It is not for nothing that when one is being arrested, you are told that you have a right to remain silent and that anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. Former President Donald Trump is not one to remain silent though, even after his indictment, arrest and Tuesday’s arraignment.

It is quite ironic that part of the indictment is based on things he is alleged to have said to other people, either in disclosing classified information to people without the necessary security clearance or as part of a conspiracy to obstruct the FBI/DOJ investigations.

One would have expected that even if Trump would use the case to boost his polling numbers among Republicans and to enhance his fundraising, he would pay particular attention to the criminal charges he faces and avoid saying things that can be used against him in court by the prosecution in the instant case.

In his speech following his arraignment, Trump insisted on the following:

1. That the documents belong to him as a former President, claiming that all former Presidents keep documents from their presidency.
2. That any litigation should have been a civil case under the Presidential Records Act, and not under the Espionage Act.
3. It is worth noting that following the execution of the search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago premises, but prior to his indictment, arrest and arraignment, Trump had repeatedly said that he had declassified all the documents he had in his possession, claiming he could even declassify documents simply by thinking about it!

Now, in his own words, Trump has confirmed to the yet-to-constituted jury, beyond any reasonable doubt, that:

1. He willfully retained Defense Information and refused to hand it over to the official or employee of the United States with the authority to receive it. Effectively, Trump does not, by his own words, deny Counts 1-31! His main defence is that the documents belong to him and not the people of the United States of America. If the ownership question is cleared out of the way, the case of the prosecution is proven beyond any reasonable doubt, not least by Trump’s own words during his post-arraignment speech!
2. The audio recording of his conversation, referenced in the indictment, in which he referred to a document he was holding as “confidential” and “secret” and that he could not declassify it as a former President, undercuts his argument that he declassified all documents in his possession. And if by his own words, he was holding on to classified material (defence information), then the prosecution is proper to charge him for willfully retaining defence information and that is beyond any reasonable doubt.

From his own words therefore, the only way a jury finds Trump not guilty as charged, is if some nutcase Trump supporter(s) gets on the jury and decides that their only duty there is to find Trump not guilty, regardless of whatever evidence is presented by the prosecution, even when corroborated by Trump himself!

Moral of this post? You have the right to remain silent!