Former President Donald Trump might find himself in legal jeopardy, as fresh evidence suggests his knowledge of correct procedures for declassifying documents, according to his former White House lawyer, Ty Cobb. The special counsel investigating Trump is due to receive 16 records demonstrating this awareness.
Cobb, in a conversation with CNN's Erin Burnett, discussed potential charges under the Espionage Act, citing the abundance of proof indicating Trump's understanding of espionage. He said, "There is so much evidence of guilty knowledge on the espionage piece that all they really have to do is show that Trump moved these documents at various times when DOJ was either demanding them or actually present..." Cobb further contended, "Yes, I do think he will go to jail on it."
Previously, as reported by OK!, Trump's Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, was searched as the former president had reportedly kept classified documents after his term in office ended. Further developments indicate that the Justice Department has unearthed more signs of Trump's obstruction of justice.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is preparing to provide special counsel Jack Smith with 16 records substantiating that Trump and his closest advisers were cognizant of the accurate declassification procedures during his presidency, as revealed by multiple sources to CNN.
NARA's acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote to Trump on May 16, highlighting that the records in question were communications involving presidential advisers, "some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”
Contrarily, over recent months, Trump has repeatedly asserted he had the power to declassify documents without following due process. He argued to Sean Hannity, “There doesn’t have to be a process [to declassify], as I understand it…if you’re the president of the United States you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it…”
Similarly, at CNN's town hall on May 10, he told Kaitlan Collins, “I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act... I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified.”