Fox News Legal Analyst Gregg Jarrett criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday, accusing him of “commandeering” the Espionage Act in an effort to target former President Donald Trump. Jarrett’s comments reflect concerns about the alleged politicization of the legal system.
Former President Donald Trump announced June 8 on Truth Social that his attorneys had been told he was being indicted as the result of an investigation into classified documents that were the subject of an Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate he owns. The Justice Department unsealed the indictment June 9, which charged Trump on 37 counts, including violating the Espionage Act by retaining records, making false statements, and “conspiracy to obstruct justice.”
“The presidential records act gives Donald Trump the right under law to maintain custody and control of papers classified or not, Larry, and that is the controlling governing statute,” Jarrett told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump administration official. “It’s a specific statute, so it takes precedence under our system of laws over general statutes like the Espionage Act. Not only that, it’s civil, it’s not criminal.”
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Republican presidential candidates, including Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, have criticized the indictment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana blasted the indictment on Twitter.
“It’s a law that Trump relied on. He relied on the DOJ standard which Merrick Garland decided, ‘Oh, I’m going to toss it out the window,’” Jarrett added. “He reversed it and chose to criminalize a civil statute. Why? Because it’s Donald Trump.”
“Garland is doing the bidding of his boss,” Jarrett told Kudlow. “He manipulated the law by commandeering the Espionage Act to criminalize conduct that is not criminal at all.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment when reached for comment by the Daily Caller News Foundation, instead referring the DCNF to the indictment.
