Could Trump know important state secrets that he's using as leverage to not get imprisoned?

[ansible]

The lack of any push to imprison him even after something as bad as 1/6 makes me wonder this. Presidents are supposed to be privileged to certain important state secrets, could he be using that as leverage?

[soothsayer]

1. Doubt it.

This is the kind of investigation you’d like to be really careful about, cuz it’s bad form to imprison your predecessor. Looks bad.

Insurrections look bad too, but bad guys don’t care. We’re the good guys. We care.

[Blue Owl]

2. t***p can't keep his big fat rectum mouth shut

It’s constantly leaking explosive diarrhea

[Maru Kitteh]

3. This isn't the movies.

It takes a little longer than 117 minutes to deliver justice responsibly.

[PortTack]

5. ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

[Hekate]

6. What you said, Maru

[ZZenith]

8. Perfectly stated.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. There is no "lack" of anything, justice takes time. Plus, he is literally too dumb to know what

is valuable state secrets and what are not.

[Dave says]

14. Besides, Putin already has everything he had to give

Most likely.

[keithbvadu2]

7. IIRC, Trump cancelled Obama's security clearance.

IIRC, Trump cancelled Obama's security clearance.

But he overrode the intelligence community to give a security clearance to Jared.

Jared, who considered a sc to be a license to sell our country's secrets.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Nothing would surprise me at this point, nothing.

Wouldn't put it past him to negotiate a get out of jail free card somehow.
With any and all ammunition at his disposal.

[RockRaven]

10. First, the current administration won't negotiate with a traitor under those terms.

Secondly, the former guy was infamously disinterested in details, doing the job properly, etc. Remember the single page briefings, the bullet points, the pictures, the references to himself needed just to get him to sit through a briefing? Also remember that people preparing briefings held back things, using his preferences as an excuse. He knows a fuck-ton less than Obama, Bush, or Clinton did upon their leaving the office. Not nothing, but not so much.

Third, he's such a fucking liar/blowhard/bullshitter that no foreign intelligence service would make a decision or take an action based on something he says, even if he swears it's a true supersecret. What he's offering is trash, even if it happens to be real, because of who he is.



If somebody is going to try this maneuver, and thinks they can blackmail the DOJ... Well, I think Jared is much more likely to be the one. He had access to just about everything, he's corrupt as fuck, he's astonishingly arrogant and entitled -- so far all like Dolt45 -- but he's not the doddering bloviator his father-in-law is so he might plausibly have a customer lined up for his info. But I don't think the DOJ would blink with Jared either.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Saved Me Some Time!

My reply was going to cover the very same points.
Now I only have to say "ditto"!

[dflprincess]

11. Ones he hasn't already given to Putin?

[Takket]

12. i doubt it

we're talking about a guy who couldn't be bothered with the daily briefings and chose to spend him time instead watching faux noise and reading the positive newspaper clippings his staff somehow found and put in a folder for him. i think most of the civilian hierarchy in the white house kept away anything of value from him because they knew it went straight to putin.

[tinrobot]

13. He lies to everyone, so are his "state secrets" also lies?

[Generic Brad]

20. His state secrets are of crimes he and his cohorts committed

Not to mention dirt he dug up illegally on his political enemies.

[UTUSN]

15. K&R

[tanyev]

16. Doubt that he retains much, unless it's about him.

The wheels of justice turn slowly.

[Lettuce Be]

17. Seems that'd just be another treason charge, or something - I'm gonna say that's a no

[joetheman]

18. It's not Trump so much as his ass-kissers in Fed agencies. nt

[Goodheart]

19. I don't think that ploy's available to him unless he's willing to defend himself against treason.

[LiberalFighter]

21. The wheels of justice rotate slowly.

He doesn't have anything in his brain that can comprehend state secrets.

[Vinca]

22. I'd think the opposite would be true. If he ever threatened to blab state secrets in return for a

prosecutorial favor he'd be looking at solitary in a not-so-gilded cage.

[Caliman73]

23. How do you know there is NO push to imprison him?

Not sure where you are getting that. You do know that there is a process by which law enforcement needs to determine if there was a crime committed and then try the situation, Yes? Also, if there was a push to put Trump in prison, do you think that Biden Administration officials would by saying it out loud? "Our goal is to put Trump in prison" Like that? Biden said, and has repeated that he is going to let the DOJ do whatever work needs to be done regarding the Insurrection and the various other alleged crimes that Trump committed.

Most of us at DU and likely many if not most Democrats think and strongly believe that Trump committed the crimes of which he is accused, but we are not the professionals who are investigating or preparing to try him. These things take time, sometimes a long time.

I work doing investigations into abuse of seniors and disabled people. I had a case that I investigated in 2016 that finally got dispositioned in 2019. Almost 3 years it took, and this wasn't some huge case with super important people.

Sure, Presidents in general and Trump, likely had information that is classified. I wouldn't put it past him to threaten, but if he did try to leverage state secrets to get out of jail, that would only add to his crimes and could cost him his life. He is likely not smart enough to even try something like that.

He has only been out of office for 4 months. Investigations are ongoing. The wheels of justice turn very slowly, even more so if you were the president and have a team of lawyers willing to pull out all the stops to delay and change the process.

[ansible]

24. You'd think a fucking INSURRECTION would grease those wheels a bit faster

[Caliman73]

25. Not really. Not realistically. Not in a legal system where guilt has to be proven.

There have been over 400 arrests of the people who actually physically took part. Those cases are winding their way through the legal system. It is a lot more difficult to prove guilt of the people who said things but did not physically participate. This has been part of the frustration for law enforcement for taking down Mafia and other organized crime networks. The guy at the top says, "Hey Sid, you and Ernie need to help our friend to see the light." Then the "friend" ends up dead some where. They find the body, realize the guy was strangled, and start piecing the crime together. Eventually they find the murder weapon which leads to Joey, who supplied the weapons to Sid and Ernie. Joey facing tons of time, gives up Ernie, who eventually gives up Sid, but that is where the trail goes cold. Prosecutors know that Sid and Ernie wouldn't necessarily act on their own but there is never an explicit order given to "Kill" the guy. That is why RICO statutes were enacted, because prosecutors knew that proving definitively through individual action, that the head guys would never explicitly tell people to commit crimes. With Trump, RICO statutes wouldn't even apply, so investigators have to prove that Trump's words and actions constitute a pattern of behavior, which any reasonable person would interpret as encouraging the people to attack the Capital and take up arms against the government. The fact that some of the insurrectionists said, on tape, and are using as an affirmative defense, that they were encouraged by Fox, who was airing Trump's words, as the proximal cause of them storming the Capital, may help but it is going to be a long process.

Just remember a few things. Any short cuts or any push to "grease the wheels" could be perceived as corruption and would be challenged. Prosecuting a president is a matter of law, but it is extremely difficult to disentangle politics from the process. Also, there is a whole major political party that is now engaged in attempting to minimize the events of 1/6 and that is creating complications.

I don't think that Trump will escape unscathed, but this is not going to be a short and easy process.

[Kingofalldems]

26. Nope. Not a good try.