Donald Trump Mocks Espionage Act After Being Criminally Charged for Violating It: ‘Ohhh Espionage’
Former President Donald Trump is on the campaign trail again this weekend for the first time since being slapped with
Ivy Griffith
Former President Donald Trump is on the campaign trail again this weekend for the first time since being slapped with a federal indictment including a whopping 37 felony charges.
31 of those 37 charges relate to the Espionage Act which governs the responsibility of care for sensitive and top secret information possessed by the US.
And in true Trump fashion, he didn’t come out meekly – he came out swinging.
Trump shook off his historic and stinging indictment to take to the road, speaking before crowds in North Carolina and Georgia over the weekend.
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And in perhaps the most brazen sign that he has no respect for America’s laws, he mocked one of the very bedrocks of American security that he was charged with protecting as Commander in Chief.
While standing before followers at the Georgia state Republican Convention on Saturday, Trump was likely giving his brand new lawyer team apoplexy as he taunted the Department of Justice.
The former POTUS mixed his campaign promises with a drive for donations, telling his fans, “I’ve put everything on the line and I will never yield. I will never be detained. I will never stop fighting for you.”
Trump also told the audience, “As president, all of my documents fell under what is known as the Presidential Records Act, which is not at all a criminal act. Everything, it’s all judged by the Presidential Records Act.”
He continued, “In this whole fake indictment, they don’t even once mention the Presidential Records Act, which is really the ruling act, which this case falls under 100%. Because they want to use something called the Espionage Act.”
‘Ohhh Espionage!’ Trump Mocks Espionage Act Charges in Speech to Georgia GOP: ‘Doesn’t That Sound Terrible?’ https://t.co/hHsmCttDvy
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) June 10, 2023
Trump then sneered, “Doesn’t that sound terrible? Ohhh, espionage! We got a box. I got a box. The espionage.”
Trump then adds, “The Espionage Act of 1917. I think it was put in there about World War One. Boxes. And by the way, Biden’s got 850 boxes. He’s got boxes in Chinatown, D.C. He’s got boxes all over the place. He doesn’t know what the hell to do with them, and he’s fighting them on the boxes. He doesn’t want to give the boxes. And then they say Trump is obstruction and he’s obstructing.”
The former President continued, “No, it’s a sad, sad day for the country.”
Since the indictment dropped – but before it was unsealed on Friday – two of Trump’s lawyers resigned, suggesting that they didn’t feel up to the monumental task of defending the imperiled former President against his own words.
After all, Trump isn’t just facing other people’s speculation and evidence.
Text messages, security footage, and even tape recordings of the former President have painted him into a potentially guilty corner. However, until and unless he is convicted, he is presumed innocent in the eyes of the law.
Trump will be arraigned in Florida on Tuesday on June 13.
That’s just one day before his 77th birthday.
At first, the former President and his cohorts seemed to be telling his followers to show up at the court house and cause trouble.
On Twitter, several high-ranking Republican representatives even made allusions to military-like plans for the arraignment, urging Trump followers to be prepared.
Since then, they seem to have backed off – suggesting that they have been scolded either by Republican powers that be trying to avoid the optics of going down with the rapidly colliding Trump train.
Or by the Department of Justice or FBI themselves.
Either way, it’s unclear what the nation can expect on Tuesday except that Trump is expected to surrender to authorities and have his first hearing.
Trump is the first President – current or former – to be federally charged with crimes.