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| credit: B.Englehart,Daily Freeman BC Idonwanna sez: Orangeman need better lock! |
Breaking:Trump supporters, perhaps hoping that the search of Mar-a-Lago was merely an exercise in document retrieval, were sorely disabused of that fanciful notion by DOJ's court filing on Monday that opposes releasing the underlying affidavit. DOJ made it clear that releasing the affidavit would jeopardize an on-going criminal investigation with national security implications. That affidavit allowed a federal magistrate to find probable cause that evidence of crimes would be found at Trump's home. Trumpillini attempted to distract from the seriousness of the crimes by claiming the FBI took his two expired passports and an active one during the search for classified documents. The warrant covered classified documents and records "co-mingled" with them. The passports have been returned. DOJ lawyers handling the matter wrote,"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a road map to the government's ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps," Considering the gravity of the department's representations in court it is unlikely a judge will order the affidavit released. Several news organizations had asked for release of the document.
Latest: One of the records subpoenaed by the federal grand jury is surveillance footage showing boxes of records being removed from the Mar-a-Lago basement room after they were were requested to be returned by federal officials, increasing their concerns that the classified national security documents were not secure and could be disseminated for influence or profit. There is even public speculation that some of the material was destroyed based on the criminal count of obstruction (Sec 1519) cited in the search warrant that found probable cause for the FBI search conducted Monday. Recall that the DOJ decided to resort to a search warrant after an insider informed them classified documents remained at the insecure Mar-a-Lago resort. Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in DOJ’s national security division, visited Mar-a-Lago in June. Bratt and his team left with additional material marked classified, and obtained a written declaration from a Trump lawyer attesting that all the classified material had been turned over.
This story is rapidly becoming the straw that broke the perp's back. For a person who hates to read and flushes presidential records down his toilet, to retain highly classified material in his insecure Florida compound does not have an innocent explanation. Legal pundits are beginning to question why he is not already indicted and under arrest for intentionally mishandling national defense secrets. The only thing protecting him now is the possible violent reaction of his insane supporters, if he is finally arrested. Interestingly, if Trump were convicted of violating Sec.2071 relating to willful concealment or destruction of government documents, the statute contains a disqualification from public office clause similar to that contained in the 14th Amendment.
Incredible 'law and order' defenders of the out-of-bounds former guy continue to claim that Trump 'declassified' the records before illegally taking them to his camp in south Florida. A wave of his hand may be good enough in Trumpworld, but that is not how it works in the real world. Besides, whether the records were declassified or NOT is irrelevant to the national defense crimes for which he is being investigated. Democratic leaders in Congress have asked for an assessment by security experts of the implications of Trump's illegal national security breach.
Incredible 'law and order' defenders of the out-of-bounds former guy continue to claim that Trump 'declassified' the records before illegally taking them to his camp in south Florida. A wave of his hand may be good enough in Trumpworld, but that is not how it works in the real world. Besides, whether the records were declassified or NOT is irrelevant to the national defense crimes for which he is being investigated. Democratic leaders in Congress have asked for an assessment by security experts of the implications of Trump's illegal national security breach.
Update: Thank god for the "Radical Left Democrats" who insist on justice being done in the dismal case of Donald J. Trumpilini, et al. v. the United States of America, which has reached an astounding new low this week. Perhaps prompted by bitter Repugnant denigration of the integrity of DOJ officials, AG Garland, in an atypical bold stroke, moved to unseal the search warrant and supporting information in federal court. In a typical display of self-immolating bravado Herr Trumpillini called for the unsealing. At least that is what he is saying in public. Regardless, details about the search are already beginning to reach the press. The bombshell: Trump is under investigation for violation of the Espionage Act, 18 USC 793. Yes, that is right folks!
Let that sink in a moment, then ask yourself why would self-acclaimed patriot and honest businessperson hang on to highly classified government documents he knew did not belong to him? In the twenty boxes of records the FBI removed from Mar-a-Lago, they found 11 sets of classified government documents raging from confidential to the highest category--top secret SCI, WaPo first reported that the documents included nuclear weapon secrets. If that is accurate reporting then these types of highly classified materials can only be view in compartmentalized government locations, not in the basement of a West Palm Beach mansion. That is why, according to the affidavit supporting the warrant, Trump is being investigated for criminal mishandling of government secrets. Trump is facing huge business debts coming due, and he has not shown any compunction about profiting from the occupation the highest public office in the land. He has demonstrated a particular predilection for smoozing with highly-placed Russians. He did business with the Russian mob in New York when he was a casino owner. In the parlance of crime investigation, he has both motive and opportunity. Depending on the nature of the secrets involved, they are extremely valuable to the wrong people or even bank managers. Official Washington is clearly not accustomed to dealing with a criminal sociopath as President.
It turns out he was subpoenaed this Spring for the documents by the federal grand jury investigating the 'migration' of government papers to Mar-a-Lago. Despite the subpoena, he still did not give up all of his cache. The DOJ finally resorted to a search warrant after other avenues failed. Why would an honest former president go to such lengths to illegally retain possession of government property? His only non-sensical justification so far: Obama kept more documents than he did. A ridiculous claim quickly discredited by the National Archives. 'Merica needs a timeout from the cultivated insanity of the man who would be Boss. Where was the 25th Amendment when the nation needed it the most?
{8.11.2022}The Donald made history twice this week. He became the first former president to involk the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in a civil action against him. He became the first former presient to have a seach warrant executed at his private residence. Not exactly accomplishments most presidents in our history for which they would want to be known. Let's take a closer look at these historic developments.
In the civil case brought against his company,Trump Organization, by the New York Attorney General for falsifying asset valuations in financial filings, Herr Donald responded to questioning in a deposition by refusing to answer on grounds of self-incrimination. Apparently he was following the adivce of his legal counsel who have good reason to think any statements by the garolous tycoon could be used against him in potential criminal prosecutions in Georgia and Washington, DC. Every US citizen has this privilge, but it comes with a cost. Taking the Fifth allows a negative factual inference to be made against the party relying on it. In the New York civil case, a verdict is based on a preponderance of the evidence. All other evidence against the Trump Organization being equal in the scales of justice, the inference goes a long way towards proving the state's case.
US Person hardly thinks the FBI was looking for old White House dinner menus when it took the unprecedented step of searching Mar-a-Lago on Monday. Knowing the cautious professional conduct of Meritt Garland so far, the search was signed off on after careful consideration of the political ramafications. Not only that, but the FBI had to convince a federal magistrate that the specific materials they were looking could be found at Mar-a-Lago and that there is probable cause a crime has been committed. What crime you ask? Remember almost a year ago the National Archives was looking for missing presidential documents? Donald had removed documents belonging to the United States government pursuant to the Presidential Records Act when he left the White House. What is law to the Donald--rules to be followed by political enemies like Hilary Clinton! Eventually 15 boxes of official records were returned to the Archives. When Archive staff found classified papers in those boxes, they asked the DOJ to investigate the matter.
According to reports, the DOJ negotiated for the return of yet more documents, Those negotiations got nowhere, unsurprisingly, but culminated in a visit from DOJ officials including the head of the counter-intelligence section, Jay Bratt. Acting on an insider's information that more classified material was stashed at Mar-a-Lago, and out of concern for possible compromise of those materials, the DOJ decided they had to act to get those records back where they belonged. Hardly a trivial matter given the Donald's cavalier treatment of classified information in the past. You will recall he shared classified information with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister. We will not know what exactly the FBI took in their search because the DOJ is following its long standing practice of not discussing search warrants publicly. We can hope the warrant and inventory are leaked to the press or unsealed by a judge. Of course, there is one man who knows, and is not so constrained, Herr Trumpillini, the perp who took the Fifth. Don't count on him, because he is too busy spinning the witch hunt lie to raise funds.
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| credit: de Adder, Washington Post Wackdoodle sez: First'un done gets a cheeseburger! |