Amid reports that the Department of Justice is planning to drop an indictment on former President Donald Trump for his handling of classified documents, a new report has emerged that runs contrary to the narrative that the former president never followed the rules.
According to a report from CNN, a former official who served in the White House during the Trump and Obama administrations as an adviser on declassifying documents, provided specific instances of when Trump ensured everything was done by the book.
The former official, whose name was withheld by CNN, said Trump knew the process for properly declassifying documents, although he did not go so far as to say it was always followed.
The official, who was interviewed by the Justice Department in the Trump probe and the department’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, said the tone of each probe was very different.
When comparing the questioning about Biden to that about Trump, the former official said, “You wouldn’t expect it to match the intensity, and it didn’t.”
The former official recalled to CNN how Trump and his aides ensured certain documents, such as a 2018 memo pertaining to the discredited Russia probe against Trump, were properly declassified.
The former official said former National Security Council lawyer John Eisenberg met with Trump in the Oval Office, then summoned him.
Eisenberg then told the former official to “get your declassifying tools.”
The former official said the memo was then painstakingly reviewed and redacted as he and White House attorneys worked under the guidance of Eisenberg, who CNN said refused to comment on the story.
Trump has said that he automatically declassified large numbers of documents, while his lawyers have suggested that as the administration left Washington, multiple classified documents were scooped up and packed.
However, there’s no indication Trump followed the proper declassification process, and his attorneys have avoided saying so far in court whether Trump declassified the records he kept.
Attorney and legal scholar Alan Dershowitz said indicting Trump amounts to a form of election interference, according to One America News.
“I have absolutely no doubt we’re seeing special justice for Donald Trump, an attempt to get Trump, an attempt to take the vote away from the voters and put it in the hands of Justice Department officials, jurors, lawyers, and judges,” he said.
Dershowitz said Trump is all but indicted at this point.
“When you get the letter that you’re a target, it means you’re indicted. Basically, it means unless you can persuade prosecutors that they have missed something or something’s wrong or something new develops, you will be indicted,” he said.
As legal storm clouds gathered, Trump, who is seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for president, responded in characteristic fashion, saying that political motives are at the root of the legal attacks upon him.
“SHOCKING! ONE OF THE TOP PROSECUTORS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE WAS REPORTEDLY SO OBSESSED WITH ‘GETTING TRUMP’ THAT HE TRIED TO BRIBE & INTIMIDATE A LAWYER REPRESENTING SOMEONE BEING TARGETED & HARASSED TO FALSELY ACCUSE & FABRICATE A STORY ABOUT PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP & A CRIME THAT DOESN’T EXIST. THIS CRIMINAL & SALACIOUS ACT FROM WITHIN THE DOJ HAS BROUGHT SHAME & EMBARRASSMENT TO THIS ONCE GREAT & RESPECTED INSTITUTION. BECAUSE OF THIS, THERE IS NOW EXTREME TURMOIL INSIDE THE DOJ,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“A TOP OVERZEALOUS & DISHONEST DOJ PROSECUTOR OFFERED A WITNESS’ LAWYER AN IMPORTANT ‘JUDGESHIP’ IN THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IF HIS CLIENT ‘FLIPS’ ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, WHO HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG! THE HIGHLY RESPECTED LAWYER WAS INCENSED & DISGUSTED AT THIS CORRUPT & ILLEGAL OFFER. THE FAKE ‘CASE’ AGAINST ME MUST BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED, AND THE INSPECTOR GENERAL SHOULD LAUNCH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THIS & THE MANY OTHER ALL TOO OBVIOUS WRONGDOINGS & CRIMES TAKING PLACE AT THE DOJ & FBI!” he continued.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.