Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutors differentiate former President Trump’s handling of classified documents from President Biden’s actions, emphasizing Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice.
The filing counters Trump’s motion to dismiss based on selective prosecution, highlighting unique aspects of Trump’s conduct, including efforts to obstruct justice and deceive authorities.
Assistant Special Counsel David Harbach wrote, “The defendants have not identified anyone who has engaged in a remotely similar suite of willful and deceitful criminal conduct and not been prosecuted. Nor could they. Indeed, the comparators on which they rely are readily distinguishable.”
“But as the Hur Report itself recognizes, ‘several material distinctions between Mr. Trump’s case and Mr. Biden’s are clear,’” he continued.
Harbach added, “Most notably, Trump, unlike Biden, is alleged to have engaged in extensive and repeated efforts to obstruct justice and thwart the return of documents bearing classification markings. And the evidence concerning the two men’s intent – whether they knowingly possessed and willfully retained such documents – is also starkly different, as reflected in the Hur Report’s conclusion that ‘the evidence falls short of establishing Mr. Biden’s willful retention of the classified Afghanistan documents beyond a reasonable doubt.’”
Trump’s intentional possession of sensitive documents and alleged deceptive actions, such as involving his attorney and valet in concealing documents, are detailed.
Biden’s case, as per the Hur report, concluded no criminal charges were warranted, citing age and memory issues and deeming attacks on his mental fitness as political.
Hur wrote that Biden “would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Harbach wrote, “There has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s.”
“He intentionally took possession of a vast trove of some of the nation’s most sensitive documents – documents so sensitive that they were presented to the President – and stored them in unsecured locations at his heavily trafficked social club,” continued the Assistant Special Counsel.
Harbach explained, “When the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) initially sought their return (before learning that they contained classified national defense information), Trump delayed, obfuscated, and dissembled. Faced with the possibility of legal action, he ostensibly agreed to comply with NARA’s requests but in fact engaged in additional deception, returning only a fraction of the documents in his possession while claiming that his production was complete.”
He concluded, “Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government.”
Harbach accused Trump of using Nauta “in a scheme to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his (Trump’s) continued possession of classified documents.”
