There is enough evidence to charge Donald Trump, according to two reports analyzing two different criminal investigations.
Veteran prosecutors and top legal minds this week banded together to offer an assessment of two ongoing probes, one in Georgia and the other at Mar-a-Lago.
The attorneys found robust cases and significant legal risk for Trump, who is facing mounting trouble as he prepares to run for president.
Donald Trump is not the only one facing legal problems. The Georgia investigation of whether his election denial slipped into criminality after the 2020 election and the federal investigation of whether his retention, classified, and other documents at Mar-a-Lago crossed the criminal red line are the most threatening legal peril that he faces.
The two cases that are most likely to do it are the ones that have the potential to finally achieve the accountability that he has evaded in the past.
There are a number of state and federal crimes that Trump may have committed, ranging from solicitation to commit election fraud, to state RICO Act violations, to the Espionage Act.
The report concluded that Trump could be charged with multiple crimes in Georgia because of his post- election conduct.
According to a report from Just Security, the Justice Department could use more statutes if it failed to charge Trump for the handling of records.
There is a good chance that the DOJ will charge Trump. The DOJ pursued many felony cases that were less egregious than the facts in the Trump case. If Trump were not charged, it would be a huge deviation from how defendants are typically treated.
The seriousness of the case was added to by Trump's intransigence in returning the documents and failing to comply with an initial request for return.
Thegravating factors in Trump's case include the length of time of his retention of government documents, the volume of government documents, the highly sensitive nature of the documents, and his involving other individuals in his scheme.
The Justice Department handed over two of its investigations to a special counsel on Friday after a relatively quiet period for the department.
The Mar-a-Lago investigation will be overseen by Jack Smith, a long-time prosecutor.
Smith will have no bearing on the investigation.
The investigations and scrutiny of the Justice Department will pick up in the months ahead as Smith begins his work.
More than 10,000 government documents are under review by a special master and the Justice Department is trying to recover them. If the 11th Circuit agrees with the department that no third-party review of the documents is necessary, the process could be sped up.
The reports aim to assure prosecutors that they have a case.
Attorneys in Georgia believe that a call to the Secretary of State to find 11,780 votes may have been a violation of the law.
Beyond solicitation to commit election fraud, Trump may have committed intentional interference with performance of election duties, and the campaign may have engaged in a number of state statutes dealing with fraud.
There are at least 11 charges that could be brought as a result of Trump's efforts in Georgia.
Criminal liability can be triggered by a single set of facts based on the different elements of various crimes.
According to the Mar-a-Lago report, there are three additional statutes that could be implicated.
There are two deals with the resistance from Trump.
Penalties for conversion of government property can be as high as 10 years in prison.
To prove that the documents were property of the government, prosecutors would need to show that the documents were retained by the defendants.
Even though he has lashed out at the Justice Department and the FBI, Trump has denied any wrongdoing. In his speech this week announcing his candidacy, he said, "No threat is greater than the weaponization from the system, the FBI or the DOJ"
The reports found Trump's defenses mostly wanting.
The Mar-a-Lago report reads like a deep dive into the issues already presented in court by the Justice Department. One by one, the report refutes Trump's claims that he declassified the records, something his attorneys have failed to fully assert in court. Defenses based on Trump's claim that the records are his personal property or protected by executive privilege are dismissed.
The Just Security report concluded that none of the potential defenses would be effective.
The authors of the Georgia report argue that Trump doesn't enjoy immunity for his conduct while president, and that he can't meet the intent element for a successful prosecution because he believes he won the election.
If prosecutors can show that the election was not stolen from him, that will clear the criminal-intent hurdle. The report states that numerous Trump aides and lawyers have testified.
Even if Trump truly believed that he had won, he still had no legal right to use forged electoral certificates, to pressure election officials in Georgia to find 11,780 votes that did not exist, or to engage in other extralegal means to try to.
In both probes, prosecutors are dealing with clear cut cases.
He said that the power of the evidence emerged from this. There are two sets of very powerful legal cases. The principle is that no one is above the law.
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