National Archives catches Donald Trump stealing classified documents, refers matter to Department of Justice

After Donald Trump lied his way into the White House by falsely accusing Hillary Clinton of having mishandled classified documents via email, and then Trump spent the next four years committing one actual crime after another, could it be that he’ll end up going down because he himself mishandled classified documents?

That’s the remarkable situation that Donald Trump finds himself facing tonight. Recently we all learned that Trump stole crucial documents on his way out of the White House and stashed them at his private home of Mar-a-Lago. This itself was a violation of the Presidential Records Act, making it a crime. But now the New York Times is reporting tonight that the National Archives believes some of the documents Trump took were classified – and that a few weeks ago the National Archives has referred the matter to the Department of Justice.

The Times says that the DOJ told the National Archives to have its Inspector General investigate the matter, and then file a report with the DOJ if warranted. If the Inspector General concludes that Trump committed a crime, the DOJ could then open a criminal case into Trump.

Yes, we know that the skeptics and defeatists out there are already lining up to recite their usual zombie chants of “nothing will happen” and “Trump will get away with it all no matter what.” But that’s not how any of this works. For instance, when the House referred Steve Bannon to the DOJ for criminal contempt, the DOJ indicted and arrested Bannon a short time later. It’s clear that this DOJ takes legitimate criminal referrals seriously. So if this scandal has legs, then Trump’s time is running out.