Letter: All he had to do was return documents

In Byron York's June column, he quotes an opinion from John Yoo, former Justice Deptartment official. Mr. Yoo thinks the indictment is disregarding two centuries of constitutional practice and there were better ways to address the issue. Many presidents have ignored some of the requirements in the Constitution, things like: Trump extending the use of acting officials beyond the 210-day limit, Trump repurposing funds for his wall project and airstrikes in Syria without congressional approval. So, does constitutional practice mean that we should say oh, well, it's OK that serious documents were mishandled and just move on?

The government asked Mr. Trump several times to return the documents. It appears that he did not return all of them and there was an effort on his part to maintain control of them even after a subpoena. All he had to do was return them and this mess would never had happened.

I believe Trump has stated he didn't have to return the documents because they were his. Legal sources say the laws are very clear. Couldn't he and all his lawyers over the many months this was an issue get this resolved?

Trump's defenders don't seem to be denying the fact he had these documents, only that the Justice Department is being politically weaponized and Trump shouldn't be indicted because he's a former president and is running for office again.

I think the government acted patiently but finally could no longer allow one man to act in defiance of what the law required.

Tom Frampton

Streamwood