Without establishing former President Trump’s intent, it will be impossible to sustain a criminal case against him.

The three things that matter most in the Trump Mar-a-Lago case are intent, intent, and intent

• Trump's intent-not so much what he did with classified documents, but what he intended to happen based on his actions-will decide his innocence or guilt if the case ever comes to court.
• The action itself is often easy to prove. The thought pattern-what was in someone's head-is much less so.

18 U.S.C. §§ 1519, the "anti-shredding provision," imposes criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede or obstruct an investigation

• Intent as far as we (and Trump) are concerned, almost always means specific intent, as opposed to general intent.
• Specific intent means the accused intentionally committed an act and intended to cause a particular result, a wrongful purpose, when committing that act.
• It is thus unlikely, based on what we know at present, that Trump would go to jail for storing documents in Mar-a-Lago.

The final questions are probably the most important.

• If knowing the chances of a serious conviction are slight, why would the Justice Department take the Mar-a-Lago case to court?

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/proving-intent-at-mar-a-lago/