It’s Vital America Hears (and Sees) Both Sides of Trump’s Indictment

Releasing the indicting documents brings balance

In the past, Donald Trump has been able to control the narrative defining his alleged criminal activities for days (or longer) before the public had access to facts. As one Trump aide told the media June 8 while Trump aggressively was denouncing the latest indictment, “We are getting pretty good at this”; the “this” is distorting facts to Trump’s benefit.

It won’t be so easy to mislead this time around. The release of the indictment and an outline of the evidence against Trump (including pictures of where some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets were stored by Trump) puts the public on equal footing with Trump sycophants in understanding the charges, their gravity and the volume and details of the evidence. In particular, the indicting document undermines every claim that Trump has made in defense of his actions.

Here’s the irony. If Trump simply had cooperated with the National Archives when the first request was made to return the documents, there would be no case against Trump. He would have been treated exactly like President Biden, former Vice President Pence and others who inadvertently removed documents in the transition from power. Trump didn’t do that. In fact, the evidence shows the former president went out of his way to obstruct the retrieval of the documents, he shared the most secret documents with unauthorized people and he continued to lie about all of it.

How significant is the release of the indicting document to a fact-filled discussion to help public understand what is at stake? Simply put, it makes “alternative facts” harder to sell. Many leading Republicans rushed to Trump’s BEFORE the evidence was known by the public. Since the release of the details, mostly crickets.

There is a parallel to this week’s indictment. After resigning from office, Richard Nixon faced prosecution for his crimes until he was pardoned by President Ford. Nixon, though, was leaving the public stage. Trump not only seeks to remain in the limelight, but is asking America to return him to the most important political office in the world. The public needs to hear both sides of Trump’s story before falsehoods become ingrained.

Trump deserves the presumption of innocence. But the public’s right to understand the validity and gravity of the allegations also is essential. Both purposes today are better-served by the decision of the special counsel to share information on a timely basis and to trust the public.

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