He perhaps, – maybe – had National Security Information on the premises which would only violate a Federal Statute, the punishment of which may include a fine and prison time if it was permanently stored there. If it was “in transit” then it was not a violation.
Note Well: National Security Information is information that has been determined pursuant to Executive Order 12958 as amended by Executive Order 13292, or any predecessor order, or by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, to require protection against unauthorized disclosure and is marked to indicate its classified status.
But wait!!
The act requires disclosure.
If no one was looking at the information when it was taken it was not being disclosed. If no one had looked at the information it had not been disclosed. If it was in a safe place Trump or his attorney’s can argue it was in a safe place. Certainly NSI can be moved. The fact it was not being disclosed eliminates the argument of the FBI that there was intent to disclose. Further, “INTENT” is a thought crime for which there must be evidence, not mere “Belief”. The FBI needs to put the information n=back where they found it, apologize and compensate Trump for the damage they caused.
Trump had the information in containers making it impossible to be disclosed without additional action.
But there’s more. The FBI disclosed the information when they read it. The act of reading it constitutes disclosure. Trump did not disclose the information. It was in a safe place. It was boxed which made it impossible to read. The FBI, not Trump, unboxed it. The FBI read it which was when it was disclosed. Note that Trump did not approve of the FBI reading the information. The fact that he could have disclosed it is not evidence he did disclose it. A potential is not an actual.. See Ayn Rand for additional discussion of the difference between potential and actual.
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