Donald Trump has long found himself able to magically skirt the sort of legal trouble that comes his way, often leaving his litigious dust-up du jour with a new sheen about him, as though another layer of spray was added to Teflon Don’s coating.
But this time, as the case surrounding his storage of allegedly classified documents at Mar-a-Lago continues to unfold, Trump’s legal team is making some rather heavy admissions in court.
The Justice Department and lawyers for Donald Trump filed separate proposals Monday for conducting an outside review of documents seized at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home, with key disagreements over how the process should work and Trump’s team acknowledging that the criminal probe could lead to an indictment.
Both sides referenced a “draft plan” given to them by Judge Raymond J. Dearie, the newly appointed special master. Trump’s lawyers expressed concern that Dearie posed questions about the documents that the judge who appointed Dearie has left unasked, arguing that Trump might be left at a legal disadvantage if he answered them at this stage of the process.
Specifically, the legal team objected to what it said was Dearie’s request that it “disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government.”
That could mean that Trump’s team understands that an indictment is possible, and reading between the lines of this argument begets that admission.
But, as has been noted before, the longer the DOJ waits to press charges, the less likely they are to be the sort of lightning rod of litigious power that could possibly bear weight against a former President, and the government bringing a weak case against Trump will not likely sit well with the nation at large.
