Historian on Trump indictment: "Our system is working … Nobody is above the law"

You've seen them for days now, but when you look again, the images are still stunning: boxes and boxes of documents scattered about Donald Trump's home – stacked in the bathroom, in the ballroom, and spilling out on the floor.

They're also evidence in this past week's sweeping indictment of the former president.

Special counsel Jack Smith's 37-count indictment alleged the boxes contained sensitive and classified documents, knowingly and willfully retained by Trump.

On Friday Smith stated, "We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.  … Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced."

• Special counsel Jack Smith says he'll seek "speedy trial" for Trump in documents case

We've never seen this before: a former president accused of conspiring to obstruct an investigation, and even violating the Espionage Act, with possible prison time listed at the end of the 49-page indictment. 

Read the full indictment:

Trump, as ever, was defiant last night. Appearing in North Carolina, he said, "You're watching Joe Biden try to jail his leading political opponent. Think of it: this is like third-world country stuff."

• Trump calls special counsel Jack Smith "deranged" and a "Trump hater" at Georgia GOP convention

Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley sees the moment as historic. "It's just breathtaking. The fact of the matter is that Trump knew that he had secret documents, and was flashing them around willy-nilly to people."

But will Americans care about it in the same way they did another scandal 50 years ago this summer? 

Costa asked, "During Watergate, the whole country seemed transfixed to the hearings on Capitol Hill. But we now live in a busier age, where people live their lives on social media. Do you believe what's happening now with this indictment will actually stick in the American consciousness?"

"There just been so many traumas with Donald Trump," Brinkley replied. "This is not CBS, NBC and ABC of old, where everybody must watch the Watergate hearings. We are divided. People are choosing the kind of news or misinformation they want. And so, it seems to me that we've been in a kind of neo-civil war between what might be called the Federal establishment and the insurrection of Trump."

In the end, President Nixon, of course, resigned. But Trump is running to retake the White House. And while at least one of his Republican opponents, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, has called for him to quit the race because of the indictment, many other Republicans are rallying around him.

• CBS News Poll: After Trump indictment, most see security risk, but Republicans see politics

Trump's leading rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, compared Trump's case to that of Hillary Clinton and her email server. "Is there a different standard for a Democrat secretary of state versus a former Republican president?" he asked.

Back then, the FBI investigated Clinton but concluded, according to FBI director James Comey, that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Clinton knew she was sending classified information.

If a federal indictment doesn't pull Republicans away from Trump, what would? Stuart Stevens, a veteran presidential campaign strategist who worked for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2012 and has since become a Trump critic, said, "Good question. I don't think much. I think Trump will be the nominee."

Costa asked, "Will it be possible for any Trump rival to get political oxygen in the coming months?"

"I think the way you would get political oxygen is to attack Donald Trump," Stevens said. "This race is about Donald Trump. You're not going to succeed by trying to be a pale imitation of Donald Trump."

Wasting no time after the indictment was unsealed, Trump was posting pleas for donations on his "Truth Social" website.

According to Stevens, "Donald Trump is going to raise a lot of money out of being indicted.  You know, he may lose some of his high-end Super PAC donors who don't want to be associated with the guy who's under multiple indictments in multiple states! But his small donor fundraising is going to go crazy."

President Biden has remained largely silent on the indictment, and on Trump, who has been on the road, and on the golf course.

Trump is set to appear before a federal judge in Miami on Tuesday.

Costa asked Brinkley, "What does this all mean for America?"

"The good news right now is that our system is working," Brinkley replied, "that nobody is above the law, that Donald Trump, once he lost the power of the White House, is simply an American citizen, and he has to face the justice system the way every tax-paying citizen does."

     
For more info:

• Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley
• Stuart Stevens, senior advisor, The Lincoln Project

     
Story produced by Alan Golds. Editor: Ed Givnish. 

In:
• Donald Trump
• Indictment
• Jack Smith

Robert Costa

Robert Costa is CBS News' chief election and campaign correspondent based in Washington, D.C.

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