To mark this historic occasion, this triumph of the rule of law, I will start with a trio of quotes.
The first is from an ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, who said that “Character is destiny.” Donald Trump is now an indicted espionage criminal facing federal arrest and arraignment because he is who he has always been: a creature of low character. He is now closer to jail than ever before because he could never escape himself.
The second quote comes from yours truly. Early in the 2016 primaries, long before he won the Republican nomination, I wrote some stuff that struck me as self-evident: “Trump threatens our national security…he is a clear and present danger to our democratic values…his lies and behavior imperil our national security.” It was obvious then, and it’s playing out now. The Justice Department, having amassed a mountain of granular evidence, is taking unprecedented steps to protect our national security.
The third quote comes from Forrest Gump. You may remember him, from the movie of the same name. Riding the school bus with his girlfriend Jenny, he said: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
That right there is the essence of Trump.
I’m using the word stupid in the broadest sense, to encompass his hubris, narcissism, and lawlessness. His whole life has been that toxic trifecta.
He stands accused of federal crimes – 38 counts of violating the Espionage Act, obstructing justice, crafting a coverup conspiracy – because it could not have been otherwise. It was totally in character that he stole national defense secrets and stashed them in every available hidey hole. The indictment, unsealed today – and based on contemporaneous notes, recordings, texts and testimony – lays it all out:
Trump stole classified material detailing “defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack,” thereby putting “at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military” and our human intelligence sources.
According to the indictment, Trump didn’t even bother to secure what he’d stolen; his locales included “a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.” (A bathroom. Next to the toilet. There are photos.) By the way, the referenced storage room was accessible via a doorway “from the Mar-a-Lago pool patio.”
Any normal ex-president, even after absconding with classified documents belonging to the U.S. government, would’ve simply given them back when requested to do so. That would’ve been the end of the story. But this sick puppy, having swiped over 300 classified docs (“including information classified at the highest levels,” according to the DOJ), repeatedly refused to play ball. Like any common criminal, his first instinct was to cover up the crime scene. At one point, according to the indictment, he said to one of his lawyers, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told (the feds) we don’t have anything here?”
His second instinct, because he’s stupider than the common criminal, was to brag about the baubles he’d hoarded. The indictment describes a 2021 meeting at his Jersey golf club where he regaled some people (none of whom had security clearances) with details about a classified document. The meeting was recorded. Trump said: “(This) is, like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.” And he knew the doc was classified: “As president, I could have declassified. But now I can’t.”
All told, he has fashioned his own noose, and here’s hoping he’ll swing for it.
What’s happening now has been a long time coming, given the havoc he has long wrought on our national security. In a tweet when he was president-elect, he compared our the U.S. intelligence community to Nazis. In a 2017 Oval Office meeting with the Russian foreign minister, he reportedly shared highly classified information and thus jeopardized a crucial intelligence source in the Islamic world. In the 2018 Helsinki summit, when asked whether he believed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Vladimir Putin assisted his ’16 campaign, he stood (literally and rhetorically) with Putin. Those offenses, and so many more, warranted the kind of federal response we’re finally getting now.
American agents around the world risk their lives every day to gather intel that’s crucial to our national security, and this historic indictment will hopefully reassure them that they are valued. Democracies around the world look to the United States for leadership, and this historic indictment will hopefully reassure our allies that we’re still committed to the rule of law and the defense of our enduring values.
In the words of David French, a former Army lawyer who helped investigate classified info breaches, “not charging Trump would be the greater scandal. It would place presidents outside the rule of federal law and declare to the American public that its presidents enjoy something akin to a royal privilege. But this is a republic, not a monarchy, and it is right to make (him) answer for the crimes he is accused of.”
Will most Republicans cast their lot with an accused espionage criminal during the ’24 primary? Trump is banking on that, most likely with good reason. And in the long months ahead – as his ever-rotating roster of lawyers try to get traction; as even more likely indictments, in D.C. and Georgia, crowd the docket – he will test this nation’s character as never before. The challenge for the electorate will be fundamental:
Are we the best people we can possibly be, or the very worst? If character is indeed destiny, what is ours?