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Trump classified documents case differs from Biden, Clinton, Pence issues — here’s how

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Trump classified documents case differs from Biden, Clinton, Pence issues — here’s how

WASHINGTON — As former President Donald Trump faces 37 federal counts for hoarding hundreds of classified documents after he left the White House, many of his supporters insist Trump is being unjustly targeted.

They point out, correctly, that Trump is not the only public figure in recent years who had classified material outside of secure settings.

But what they don’t say is that Trump is the only former official who refused to return all the classified documents as soon as he was asked about them. Nor do they say that Trump is the only official who tried to prevent investigators from discovering additional classified records he had in his possession, as alleged in the indictment against him.

Trump’s alleged intent, namely to keep the documents, and his lack of transparency about what he had is what elevates his case from an unfortunate filing accident to a crime, experts say.

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Clinton, Biden and Pence

U.S. President Joe Biden answers a question during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak in the East Room at the White House on June 8, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Hillary Clinton, while she was secretary of State, kept an email server with classified information in some of the emails on a personal computer server at her home. After a lengthy investigation that dominated the 2016 presidential campaign, the FBI recommended to the Justice Department that it not press charges while saying Clinton and her colleagues “were extremely careless.”

Lawyers for President Joe Biden discovered 10 classified documents in November of last year at an office he used in downtown Washington. The attorneys immediately called the National Archives, which took possession of the documents the next day. A search of Biden’s home in Wilmington produced another six documents, which were also turned over immediately. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to look into how the documents got there, and the investigation is ongoing.

But it’s not just Democrats. Mike Pence, who was Trump’s vice president, searched his own home after the Biden documents were found and he discovered a dozen classified documents, which he immediately turned over to the National Archives. A voluntary FBI search of Pence’s home turned up another document with classification markings, for a total of 13. On June 1, the Justice Department informed Pence that it was closing his case, and no charges would be filed.

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So why is Trump being charged, while Pence and Clinton were not? Experts say the crucial difference is intent, namely what Trump allegedly did after he learned the National Archives wanted the classified documents he had back.

“I think if Donald Trump and his team had responded to the subpoena and turned over everything they had, we wouldn’t be here today,” said Jon Sale, a Miami lawyer who turned down an offer to join Trump’s legal team. “That’s why we’re here. That’s why this case was indicted.”

The boxes, the lawyer and the ex-president

The DOJ’s indictment includes photos of classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence.

Source: DOJ

By the spring of 2022, a year’s worth of effort by the National Archives to get Trump to turn over presidential records that did not belong to him had resulted in 15 boxes, with nearly 200 classified documents among them, being sent back to D.C.

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But photos from Mar-a-Lago show that Trump had brought more than 80 boxes of presidential records with him to Florida when he left the White House, meaning there were scores of records he still had not returned, which the Archives clearly knew about, including classified documents. Out of options, the Archives referred the missing classified documents to the Justice Department, which obtained a grand jury subpoena on May 11 for all remaining classified material held by Trump.

Right before lawyers arrived at Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the documents named in the subpoena, prosecutors have security footage of Trump’s valet and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, moving scores of boxes between Trump’s personal residence and a storage room. The lawyers were only allowed to search the storage room.

Sale, who leads the white collar defense practice at Nelson Mullins, said Trump could have made an argument to the Archives that he deserved to keep the documents he took.

“It they felt there was a legal reason not to turn something over, they could have provided privilege law, saying, ‘We think some of this is privileged and we’re not turning it over.’ Those are the options,” Sale said on MSNBC Tuesday. “There is not an option to say, ‘Let’s tell them we don’t have it.’”

Yet that is precisely what Trump allegedly asked his lawyer to do, according to notes taken the day of the search.

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Boiling it down

Former US President Bill Clinton, right, and Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State, during an interview for an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” at the 92nd Street Y in New York, US, on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Trump’s apparent intent to keep the records, while allegedly deceiving authorities about them and showing them to visitors, is what sets his case apart from Clinton, Pence and Biden.

“When you talk about President Biden and former Vice President Pence, what you’re talking about is complete transparency,” David Kelley, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said on PBS NewsHour this week.

“But when you go ahead and you’re told that you have got documents you’re not supposed to have, and then you conceal that, and then you lie about it, that’s a criminal problem, because that shows knowledge and intent to violate the law.”

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Instead of turning over everything, prosecutors allege that Trump spent more than a year deliberately hiding classified material from everyone and conspiring with Nauta to keep it hidden.

To this day, Trump insists the presidential records sought by the archives belong to him, and he does not deny that he refused to return them.

Instead, he claimed on Tuesday night, hours after he pleaded not guilty in the case, that the boxes containing classified documents actually contained “memorabilia,” and that he “hadn’t had a chance to go through all the boxes. It’s a long tedious job, it takes a long time.”

When FBI agents went through the boxes in August 2022, they found more than 100 classified documents that Trump and his lawyers had not returned. By the time FBI agents were finished searching Mar-a-Lago, the total number of classified documents Trump had taken from the White House, including those he previously returned, topped 300.

This amount of records, compared to the 13 records and 16 documents from Pence and Biden, respectively, is another major factor that set Trump’s situation apart.

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It also echoes one of the factors that then-FBI Director James Comey cited in 2016, when he explained what elements elevate a classified documents discovery to the level of a crime.

“All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice,” Comey said then.

“We do not see those things here,” he added, regarding the Clinton case.

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As California Burns, ‘Octavia Tried to Tell Us’ Has New Meaning

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As California Burns, ‘Octavia Tried to Tell Us’ Has New Meaning

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In the wake of the devastating fires in Los Angeles, many people are referencing the work of the science fiction writer Octavia Butler. Butler, who grew up in Pasadena, was the daughter of a housekeeper and a father who was a shoeshiner. She went on to become the first science fiction writer to win a MacArthur “genius” award. Her book “Parable of the Sower,” published in 1993, paints a picture of a California ravished by the effects of climate change, income inequality, political divisiveness and centers on a young woman struggling to find faith and the community to build a new future.

The phrase “Octavia tried to tell us,” which began to gain momentum in 2020 during the pandemic, has once again resurfaced, in part because Butler studied science and history so deeply. The accuracy with which she read the shifts in America can, at times, seem eerily prophetic. One entry in “Parable of the Sower,” which is structured as a journal, dated on “February 1, 2025” begins, “We had a fire today.” It goes on to describe how the fear of fires plague Robledo, a fictional town that feels much like Altadena, a haven for the Black middle class for more than 50 years, where Butler lived in the late ’90s.

In 2000, Butler wrote a piece for Essence magazine titled, “A Few Rules for Predicting the Future.” She wrote: “Of course, writing novels about the future doesn’t give me any special ability to foretell the future. But it does encourage me to use our past and present behaviors as guides to the kind of world we seem to be creating. The past, for example, is filled with repeating cycles of strength and weakness, wisdom and stupidity, empire and ashes.”

In one of the last interviews before she died in 2006, Butler spoke to Democracy Now!, an independent news organization, about how she’d been worried about how climate could devastate California . “I wrote the two ‘Parable’ books back in the ’90s,” she said, referring to “Parable of the Sower” and her 1998 follow-up, “Parable of the Talents.” These books, she explained, were about what happens when “we don’t trouble to correct some of the problems we are brewing for ourselves right now. Global warming is one of those problems. And I was aware of it back in the ’80s.” She continued: “A lot of people were seeing it as politics, as something very iffy, as something they could ignore because nothing was going to come of it tomorrow.

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Lynell George, a writer who lives in Los Angeles and the author of a book on Butler and her creative journey, has spent many years studying Butler’s archives at the Huntington Library in Pasadena. In 2022, we asked George to write about how Butler predicted the world we live in. As so many people are turning to her work during this time of tremendous loss, we wanted to share that story with our readers again.

In her piece, “The Visions of Octavia Butler,” George wrote: “In ‘Parable of the Sower,’ Earth is tipping toward climate disaster: A catastrophic drought has led to social upheaval and violent class wars. Butler, a fervent environmentalist, researched the novel by clipping articles, taking notes and monitoring rain and growth in her Southern California neighborhood. She couldn’t help but wonder, she later wrote, what ‘environmental and economic stupidities’ might lead to. She often called herself a pessimist, but threaded into the bleak landscape of her ‘Parable’ novels are strands of glimmering hope — ribbons of blue at the edges of the fictional fiery skies.”

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Donald Trump’s inauguration to be moved indoors because of ‘bitterly cold’ weather

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Donald Trump’s inauguration to be moved indoors because of ‘bitterly cold’ weather

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Parts of Donald Trump’s inauguration will be moved inside the US Capitol because of freezing weather that is forecast for Washington on Monday.

It will be the first time since 1985 — when a severe cold snap hit Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration — that a swearing-in ceremony has been moved indoors.

The president-elect announced the revised plans in a Truth Social post on Friday, saying he had ordered the inauguration address, as well as prayers and speeches, to be delivered inside the Capitol Rotunda as Reagan had done four decades ago.

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“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way,” Trump wrote.

“It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th.”

The National Weather Service said an “enhanced winter storm threat” was in place for Sunday afternoon and evening, and predicted about 2-4 inches of snow would fall, with a “reasonable worst case” scenario of 4-8 inches.

“Bitterly cold wind chills” were expected Monday to Wednesday, the NWS said on Friday, as it forecast temperatures to be “well below freezing” during this period.

The agency is forecasting a high of about -5C at 11am local time on Monday, when the swearing-in ceremony is due to begin, with a wind-chill of -13C that it warned could result in hypothermia or frostbite without appropriate attire.

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Trump said the Capital One Arena — with a capacity of 20,000 — will be opened on Monday for a live viewing of the ceremony, and that he would visit the venue, located about 2km from the Capitol, following his swearing-in.

Other events, including a victory rally at the arena are scheduled for Sunday and inaugural balls set for Monday night, will continue as scheduled, the president-elect said.

Trump encouraged supporters who choose to come to “dress warmly!”

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CNN liable for defamation over story on Afghanistan 'black market' rescues

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CNN liable for defamation over story on Afghanistan 'black market' rescues

Security contractor Zachary Young alleges CNN defamed him in a November 2021 report, shown above, about Afghans’ fears of exorbitant charges from people offering to get them out of the country after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. CNN says it will defend the report in a trial set to start in a Florida court Monday.

CNN via Internet Archive/Screenshot by NPR


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CNN via Internet Archive/Screenshot by NPR

A Florida jury has found that CNN defamed a security consultant in presenting a story that suggested he was charging “exorbitant prices” to evacuate people desperate to get out of Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021.

Jurors found the network should pay $5 million to U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young for lost finances and suffering, and said he was eligible for more in punitive damages. The proceedings turned immediately to expert testimony as both sides presented cases over what punitive damages would be appropriate.

Young sat impassively as the jury’s verdict was read aloud in court.

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The November 2021 story focused on concerns from Afghans that they faced extraordinary costs in a “black market” to secure safe passage for relatives and friends, especially those who had worked with U.S. agencies and organizations and therefore were fearful of the takeover by the Taliban.

Young was the only security contractor named in the piece, however, and a caption warned he offered “no guarantee of safety or success.”

He was not directly accused of operating in a black market in the television or written versions of the story, but the words did appear in the caption in the TV version of the story.

On the witness stand during the trial, CNN editors defended use of the term “black market,” saying it meant operating in unregulated circumstances, such as the chaos of Kabul at that time; Young’s lawyers noted that dictionaries consistently ascribe illegality to the term.

The jury found CNN liable for defamation per se, meaning it had harmed Young by the very words it chose, and for defamation by implication, that is, it had harmed his reputation by the implications that a reasonable reader or viewer might take from the story.

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Young’s lead attorney, Devin Freedman, had argued that CNN willfully damaged Young, costing him millions of dollars and causing irreparable personal harm, and that the network should be punished for it. Toward the very end of his closing arguments, Freedman told the jury they had the rare opportunity to hold the press accountable.

“Media executives around the country are sitting by the phones to see what you do,” Freedman told jurors. “CNN’s executives are waiting in their boardrooms in Georgia to see what you decide. Make the phones ring in Georgia. Send a message.”

After the initial verdict, Judge William S. Henry instructed jurors that they could only find punitive damages against CNN for its actions in the case at hand, not over any other story or issue.

Even so, over the course of the lawsuit, lawyers for Zachary Young acquired internal correspondence showing several editors within CNN held reservations about the solidity of the reporting behind the story.

For example, Fuzz Hogan, a senior director of standards for CNN, acknowledged in testimony under oath that he had approved a “three-quarters true” story. Another editor, Tom Lumley, had said in an internal message that the piece was “80 percent emotion.” On the stand, Lumley said that it still wasn’t his favorite story, but on the grounds of the craft of story-telling involved.

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During the trial, CNN’s lawyers had contended the story’s reporting holds up as fair and true under scrutiny. CNN correspondent Alexander Marquardt had presented viewers with a LinkedIn message from Young saying it would cost $75,000 to evacuate a vehicle with five or six passengers from Kabul to Pakistan. Young said he worked with corporate sponsors, including Bloomberg and Audible, rather than individuals.

On the stand, Young acknowledged that he took a 65% profit margin from the fees he charged, and took inquiries from individuals. He also curtly and coarsely brushed off people inquiring about help who could not afford his fees.

Other groups involving U.S. veterans and non-governmental organizations sought to get Afghans out without such profits, as a former major general testifying on Young’s behalf acknowledged. The retired major general, James V. Young Jr. (not related to Zach Young), said he charged donors for the cost.

CNN’s legal team, led by David Axelrod (the lawyer is not related to the Obama White House official and CNN analyst of the same name) had told jurors they should rely on their own “common sense.”

Axelrod had been able to press Young to concede that some of his claims to potential clients were not borne out by facts; Young had not in fact evacuated people from Afghanistan by air. Nor was he in constant contact with journalists, as claimed.

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In his closing argument, Freedman presented Young as a swashbuckling former CIA operative to explain his curtness in messages to desperate people trying to help people.

On the witness stand, however, Young emerged as emotionally vulnerable himself, weeping during testimony. He recounted that, after the story ran, he became despondent, depressed, alienated from intimacy with his wife, cut off from friends and family members. HIs attorney cited “deep and lasting wounds” from the piece.

The piece was presented initially on CNN’s The Lead With Jake Tapper, and a fuller written version subsequently posted on CNN’s website. A few months later, shortly after Young’s legal team threatened legal actions, a substitute anchor apologized to Young on the air for use of the term “black market” in the story, and said it did not apply to him.

Freedman, Young’s attorney, called the apology insufficient.

“This is what makes this case historic: punitive damages,” Freedman told jurors. “A media company has to face an American jury with the power to punish. That is not a frequent event. Do you believe that CNN should be punished? Do you believe they should send a message to other media companies to avoid this misconduct?”

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This story will be updated after the jury decides on what, if any, punitive damages to award Young.

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