Speaking on this morning's "Inside Politics" on CNN, legal analyst Carrie Cordero was asked about the potential criminal penalties the Malignant Loser faces in the classified records scandal. Her partial response:
"I think there's a substantial likelihood that him and people around him have criminal exposure, both on the obstruction case, and on the mishandling of classified information. That does not mean that we are going to see the former president go to jail. There is a wide range of potential charges, pleas on misdemeanors that could end up, if it turns out that the information simply sat in the boxes, was never seen by outside people, was never seen by media, foreign governments, other people not having access to it, those facts we still don't know. And on the obstruction piece, what really matters is, who was involved in potentially misleading or making false statements to the Justice Department and we don't know on the outside at this stage whether that was the former president, or whether that was his advisors or legal counsel."
As far as the false statements are concerned, there's an array of the Malignant Loser's inner circle who likely lied to NARA and the Justice Department, up to an including himself. We'll see if any crack under the threat of imprisonment and roll over on Trump as having given the orders to withhold documents.
While both crimes can bring lengthy prison terms, obstruction of justice -- the Malignant Loser's repeated concealment and withholding of classified records despite requests from NARA, and a subpoena -- an obstruction conviction could carry a 20 year prison sentence. As Cordero notes, there are a variety of legal dodges, pleas and so forth that could be used by the Malignant Loser in the interim to minimize consequences. Let's hope that this time, his tricks won't help him.
(photo: Hope springs eternal)
