Despite Trump’s claims that it has been decades since anyone was charged with the Espionage Act, the reality is that in the past six years, there have been a number of high-profile cases, and none ended with a lengthy prison sentence.
What is the Espionage Act of 1917?
As the name says, this act includes individuals involved in some kind of spying, but mishandling classified documents is not the same as spying for the Russian intelligence services while working for the FBI.
Inside the charges
Trump is being charged for allegedly violating Section 793, “gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, which also includes the refusal to return information that is demanded by the government.” As far as the public goes, Trump is not charged with selling or giving away information regarding national defense.
A lawyer argues it should be the Official Secrets Act, not the Espionage Act
Speaking to CBS, national security lawyer Brad Moss said that “transmitting” security information refers to “any method of moving the document from the secure location to an unauthorized party or an unsecured location.”
The Official Secrets Act
Moss pointed out, “The fact that it is still called the Espionage Act is really confusing for most people because the law generally has nothing to do with spying at this point,” the lawyer said, adding, “It should be renamed the Official Secrets Act, not the Espionage Act.”
The case of FBI analyst Kendra Kingsbury
A former analyst with the Kansas City Division of the FBI was charged with illegally retaining documents related to the national defense at her residence.
46 months in prison
She was sentenced in June 2023 after pleading guilty to the same Espionage Act Trump was charged with. Kingsbury held 386 classified documents and was sentenced to 46 months in prison.
Lawyer’s input
A national security lawyer, Mark Zaid, also spoke to CBS, saying, “It is rare that these cases ever go to trial.” At least seven cases have ended in guilty pleas since 2017, but no one got ten years in prison. Instead, sentences went from 18 months to nine years, despite what prosecutors wanted. On average, sentences are “three to six years,” said Zaid.
Trump’s case is more challenging
Even if found guilty, Trump will likely get a brief stint in prison. Still, the case of the former president is much more challenging, as Zaid explained, because he “had much higher level information than she did, and that too would be taken into account in any punishment.”
Trump is in the presidential race
The 45th president will likely be a GOP nominee in the 2024 elections. Emily Berman, an associate professor at the University of Houston’s Law Center, told CBS News that the case is unusual because there are “fundraising opportunities and all of the ways in which he’s sort of a unique animal when it comes to the criminal justice system.” Zaid argued that delaying the case would be the best defense, but that is not a foolproof tactic.
Trump’s team filed a motion to delay the case
Former Watergate prosecutor Jon Sale said this move was “illegal” due to the Speedy Trial Act. After Trump’s team filed the motion, Jack Smith’s office responded.
Smith’s office fired back
Smith’s office told the federal judge that there was “no basis in law or fact” for indefinitely postponing the federal trial of the former president. Lawyers across the country mostly agreed that decisions regarding Trump will affect similar trials in the future.
The date was set
The May 20, 2024, trial date, set by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, is a compromise between a request from prosecutors to set the trial for December 2023 and a request by defense lawyers to put it off indefinitely.
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