Secret Service testifies to grand jury investigating Trump's mishandling of classified documents
Donald Trump’s indictment this week on 34 charges of falsifying business documents may have dominated the news, but it’s just one of a series of ongoing investigations into actions by Trump. All of those other investigations—in New York state, in Fulton County, Georgia, and especially before a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.—are potentially far more serious than what’s happening right now in Manhattan.
One of the two investigations being conducted simultaneously by special counsel Jack Smith concerns Trump’s handling of classified information, which he took with him to Mar-a-Lago, refused to return, and lied about repeatedly. Among those documents were many that were highly classified, including some that were classified as Top Secret and a number that were flagged as “compartmented,” placing them at the very highest of possible classification. At least one document reportedly related to the nuclear program of a foreign power, rumored to be Iran.
Last month, a federal judge ordered Trump's attorney Evan Corcoran to testify before the grand jury investigating Trump’s actions in taking and holding these documents. Now it looks as if Corcoran is far from the only witness with something interesting to tell the jury. According to CBS News, several Secret Service agents are set to testify before the jury.
What they have to say may reveal details of how Trump tried to cover up his continued control of classified documents and possibly who else has gotten a peek.
A thousand mystery stories turn on the same idea: Wealthy, powerful people tend to forget that “the help” is still around. That a scullery maid, butler, or gardener is an actual person with functional hearing and a concern about justice often comes as a jaw-dropping revelation to the upper-crust protagonists of many an English mystery.
Those stories may be mostly fictional, but in real life, Trump has spent the last six years with at least one Secret Service member always somewhere within a dozen yards, except for the time he spent before the judge during his arraignment when the New York City police were apparently considered adequate protection.
That kind of persistent, low interaction presence—and you know Trump isn’t spending a lot of his day chatting up the security staff—is exactly the kind of relationship that doesn’t breed just contempt, but invisibility. It’s also very easy for Trump, or anyone else dealing with such an arrangement, to assume that, just because the agents are there to provide protection, they also represent friends.
It’s true enough that some members of the Secret Service (and even one is enough to represent a concern) have expressed sympathy not just with Trump, but with Trump supporters connected to Jan. 6. But it’s a pretty good bet that some of these people have had more than enough of Trump. Because they’ve had to be around him. And we’ve already had one good example of how Trump treats members of the Secret Service if they don’t obey his every whim.
Hutchinson: “The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f’ing president, take me up to the Capitol now!’ To which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up to the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol.’ Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge toward Bobby Engel. And when Mr. Ornoto told the story to me, he motioned toward his clavicle.”
In a period of almost 20 months, Trump moved boxes of classified documents in and out of a storage area in Mar-a-Lago. He also took some documents, including those at the highest classification, to his personal office.
Who, other than Trump, has gone in and out of that office? The Secret Service knows.
Trump may feel like some bodyguard-client privilege protects him from any testimony by these agents, but that is not a thing. Secret Service agents are famously discreet in dealing with the personal information of those they protect. That doesn’t mean they’re going to lie under oath to protect Donald Trump.
According to CBS, there are a number of Secret Service officials slated to appear before the jury “over coming weeks.” That’s probably a good indicator that an indictment against Trump on charges related to the document case is not about to appear tomorrow. But it’s also an indicator that the members of the grand jury and the Justice Department staff involved in the investigation are going to be very aware of actions Trump has taken to lie about the documents he was holding, to shift those documents around to prevent them from being found, and most importantly, to show these classified documents to others.
Our planned Ukraine episode will have to wait, as Donald Trump is being arraigned in New York City for his role in falsifying records to hide hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. This is the first of a potential slew of indictments coming Trump’s way, and we are here for a celebration of karmic justice—and to talk about what happens to the Republican Party after this.
