According to a bevy of legal experts who spoke with Salon, the superseding Department of Justice indictment Donald Trump was slammed with this past week, which contained three new charges related to stolen government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, makes the federal case against him infinitely stronger and increases the chances he’ll end up in jail if doesn’t make a deal with special counsel Jack Smith’s office.
With the president currently facing 40 charges that will be heard in a Florida courtroom by Judge Aileen Cannon next year — and reports that more could be coming in Washington D.C. over the Jan. 6 insurrection — one legal scholar suggested Trump may die in jail given his advanced age.
Speaking with Salon’s Areeba Shah, James Sample.of Hofstra University’s School of Law, claimed reports that the former president had close aides — now charged as co-conspirators — attempt to destroy surveillance video at Mar-a-Lago will make the prosecution of the former president that much easier.
As he explained, “Attempting to delete the surveillance footage has not only obstruction of justice ramifications but will also be useful to prosecutors in demonstrating consciousness of guilt,” before adding, “It is the consciousness of guilt that is particularly compelling. Innocent parties don’t take steps to delete evidence of innocence.”
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Paul Collins, who teaches legal studies and political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, stated he found the evidence presented “shocking.”
“If the government can prove this aspect of the case, it will be exceptionally difficult for the former president to mount a defense,” Collins explained with former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani chiming in to claim that DOJ having the top secret document described by Trump in an incriminating recording wraps up the case against the former president for a jury.
“It also now ties the document to the recording, and there is really no better evidence to have than the defendant on tape talking about the alleged crime,” Rahmani explained. “Witnesses can lie. Recordings don’t.”
Collins stated it would be in Trump’s best interest to seek a plea deal.
“These are serious charges and if the former president is found guilty and does not strike some kind of a sentencing deal he may die in prison given his age,” he warned.