The mounting legal troubles
surrounding Donald Trump continue to multiply, with two indictments delivered
to the former president in 2023 alone.
The first — and potentially most
damaging indictment was issued in June by a federal Grand Jury in Florida in response
to Trump’s failure to comply with a federal subpoena following a request to
hand over highly sensitive classified documents that Trump removed from the
White House following the end of his term in 2021.
The documents were then transported
to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club, and were stored haphazardly throughout the
property. With a trial date set for May 2024, there is also a question of
whether Trump obstructed government efforts to initially recover the classified
documents, which resulted in a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge — among
others.
Trump’s second indictment was issued
by a Manhattan grand jury in relation to falsifying business records linked to
hush money payments made to actress Stephanie Clifford in an attempt to bury
damaging allegations in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
The claims have resulted in New York state criminal charges with a trial date
set for March 2024.
In May of 2023, a New York state
jury found Trump liable in a civil case for battery and defamation against
columnist E. Jean Carroll, with a second, amended defamation trial set to begin
in January 2024.
Trump is also facing a New York
state civil lawsuit scheduled to begin this October concerning fraud
allegations over claims Trump inflated his net worth by billions of dollars in
an attempt to deceive banks and lenders.
If the former president’s legal team
was not already preoccupied, charges are expected to be brought by Special
Council Jack Smith momentarily regarding Trump’s efforts to undermine the
results of the 2020 election and his potential involvement in the lead up to
the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Lastly, Trump is expected to be
charged with attempting to overturn his 2020 loss in the state of Georgia.
During a January 2021 recorded — and much-publicised phone call, Trump urged
Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger to ‘find’ additional ballots
that would push Trump over the lead following his defeat to President Biden.
Fani Wallis, the District Attorney
in Georgia who initially launched the investigation against Trump has
previously implied charges against the former president could be filed as early
as August 2023.
Considering the former POTUS
continues to dominate primary polling, all signals point to the fact that Trump
will once again be nominated as the Republican party presidential nominee in
2024. Trump could become the first presidential candidate forced to divvy his
time shuttling between numerous court appearances and cross-country campaign
rallies.
Such a time in US history however is
not without precedence.
While running for re-election in
1972, President Nixon’s campaign aides hired James W. McCord, junior, a former
CIA officer agent, along with four other men to run a covert operation to
undermine Nixon’s democratic opposition.
In June 1972, the hired burglars
conducted a break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters
located inside the Watergate office complex in an attempt to plant
eavesdropping devices and steal documents to expose political dirt on Nixon’s
opponents.
Seeing as Nixon was able to keep his
name out of the scandal throughout the remainder of the campaign season, the
incumbent won re-election by a landslide in November 1972. However, as a result
of a disorderly cover-up, along with a money trail linking Nixon’s campaign
aids to the Watergate burglars, reporters were able to methodically link the
crimes back to Nixon’s team, while also uncovering Nixon’s knowledge and
approval of the illicit schemes.
Nixon — like Trump, overlooked one
critical point. Recordings.
In 1971, Nixon had secretly
installed recording devices inside the Oval Office to tape private
conversations. Although Nixon had claimed the devices were useful for
administrative and historical purposes, his then chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman
claimed the tapes served as a fail-safe copy of private discussions in the
event the president’s conversations were intentionally misconstrued.
Although Nixon was not involved in
the planning of the DNC break-in, once the news broke, he approved a plan to
use the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into the crimes. The plan, a
blatant abuse of Nixon’s executive powers, was captured on the recording
devices inside the Oval Office, and became known as the ‘smoking gun’ of the
Watergate scandal.
Following the establishment of a
Senate Watergate Committee, cross testimony with key witnesses revealed the
existence of the tape recordings resulting in subpoena’s being issued to Nixon
to hand over the tapes, which he initially refused to comply with. Nixon
claimed the tapes were his ‘personal property’, attempting to exercise
executive privilege. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court issued a ruling,
ordering Nixon to release the tapes that his misconduct had finally been made
public.
Following the FBI search of
Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, Trump repeatedly claimed the items taken from his
home were ‘his, not the government’s’ — which included hundreds of classified
documents, many marked ‘top secret’.
While Trump’s wrongdoings far
outweigh the magnitude of Nixon’s scandals, the biggest divergence between the
two remain the response from their political parties in reaction to their
wrongdoings.
Acknowledging Nixon’s political
career was over, top congressional Republicans approached the president,
informing him he no longer had their support in Congress, and that he should
step down from power — or face impeachment. On Aug. 9, 1974, President Richard
M. Nixon became the first — and only, US president to resign from office.
Following the public release of the
tapes, Nixon’s approval rating plummeted to 20%. Trump however, continues to
gain political traction in public polling despite the mounting evidence against
him. One major difference between 1974 and today is the popularity of
right-wing media.
In the early 70s, the public had
access to only four national television networks, yet in today’s 24-hour news
cycle, viewers have endless options of hard-right fringe media which often
present ‘alternative’ facts that are tailored to mimic the disgruntled views of
the extreme edges of the GOP.
Another significant contrast
involves Nixon’s first Vice President, Spiro Agnew who was indicted in 1973 in
the state of Maryland on suspicions of extortion and bribery charges. As part
of a plea deal with the Justice Department, Agnew agreed to resign from office
in order to avoid jailtime.
Considering Trump faces a variety of
federal and state charges, offering a comparable plea in which the former
president agrees not to run for office in exchange for no imprisonment could be
unrealistic, as his legal issues are far more complex and cross multiple state
lines.
There exists an unsettling variable
to Trump’s legal saga that remains unparalleled in US history. Political
polarisation in America is intensifying regarding one of the country’s founding
principle’s — that no person is above the law. There is a growing dispute
between those who believe in the rule of law, and those who do not.
Such a divergence begs the question,
what happens in the public square if Trump, a man who remains wildly popular
among a base that was willing to desecrate the US. Capitol in response to his
election fraud claims, is charged and sentenced to prison? Would the events of
Jan. 6 seem trivial in comparison to the reaction of Trump being convicted of a
crime, with the potential of facing years in jail?
While there are potential risks in
holding Trump legally accountable for his actions, both in terms of national
security and worsening a bitterly divided nation, refusing to hold any American
accountable for his or her actions would undermine the democratic principles
the nation was founded upon.
BY: Gina Bou Serhal - Researcher with the Strategic Studies Program at Trends Research & Advisory in Dubai
#SOURCE: https://2h.ae/eFYr
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