The Bragg indictment is a joke. We all know that. But this one (granted the prosecutor has a track record of overreaching and being overturned) on classified documents looks like it has a lot of meat on its bones.

However, with only one glorious year of law school under my belt I’m not exactly Lee Bailey. But Jonathan Turley is a noted professor of law at GW and an ace legal analyst. He also has been no Trump hater. In fact he’s taken Trump’s side on a number of legal issues. Though not on this one.

“I know a lot of people have criticized [Jack] Smith for his background, but he’s no Alvin Bragg. He’s a serious prosecutor. The Alvin Bragg prosecution is a political prosecution. It is what Trump says it is. It is a weaponization of the criminal justice system, in my view. This is a different ball game.

“It is an extremely damning indictment. There are indictments that are sometimes called narrative or speaking indictments. These are indictments that are really meant to make a point as to the depth of the evidence. There are some indictments that are just bare bones. This is not. The special counsel knew that there would be a lot of people who were going to allege that the Department of Justice was acting in a biased or politically motivated way.

“This is clearly an indictment that was drafted to answer those questions. It’s overwhelming in details. And, you know, the Trump team should not fool itself, these are hits below the waterline. These are witnesses who apparently testified under oath, gave statements to federal investigators, both of which can be criminally charged if they’re false. Those witnesses are directly quoting the president in encouraging others not to look for documents or allegedly to conceal them. It’s damaging.”

And Bill Barr, Trump’s own AG and former defender on many fronts, says this, “”If even half of [the indictment] is true then he’s toast. It’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning,” Barr said.

“This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here–the victim of a witch hunt–is ridiculous. Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. Yes his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims, and I’ve been at his side defending him when he is a victim, but this is much different. He’s not a victim here,” Barr noted. “He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets the country has.”

In response Trump is doing very well. He’s using the martyr card, no mention of 2020, and highlighting the hypocrisy when it comes to classified document handling by Hillary and Biden.

And the charge is engendering a reflexively defensive response from many Republicans. It’s probably helping Trump on his way to the nomination. So, given the massive corruption of Biden, the House’s recent actions on it, and Trump’s legal problems we could next year be looking at two major party nominees under indictment if not already convicted of a serious crime. Oh joy.