Topics: Donald Trump, World News, News
Donald Trump could be about to find himself on the wrong side of the law – for a rule he implemented while he was president.
The ex-president made it a felony to mishandle classified documents in 2018. Now, it is believed the FBI are searching his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, to find such mishandled presidential materials.
It’s alleged that Trump had been holding on to documents that should have been turned over to the National Archives.
However, it isn’t known what those records contain or whether they have any implications for US national security.
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The lack of information made available to the public means there has been a lot of speculation into any potential criminal activity being looked into by the Department of Justice.
And one of the possibilities is the law covering the mishandling of government information…. that Trump had made himself.
In fact, it was Tennessee State Senator Jeff Yarbro who pointed this out.
On Twitter he included a picture of the bill and wrote: “Q: So when did the DOJ start treating removal of classified documents like a felony anyway?
“A: When President Trump signed a 2018 law making it a felony.”
Many memes started circulating, and another person was trying to get their head around the revelation, saying: “So a Trump judge approved a warrant from a Trump FBI director to search for evidence of a crime that would not be a felony without Trump having changed the law.”
In the bill Trump signed in January 2018, there was a provision to increase the punishment for knowingly removing classified materials with plans to keep them at an ‘unauthorised location’.
Previously, a person found guilty of this could face up to a year in prison, but this was changed to up to five years under the new enforcement – making it a felony-level offence.
And as expected many people revelled in the news.
One social media user commented: “Nailed by his own rules... priceless!”
While someone else wrote: “I think he should just turn himself in like a good citizen. Just drive his golf cart right up to the prison gate and ask if his room is ready. He made the reservation 4 years ago.”
Another said: “Trump’s problems were all self-inflicted. Some out of sheer ignorance, but self-inflicted none the less. This however takes the cake. Just goes to show how above the law he really thinks he is.”
Meanwhile, someone else commented: “To be fair, he never thought laws would ever a really apply to him. Any laws. Ever. And had planned on using "But I was President" to get out of all future accountability no matter what the crime.”
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