it over to the government. - REUTERS/Filepic
EURO 2024: Polis Jerman lega Turkiye tersingkir
Polis di Jerman menarik nafas lega selepas Belanda bangkit daripada ketinggalan untuk menewaskan Turkiye pada EURO 2024.
Pemimpin sayap kiri gesa Macron panggil NFP bentuk kerajaan
Presiden Perancis Emmanuel Macron mesti mengaku kalah dalam pilihan raya parlimen Perancis, di mana pakatan sayap kiri 'New Popular Front' (NFP) memenangi kerusi terbanyak walaupun tidak mencapai jumlah majoriti mutlak.
Seoul kesal kenyataan kakak Kim Jong Un
Kementerian penyatuan Korea Selatan yang mengendalikan hal ehwal antara Korea pada Isnin kesal selepas Kim Yo Jong, kakak kepada pemimpin Korea Utara Kim Jong Un, menuduh Presiden Korea Selatan Yoon Suk Yeol menimbulkan ketegangan di semenanjung Korea.
Menurut laporan media kerajaan, Kim mengecam Yoon kerana menimbulkan ketegangan di semenanjung Korea untuk mengalihkan perhatian daripada masalah di negara sendiri.
Menurut laporan media kerajaan, Kim mengecam Yoon kerana menimbulkan ketegangan di semenanjung Korea untuk mengalihkan perhatian daripada masalah di negara sendiri.
Latihan ketenteraan Korea Selatan adalah bentuk provokasi
Latihan ketenteraan Korea Selatan baru-baru ini berhampiran sempadan antara kedua-dua negara adalah provokasi yang tidak boleh dimaafkan.
Berdasarkan laporan media kerajaan KCNA, menurut Kim Yo Jong, kakak kepada pemimpin Korea Utara Kim Jong Un pada isnin, seandainya Korea Utara menilai kedaulatannya sendiri dicabul, angkatan tenteranya akan segera melaksanakan misi dan tugas mengikut perlembagaannya.
Berdasarkan laporan media kerajaan KCNA, menurut Kim Yo Jong, kakak kepada pemimpin Korea Utara Kim Jong Un pada isnin, seandainya Korea Utara menilai kedaulatannya sendiri dicabul, angkatan tenteranya akan segera melaksanakan misi dan tugas mengikut perlembagaannya.
10 maut dalam kebakaran rumah jagaan warga emas
Jabatan Bomba masih lagi menjalankan siasatan lanjut bagi mengenal pasti punca sebenar kebakaran
Gempa bumi 6 skala richter landa kepulauan Bonin, Jepun
Satu gempa bumi kuat berukuran enam pada skala Richter dikesan berlaku di Kepulauan Bonin, Jepun pada 4.01 pagi tadi.
Akta PSMB benarkan HRD Corp buat pelaburan - Peguam
Akta PSMB 2001 adalah sistem perundangan yang mengawal selia dan mentadbir segala perancangan dan pelaksanaan operasi pentadbiran HRD Corp.
10,000 sertai Community Safety Run PDRM
Seramai 10,000 orang termasuk warga Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) menyertai Program Larian Hari Polis 'Community Safety Run' 2024 yang berlangsung di Dataran Putrajaya, pada Sabtu.
Sindiket pecah rumah terlibat 15 kes sekitar Subang Jaya tumpas
Sindiket pecah rumah yang disyaki menjadi dalang dalam 15 kes pecah rumah di sekitar daerah Subang Jaya, berjaya ditumpaskan polis, pada Sabtu lalu.
Dua kanak-kanak kritikal termakan makanan ringan ada racun tikus
Hasil pemeriksaan pegawai perubatan Hospital Kulim mendapati kedua-dua beradik itu kini berada dalam keadaan kritikal.