New memo details legal case to indict Trump over Mar-a-Lago documents

A model prosecution memorandum published Thursday by a team of U.S. legal experts lays out potential charges against Donald Trump related to the former Republican president and 2024 presidential candidate’s handling of classified government documents since he left office last year.

The memo, which is based on publicly available information, was authored by a group of former federal prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other legal experts and published at Just Security.

Before issuing an indictment, prosecutors compile a pros memo listing admissible evidence, possible charges, and legal issues pertaining to the case. According to the experts, that document subsequently “provides a basis for prosecutors and their supervisors to assess whether the case meets the standard set forth in the Federal Principles of Prosecution, which permit prosecution only when there is sufficient evidence to obtain and sustain a prosecution.”

Besides, Ryan Goodman, a former Pentagon special counsel, current New York University law professor, and co-author of the new memo, said the team’s “exhaustive analysis of all prior prosecutions brought under the same criminal statute that most directly applies to Trump shows how difficult it will be for the Justice Department to decline to issue an indictment here.”

“Trump’s conduct is indeed much worse than most of those prior cases and involves a host of aggravating factors that one seldom sees in cases brought under the Espionage Act’s retention clause,” Goodman added.

Moreover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is currently probing possible Espionage Act violations committed by Trump, who was found in possession of classified documents allegedly including materials related to a foreign country’s nuclear weapons.

The memo analyzes six federal crimes:

• Retention of national defense information (18 USC § 793(e));
• Concealing government records (18 USC § 2071);
• Conversion of government property (18 USC § 641);
• Obstruction of justice (18 USC § 1519);
• Criminal contempt (18 USC § 402); and
• False statements to federal investigators (18 USC § 1001)

“Based on the publicly available information to date, a powerful case exists for charging Trump under several of these federal criminal statutes,” the memo argues.

“Based on the publicly available information to date, a powerful case exists for charging Trump under several of these federal criminal statutes,” the memo argues.

Besides, memo co-author and Brookings Institution senior fellow Norman L. Eisen asserted that “if anyone else had handled even a single highly classified document in this way, they would be subject to investigation and likely prosecution.”