8/15/2023 0 Comments Espionage act for dummies![]() ![]() WHAT WILL PROSECUTORS HAVE TO PROVE TO A JURY? This section of the law makes it a crime to willfully retain the information and fail to deliver it back to the proper U.S. Prosecutors have charged Trump with violating a section in the Espionage Act which applies to someone who has "unauthorized possession" of national defense information - the same crime to which Winner pleaded guilty. However, the Espionage Act itself does not explicitly require prosecutors to prove that the records themselves were classified, and neither Trump nor his attorneys have provided any evidence to suggest they were ever declassified. Trump has previously denied breaking the law, arguing that he declassified the records in question and that his broad presidential powers gave him the authority to disclose or declassify materials. Altogether, prosecutors say he improperly retained 337 classified records. Special Counsel Jack Smith's office filed charges against Trump after the FBI searched the Florida resort where he lives in August 2022 and located about 13,000 government records, about 100 of which were marked as secret or top secret - the highest classification level, reserved for the government's most closely-held secrets. HOW DOES THE ESPIONAGE ACT APPLY TO TRUMP? Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been charged under the Espionage Act, and is fighting extradition to the United States. elections to the media outlet The Intercept. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, though President Barack Obama later commuted her sentence, while Winner was sentenced to more than five years after she admitted to leaking a top secret report on Russian interference in U.S. Over the years, the law has been used as a legal tool by the Justice Department to prosecute people ranging from suspected Soviet spies to famous whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, and Edward Snowden, a former intelligence consultant who leaked classified National Security Agency records to reveal the existence of a domestic surveillance program.ĭuring the Obama and Trump administrations, some of the Justice Department's most high-profile Espionage Act prosecutions targeted government employees who leaked classified information to the press or to the website Wikileaks, such as former Army Private First Class intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and former intelligence contractor Reality Winner. ![]() The statute criminalizes a broad array of conduct related to the mishandling of sensitive government records connected to the "national defense," a term generally referring to military records that if disclosed could damage U.S. The Espionage Act is an anti-spy law enacted by Congress shortly after the start of World War One. He is also charged with obstructing justice, conspiracy, concealment and false statements. In all, Trump faces 37 criminal counts, 31 of which relate to secret or top secret classified documents. President Donald Trump has become the most high-profile person to ever face criminal charges under the Espionage Act for the unlawful retention of sensitive national defense records. ![]() WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Former U.S. ![]()
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