- Former President will be arraigned on Tuesday on 37 charges related to his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley says former President Trump could die in prison if convicted on just one count after being indicted by the Justice Department last week on dozens of charges related to his handling of classified documents.
“The problem is, he’s got to run the table — he’s 76 years old,” Turley, a former opinion contributor for The Hill, said of Trump during an appearance on Fox News. “All the government has to do is stick the landing on one count, and he could have a terminal sentence. You’re talking about crimes that have a 10- or 20-year period as a maximum.”
Turley said the evidence laid out against Trump in the indictment revealed last week is “quite strong.”
“Now, we have not heard their other side. Generally, the indictments are a lot stronger on the day they are issued than on the next day, so they may be able to knock down some of these issues,” Turley said. “But some of the evidence is coming from his former counsel, and these are very damaging statements made against him. It may be hard to move those.”
The indictment alleges Trump violated the Espionage Act, with federal prosecutors saying the president put “the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods,” at risk.
Meanwhile, Trump landed in Miami on Monday ahead of his arraignment on 37 charges over his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
The former president flew from Newark Liberty International Airport to Miami International Airport on Monday afternoon, to spend the night at his Mar-a-Lago estate – the Florida home where he is accused of hoarding troves of classified papers, including national defence information.
Mr Trump will then appear for his arraignment in a federal courtroom in downtown Miami on Tuesday afternoon, before flying straight back to New Jersey where he has announced plans to deliver remarks that night at his golf club.
While Mr Trump gave defiant speeches at two Republican state conventions on Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina, his former attorney general Bill Barr has said that – after reviewing the indictment – he believes Mr Trump is “toast”.
“If even half of it is true, then he’s toast,” he said of the 49-page indictment.
Mr Trump responded by lashing out at Mr Barr both on Truth Social and during a sprawling interview on Roger Stone’s radio show where he branded the former top prosecutor a “gutless pig.”
Trump has encouraged his supporters to join a planned protest at the Miami courthouse on Tuesday, where he will face the charges and surrender to the authorities.“We need strength in our country now,” Mr Trump said on Sunday, speaking to longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone in an interview on WABC Radio.
“And they have to go out and they have to protest peacefully. They have to go out.”“Look, our country has to protest. We have plenty to protest. We’ve lost everything,” he went on.