While former President Donald Trump was riding high Saturday morning after a successful trip to the GOP’s Lincoln dinner in Iowa, recent developments related to his legal issues indicate a continued risk to his 2024 candidacy.
Joseph Moreno, a legal analyst and former prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, told KCBS Radio this week that new information regarding Trump’s alleged attempts to delete surveillance photos “really eviscerates his argument that he didn’t do... he didn’t think he did anything wrong.”
These new details were revealed in a new superseding indictment filed Thursday in the classified records case against Trump, according to The Hill. Last month, Special Counsel Jack Smith announced an indictment that charged Trump with felony violations of national security laws as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice pertaining to records Trump kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office.
In addition to accusing Trump of attempting to delete surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago property, the superseding indictment included a new Espionage Act charge, bringing the total number of charges up to 40. It alleges that he acted with a new co-conspirator Carlos de Oliveira, the property manager of the hotel, along with co-defendant Walt Nauta.
“I think here’s what’s going to be very problematic for Donald Trump. He had an argument up to... he had an okay argument, not perfect, which was that he didn’t believe he did anything wrong because he thought as president he had the authority to declassify documents,” and that they were kept under Secret Service protection at Mar-a-Lago, said Moreno. However, he said there were some “legal problems” with that argument even before the new evidence was revealed in the superseding indictment.
With the new information, there are new questions.
“The problem now, is that the question can be asked, well, okay, if you didn’t think you did anything wrong and if you thought you had the legal right to hold on to these papers, why were you suggesting to people to delete surveillance photos?” Moreno said.
The classified documents case is just one of the legal issues the former president is dealing with as he campaigns to be the GOP presidential candidate. He was also indicted earlier this year in Manhattan for an alleged hush money scheme and a jury found him liable of sexual abuse and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case. Trump is also being investigated in Georgia for potentially interfering in the 2020 election.
There’s also the looming issue of the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot.
“That’s going to be a tougher one,” Moreno explained. “And I know... this is tough for a lot of the non-lawyers out there because I think people think of that case as the more spectacular one…that’s the one that led to Jan. 6 and actual violence.”
Moreno noted that most people think Trump should face consequences for the riot – and a recent poll did in fact show that most Americans believe the DOJ has a strong case against him.
“The problem with that is that even though many of us feel that Donald Trump should be morally culpable and politically culpable, I could see it being tough to find a legal theory to charge him with in that case,” Moreno explained. He said that, as of this week, the Mar-a-Lago case is the one most likely to result in actual charges against Trump – though he doesn’t expect the former president to spend time in jail.
Even with his significant legal problems, Trump remains the GOP favorite. NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll results released Friday show that Republicans still strongly support him.
“Donald Trump only needed 10 minutes to show why his growing pile of criminal charges is not yet loosening his grip on the Republican presidential race and why his opponents will find him so hard to beat,” said CNN of Trump’s trip to Iowa Friday.
In a Saturday morning Truth Social post, Trump said: “Just got back from Iowa. It was a great evening. Big Poll numbers, amazing people!”
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