As former President Donald Trump prepares for a momentous court appearance Tuesday on charges related to the hoarding of top-secret documents, Republican allies are amplifying, without evidence, claims that he is the target of a political prosecution. To press their case, Trump's backers are citing the Justice Department's decision in 2016 not to bring charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in that year's presidential race, over her handling of classified information. His supporters also are invoking a separate classified documents investigation concerning President Joe Biden to allege a two-tier system of justice that is punishing Trump, the undisputed early front-runner for the GOP's 2024 White House nomination, for conduct that Democrats have engaged in. "Is there a different standard for a Democratic secretary of state versus a former Republican president?” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump primary rival. “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country.” But those arguments overlook abundant factual and legal differences — chiefly relating to intent, state of mind and deliberate acts of obstruction — that limit the value of any such comparisons. A look at the Clinton, Biden and Trump investigations and what separates them: WHAT DID CLINTON DO? Clinton relied on a private email system for the sake of convenience during her time as the Obama administration's top diplomat. That decision came back to haunt her when, in 2015, the intelligence agencies' internal watchdog alerted the FBI to the presence of potentially hundreds of emails containing classified information. FBI investigators would ultimately conclude that Clinton sent and received emails containing classified information on that unclassified system, including information classified at the top-secret level. Of the roughly 30,000 emails turned over by Clinton's representatives, the FBI has said, 110 emails in 52 email chains were found to have classified information, including some at the top-secret level. After a roughly yearlong inquiry, the FBI closed out the investigation in July 2016, finding that Clinton did not intend to break the law. The bureau reopened the inquiry months later, 11 days before the presidential election, after discovering a new batch of emails. After reviewing those communications, the FBI again opted against recommending charges. WHAT IS TRUMP ACCUSED OF DOING? The indictment filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith alleges that when Trump left the White House after his term ended in January 2021, he took hundreds of classified documents with him to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago — and then repeatedly impeded efforts by the government he once oversaw to get the records back. The material that Trump retained, prosecutors say, related to American nuclear programs, weapons and defense capabilities of the United States and foreign countries and potential vulnerabilities to an attack — information that, if exposed, could jeopardize the safety of the military and human sources. Beyond just the hoarding of documents — in locations including a bathroom, ballroom, shower and his bedroom — the Justice Department says Trump showed highly sensitive material to visitors who without security clearances and obstructed the FBI by, among other things, directing a personal aide who was charged alongside him to move boxes around Mar-a-Lago to conceal them from investigators. Though Trump and his allies have claimed he could do with the documents as he pleased under the Presidential Records Act, the indictment makes short shrift of that argument and does not once reference that statute. All told, the indictment includes 37 felony counts against Trump, most under an Espionage Act pertaining to the willful retention of national defense information. WHAT SEPARATES THE CLINTON AND TRUMP CASES? A lot, but two important differences are in willfulness and obstruction. In an otherwise harshly critical assessment in which he condemned Clinton's email practices as “extremely careless,” then-FBI Director James Comey announced that investigators had found no clear evidence that Clinton or her aides had intended to break laws governing classified information. As a result, he said, “no reasonable prosecutor" would move forward with a case. The relevant Espionage Act cases brought by the Justice Department over the past century, Comey said, all involved factors including efforts to obstruct justice, willful mishandling of classified documents and the exposure of vast quantities of records. None of those factors existed in the Clinton investigation, he said. That is in direct contrast to the allegations against Trump, who prosecutors say was involved in the packing of boxes to go to Mar-a-Lago and then actively took steps to conceal the classified documents from investigators. The indictment accuses him, for instance, of suggesting that a lawyer hide documents demanded by a Justice Department subpoena or falsely represent that all requested records had been turned over, even though more than 100 remained. The indictment repeatedly cites Trump's own words against him to make the case that he understood what he was doing and what the law did and did not permit him to do. It describes a July 2021 meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, which he showed off a Pentagon “plan of attack” to people without the security clearances to view the material and proclaimed that “as president, I could have declassified it.” “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret,” the indictment quotes him as saying. That conversation, captured by an audio recording, is likely to be a powerful piece of evidence to the extent that it undercuts Trump's oft-repeated claims that he had declassified the documents he brought with him to Mar-a-Lago. WHERE DOES BIDEN FIT IN? The White House disclosed in January that, two months earlier, a lawyer for Biden had located what it said was a “small number” of classified documents from his time as vice president during a search of the Washington office space of Biden's former institute. The documents were turned over to the Justice Department. Lawyers for Biden subsequently located an additional batch of classified documents at Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, and the FBI found even more during a voluntary search of the property. The revelations were a humbling setback for Biden's efforts to draw a clear contrast between his handling of sensitive information and Trump's. Even so, as with Clinton, there are significant differences in the matters. Though Attorney General Merrick Garland in January named a second special counsel to investigate the Biden documents, no charges have been brought and, so far at least, no evidence has emerged to suggest that anyone intentionally moved classified documents or tried to impede the probe. While the FBI obtained a search warrant last August to recover additional classified documents, each of the Biden searches has been done voluntarily with his team's consent. The Justice Department, meanwhile, notified Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, earlier this month that it would not bring charges after the discovery of classified documents in his Indiana home. That case also involved no allegations of willful retention or obstruction. _____ Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP ___ More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement Jim Jordan rejects Trump statement suggesting Mar-a-Lago papers weren’t declassified Kimberly Guilfoyle posts chilling warning over Trump indictment Trump-appointed judge will stay on Mar-a-Lago documents case unless she recuses

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A super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis has revealed the Florida governor’s strategy for a comeback in next week’s Republican presidential primary debate, The New York Times reported. Axiom Strategies, which works with Never Back Down, a super PAC that supports Mr DeSantis, released a bevy of research memos on its website to give advice for the governor ahead of the first primary debate in Milwaukee. One of the memos outlines “four basic must-dos” for Mr DeSantis, whom the memos refer to as “GRD,” saying he would need to attack fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has begun to ascend in the polls against Mr DeSantis. “1. Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times. 2. State GRD’s positive vision 2-3 times. 3. Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response. 4. Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack,” the memo said. Jeff Roe, a chief strategist for Never Back Down, owns Axiom. Mr Roe served as the campaign manager for Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) when Mr Cruz won the 2016 Iowa caucus and came in second behind Mr Trump. When The Times reached out to Axiom, the firm removed the memo from its website. “When GRD's name is invoked and he is given a chance to respond, there are two approaches,” the memo says. “1. When there is a core attack on GRD's central candidacy (calling GRD a liberal, hitting veteran record, hitting conservative record), GRD should take the time, correct the record, and highlight the positive/dismiss the attacker if it's a tier one candidate. GRD can also pivot to hitting Joe Biden when possible.” The memo also says when another candidate attacks Mr DeSantis but does not make a “core” attack, Mr DeSantis should pivot and the take up time. “GRD should ignore the weak attack , not even address it, and instead pivot to message and vision and name check Iowa, New Hampshire , etc. voters directly ‘Iowans/Americans , I'm talking directly to you now,’” the memo says. Super PACs cannot officially coordinate with candidates. But Never Back Down has featured Mr DeSantis and his wife Casey at multiple events as a guest. Candidates can use memos that Super PACs release pubicly. The memo says that Mr DeSantis should attack Mr Ramaswamy, who has started gaining steam by adopting talking points similar Mr DeSantis’s against “wokeness,” as “FakeVivek” or “Vivek the Fake.” A new Fox News poll showed that since June, Mr DeSantis has fallen by six points to 16 per cent in terms of whom Republican primary voters prefer to be the nominee for president. The same poll showed that in June, five per cent of GOP primary voters preferred him to be the nominee, but that number has grown to 11 per cent. The memo also said that Mr DeSantis should defend Mr Trump when former New Jersey governor Chris Christie attacks the former president. “Trump isn'there so let's just leavehim alone. He's too weak to defendhimselfhere. We're all running against him. I don't think we want to join forces with someone on this stage who's auditioning for a show on MSNBC,” the memo suggests Mr DeSantis say. The memo also suggested that Mr DeSantis, who has often been portrayed as awkward or impersonable, “[i]nvoke a personal anecdote storyabout family, kids, Casey, showing emotion.” In addition, the campaign memo showed how Mr DeSantis could simultaneously defend Mr Trump but pivot to get people to support him. “Manyvoters , like me, voted for Donald Trump, love Donald Trump,” he said. “He was a breath of fresh air and the first president to tell the elite where to shove it. But he was attacked all the time, provoked attacks all the time, and it was non-stop. The drama affected families. Trump's drama pitted brother against brother, friend against friend. He's gotso many distractions that it's almost impossible for him to focus on movingthe country forward.” epublicans will hold their first debate on Wednesday in Milwaukee. Fox News will host the debate. Read More Robert F Kennedy Jr Democratic primary support is plummeting – latest 2024 election polls When is the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate and how can you watch it? Tim Scott will share the spotlight at massive South Carolina campaign event headlined by DeSantis Jenna Ellis forced to crowdfund Georgia lawyer fund after cutting ties with Trump Trump accused of skipping debate because he’s ‘scared of Chris Christie’ Renata Scotto, soprano of uncommon intensity, dies at 89 Why is a police raid on a newspaper in Kansas so unusual? Tom Jones, creator of the longest-running musical ‘The Fantasticks,' dies at 95

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Scientists have revealed they had found a way to combine the technology of brain scans and artificial intelligence to transcribe “the gist” of people’s thoughts. Alex Huth, an assistant professor of neuroscience and computing science at the University of Texas at Austin, and a co-author on the new study published in Nature Neuroscience, said that ‘this is a real leap forward.’ The study was led by Huth and Jerry Tang, a doctoral student in computer science. The main development from this study is that it’s non-invasive. This means that subjects do not require surgical implants. Instead, brain activity is measured using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In the study, individuals listened to hours of podcasts in the scanner. Then, given the participant’s consent to have their thoughts decoded, they listened to a new story and the machine-generated corresponding texts from brain activity. It’s not a word-for-word transcript. For example, when an individual heard the phrase ‘I don’t have my driver’s licence yet’, the model decoded the individual’s thoughts to read as ‘she has not even started to learn to drive yet.’ Even when participants thought up their own stories, the machine was able to decode their thoughts still. Tang acknowledged that the advancements made in the study had the potential for negative aftermath. Tang said, ‘we take very seriously the concerns that it could be used for bad purposes and have worked to avoid that.’ They ran tests that highlighted that unless the machine had been trained on an individual’s particular brain activity, it could not decode its thoughts. An individual had to allow for the machine to train their brain activity over a long period of time inside a fMRI scanner for it to work. Researchers also found that it was easy to ‘sabotage’ the machine. Three participants were told to tell a different story in their mind, or count by seven, while listening to one of the podcasts. The study highlights even more development with artificial intelligence, after the popularity of OpenAI’s Chat GPT has sparked debate around the potential of AI. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

IShowSpeed displayed genuine kindness when he learned about the earthquake crisis in Morocco