Of the 37 counts thrown at President Donald Trump in prosecutor Jack Smith’s indictment, 31 of them relate to the directly to Espionage Act – an ignored and discarded law since it was created by Woodrow Wilson, widely regarded as a racist and fascist back in his day more than 100 years ago.
Wilson was a progressive’s progressive. He was one of the worst presidents – ever. He was a war hawk, getting the U.S. into World War I. It was called at the moment “the war to end all wars.” That was before World War II a few years later. Wilson also is remembered for helping to create “the Deep State.”
The Espionage Act – actually a cluster of related statues – hasn’t been rehabbed in a while. It targets anyone who “unlawfully retains” control over “any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense.”
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Smith claims in his indictment that Trump had a propensity to hoard documents “regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries” as well as information on the “United States nuclear program” and “plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.” After his presidency ended, Smith claims, Trump was “not authorized to possess or retain these classified documents.”
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But we know that most modern presidents get what they want. Even vice presidents, like Joe Biden and Mike Pence, have had their own classified documents. It’s the Presidential Records Act that takes precedence these days. Thank goodness.
The Wall Street Journal calls the Espionage Act “ancient and seldom-enforced” whose penalties run from 10 years in prison to execution. The version in effect between 1918 and 1921, supplemented by the Sedition Act, went even further than its modern version, prohibiting “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” against the war effort.
As the New York Sun reports, in its original form, the Espionage Act, enacted two months after America entered World War I, targeted written material “urging treason.” Under the law, 74 newspapers were denied the privilege of using the United States Postal Service. Despite the law’s apparent affront to the First Amendment, it was repeatedly upheld by the Supreme Court. The Sedition Act was repealed in 1921.
The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is on the run from Espionage Act charges. In an open letter, the New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País all urged the Department of Justice to drop charges against Assange. They argued that the Espionage Act is an “old law” designed to “prosecute potential spies during World War I” and that it sets “a dangerous precedent.”
Of course, the Times failed to report the way the paper had previously characterized it, recently saying, “It is hard to overstate the gravity of the criminal indictment issued against Donald Trump late Thursday by a federal grand jury” for allegedly violating the Espionage Act.
Again, Wilson was deeply racist and a thoroughgoing statist. He attacked the First Amendmen. He undermined the Constitution’s separation of powers. He was known for hosting a screening of the racist film “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House. Yes, he was a “progressive” – like Joe Biden. He drummed up the war cries, as I’ve said, for World War I. That explained a certain reluctance to sit out World War II until Pearl Harbor.
What Wilson is hated for more than anything else is the Sedition Act and Espionage Act. Look for Trump to spearhead repeal of the latter – along with the “Deep State.”
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