Donald Trump—like others charged with Espionage—should be DENIED BAIL

No Special Treatment for Trump

What does 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member, and Reality Winner--have in common? Two things: Both were charged with Espionage and both were DENIED bail pending trial. That is exactly what should happen with Donald Trump who is facing far more Espionage charges than Teixeira and Winner, combined!

In 2017, Reality Winner had been working for national security contractor Pluribus International at Fort Gordon in Georgia when prosecutors say she illegally coped and smuggled out a classified report detailing the Russian government's efforts to pierce a Florida-based voting software supplier ahead of the 2016 presidential election. That information was later reported by The Intercept news outlet.  Winner, who was 25 years old at the time, said she was motivated to act on a belief that the American public wasn't getting the full truth.

Winner was charged with just one count of "willful retention and transmission of national defense information," a violation of the Espionage Act.  Did she get bail? No, on only one count of violating the Espionage Act, federal prosecutors argued that she should be denied bail, namely because they believed at the time she was in possession of additional classified documents and information. As the prosecutors stated: “We don’t know how much more she knows and how much more she remembers…But she’s got a lot of valuable information in her head.”

The judge granted the prosecutor’s motion to deny bail based primarily on that concern as well as fear she would flee the United States. (Ultimately, Winner plead guilty and was sentenced to more than five years in prison.)

In Trump’s case, he is charged with not one count of Espionage, but 31 counts—as well as other very serious charges! In addition, the key concern in Winner’s case was that she still had in her possession additional classified documents. Well in Trump’s case we know that at least one highly sensitive document was not returned to the federal government, namely the military plans he showed to authors of a book during a meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course in July 2021. That very meeting was recorded and the discussion was transcribed in the indictment versus Trump where he admits that the “secret” military plans in his hand had not been declassified.

After that recording was obtained by the government, DOJ sought that document Trump referenced—but pursuant to CNN reporting earlier this month—Trump’s lawyers were “unable to find the document itself.”  And as a reminder, last year the Special Counsel’s office complained to a federal judge that they couldn’t be sure Trump had turned over all documents with classified markings in his possession, even after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago last August.

Also instructive is that in Winner’s case, a second bail hearing was heard three months later after federal prosecutors admitted that the recording they had of Winner saying she still had classified documents in her possession was wrong—and it was only the one document at issue. But then U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari instead shifted focus to Winner’s character and political views, arguing that the young former NSA contractor had shown “nothing but contempt for our country and our security.”

Based on that, Federal Judge Brian Epps ruled in favor of the prosecution by way of his Oct 5, 2017 order, expressing concerns that “no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community” and raising red flags that Winner was a flight risk.

Trump has done far more than “express contempt” for our nation and its security. He is charged with 31 counts of intentionally refusing to return documents containing our nation’s most sensitive military information. He is also charged with directing his aide to help him obstruct justice.

And in response to this investigation, Trump has repeatedly slammed DOJ and the FBI. Most recently, on Saturday at a public event, Trump even mocked the Espionage charges as being part of a “fake indictment” and Special Counsel Jack Smith as being “deranged.”

Beyond that, Trump attempted a coup and incited the Jan 6 terrorist attack on our Capitol—as the Jan 6 House committee laid out in great detail.  The Jan 6 committee summed it up so well with this line in their report: “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”

Winner never did anything in that universe, yet she was denied bail.

Same goes for Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member, charged with TWO—just two counts--related to the leaking of classified documents on a gaming chat server. One of these two counts, cites the very Espionage law Trump is charged with violating 31 times: 18 USC Section 793. The 21 year-old Teixeira-per NY Times reporting--saw himself as an unofficial leader of the group and leaked the documents in the group’s online chat room “to impress other participants.”

What happened when Teixeira—who had never been charged with any crimes before—sought bail? U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy denied bail for Teixeira stating that the Airman represented, “a profound breach of the defendant’s word that he would protect information related to the security of the United States.”  (That is exactly what Trump did!)

The judge also indicated that he found persuasive prosecutors’ arguments that U.S. adversaries might be interested in mining Teixeira for information in exchange for helping him flee the country: “It doesn’t seem implausible at all that a foreign government would make an overture to this defendant to get information.”

The judge noted that Teixeira was a severe risk to obstruct justice if released, brutally slamming him as being "disloyal to the U.S."

Again, Trump’s actions are far more dangerous. Teixeira was charged with only two crimes and is facing a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted on both counts. Trump is charged with 37 felonies-including the 31 Espionage charges that carry up to ten years in prison on each one. Then there are the four counts for obstruction of justice that carry up to 20 years for each.

Does anyone doubt that if things are looking bad for Trump he would offer classified information—be it the missing documents or the knowledge he has--to a foreign nation in return for asylum?!  Given Trump attempted a coup and incited an attack on our Capitol—and has even promised to pardon the terrorists who waged the Jan 6 attack—nothing can be ruled out.  Trump-like the judge said about Teixeira-is "disloyal to the U.S."

True, there are cases were people charged with Espionage have been released on bail. But the two recent cases with Reality Winner and Jack Teixeira are right on point. Their alleged crimes were far less serious than Trump, but since they represented a continued risk to reveal more classified information –as well as flee—they were denied bail.  That should be the same ruling for Trump. Anything else means Trump was granted special treatment.

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