Writes The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal, in "The Mar-a-Lago Affidavit: Is That All There Is?/The redacted 38-pages add to the evidence that the FBI search really was all about a dispute over documents."
That's about what I'm thinking on the subject. I wouldn't use the phrase "dead to rights." I know it just means caught in the act/caught red-handed, but in America, even when you are caught red-handed and all the evidence is against you, you have rights. I know the "to rights" part of the phrase isn't a reference to legal rights (and "dead" doesn't mean not living), but it's distracting.
US, 1854, originally New York City criminal slang, thence entered general use. dead (“completely, utterly”) + to rights (“properly”)....
With sufficient evidence to establish responsibility definitively.
Anyway, the WSJ is saying you need a more important crime than mishandling documents, and even if you had it, you'd also need absolutely indisputable proof before you indict a former President.
Posts
117 comments:
It seems like there are two options: they either indict, or they quietly announce that they're dropping the investigation, likely right before a long weekend. (Labor Day?)
I suspect that they'd prefer the latter, as the former would be a shitshow of epic proportions. The problem is that the base wants Trump's blood, and the admin, in attempting to defend themselves over the raid, have allowed wild claims to spread. Nuclear codes, for goodness' sake? All that does is make it more difficult to justify to the left why no charges should be brought.
As for WSJ, Trump has done nothing to bring this on himself, except win in 2016. Everything else is the result of the hysteria by the professional political class and their enablers.
This sums up my own feelings exactly.
“We’ll, let me tell you something, funny boy.” -Library Cop
https://mobile.twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1563319236743004163
Bring trouble on yourself = oppose the deep state.
It's actually a that's not funny problem. Maybe it helps to have listened to Trump on Imus for years, and Imus's stories of hanging out with Trump. Trump's pretty well centered and finds everything amusing, including his enemies.
From what I've seen, wouldn't this be better handled in a civil suit, as in NARA suing the former President to regain control over the document? That would be scandalous, but it wouldn't be enough to prevent Trump from being on the 2024 ballot.
To Democrats, by any means necessary. Norms be damned if it prevents Trump from running and winning again.
The documents, declassified by President Trump, were stored in a locked facility which was upgraded with another cypher lock per FBI request, in a building guarded by the Secret Service. They’ve got him now!!
"We aren’t defending Mr. Trump’s behavior in any of this. He brings much of his trouble on himself."
Bullshit.
Trump's only crime is fighting for Americans in the poor and working class against the billionaires and bureaucracy they have created to maintain their wealth and power.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board are cowards and traitors. They are Never Trump losers that are lying to conservatives. They want open borders, never ending wars, and democrats in control.
Joe Biden is a known Rapist and blatantly corrupt. But he hasn't brought any trouble on himself because he is part of the ruling Regime.
All of you pearl clutching Romney/Bush/Dole/McCain/Desantis supporters who don't want to support Trump just don't really want to fight.
The reason Trump would get at least 10 million more votes in the general than Desantis is that those working class people can see through the facade and they know who really fights for them and who just talks about fighting but is working with the regime right now.
According to the Swenik Nazis of the world - if you hate Trump enough - Trump's rights vanish.
"Under the statutory scheme established by the PRA, the decision to segregate personal materials from Presidential records is made by the President, during the President's term and in his sole discretion," Jackson wrote in her March 2012 decision, which was never appealed.
"Since the President is completely entrusted with the management and even the disposal of Presidential records during his time in office, it would be difficult for this Court to conclude that Congress intended that he would have less authority to do what he pleases with what he considers to be his personal records," she added.
What is funny is this is a blatant walk back by a regime house organ. The WSJ is just a mouthpiece for the ruling regime like the WaPo and the NYT's.
They just have different people to lie to.
What is the takeaway from this story?
1. Trump is more popular after the raid.
2. The regime is trying to settle people down and appear reasonable.
People who read the WSJ are just as stupid and gullible as the people that read the WAPO.
Freeman Hunt said...
This sums up my own feelings exactly.
These people object to what the regime is doing.
But they don't mind it so much because it is happening to Trump.
They just will not fight.
They want other people to fight for them and they want to look down their noses at the people that fight for them. It makes them feel good to pretend they are better than Trump and the working class people that support him.
Don't you have some statues to go pull down somewhere?
Horace Rumpole said "bang to rights."
Deep Staters do not believe that Trump was a legitimately elected POTUS. Therefore any actions against him (legal and illegal) are justified.
It really is that simple.
Once more the asserted crimes of Trump were pretending to be a legitimate President. Because if he was a legitimate one, then there is no crime possible here. Keeping Declassified documents any which way he wants is not against any law.
Wait...
Hol up...
What?
You...you mean 'normz' weren't restored? This is the worst coup ever!!!
Prosecuting a former president is, necessarily, a political act. It does not matter if the crime is severe and the evidence overwhelming; it remains a political act. This would be true in the best of times, with a country united and all well. We are not remotely in those sort of times.
What makes this most extreme is it is evident that various parts of the United States government, the FBI being front and center, were conspiring to undermine Trump as he ran for president and while he served as president. Using the FBI makes the corruption quite obvious.
Furthermore, prior presidents and Hillary Clinton had been just as guilty, if not more so, of these sort of violations, and there were no raids. It looks corrupt. The worst thing about it is even if Trump is guilty of something, it is still corrupt.
Of course it was just about the documents. This wasn't DOD or CIA coming after him -- it was the freaking National Archives. There's no security concern here.
The FBI leadership is heavily political. They pushed to escalate this, and when Garland dithered, they went ahead and did it. Now Garland has to thread his way through a constitutional crisis without letting anyone know that he's not really in control of his own agency.
Recall - Hillary was allowed to set up and use a PRIVATE SERVER with private e-mail that allowed her to hide her secret insider deals that enriched her and her family foundation.
Even with Russian money.
She was given a pass.
Achilles is right. Switched to the WSJ a year ago from my local rag. What a disappointment!
How exactly did Trump bring this on himself? A boatload of FBI scum drove all the way from DC to serve a warrant for some documents that are legally in his possession. They will end up giving them all back. The Biden Regime denies all knowledge of the scheme they have been working on for months. Merrick Garland claims it was his idea, although he has no idea what it's all about. This is Trump's fault? How?
Somebody needs to grab the Editorial Board of the WSJ by their pussy.
you need a more important crime than mishandling documents
You need something more than a SPECIOUS CLAIM of mishandled documents in the face of a dispute over their status and judicial precedent that says the president has the unilateral and complete authority to declassify at will.
It's not a legal brief. It's not making an "argument". It's mocking an incompetent buffoon and his hated minions.
Remember, the lefties/NeverTrump-AlwaysDemocraticals/dems (but I repeat myself) were calling for Trump to be executed just a week ago.
Executed. For treason.
But Trump "brings this on himself".
It's really just impeachment #3, except this time they're forgoing the formality of House and Senate proceedings and moving directly to the prospect of prosecution. I believe they planned it all along because it bears all the same hallmarks as the two impeachments: Make a list of available pretexts, then rank them for the most suitable one. Proceed to inflate its importance and use the media to jawbone it into a 'Big Deal'. Announce the 'Walls-Are-Closing-In bombshells', Crime of the Century (of the Week). Begin the process of prosecuting the case (in this case with a confected raid where none was required nor particularly successful, aside from the contribution to the optics).
Very tiresome, corrupted displays of power and authority for their own sake.
As for WSJ, Trump has done nothing to bring this on himself, except win in 2016. Everything else is the result of the hysteria by the professional political class and their enablers.
The WSJ, except for the Op-Ed page is every bit as leftist as the NYT. The Op-Ed page, with the exception of Kim Strassel, is pretty much GOPe. The reference to bringing this on himself just means being elected. The lunacy level of the WSJ comments has been growing since 2016.
John Podhoretz correctly asserts: "Trump is a unworthy vessel chosen by God to save us from the evil on the left."
The latter part of the assertion certainly justifies support for Trump up to a point. The problem we face is that Democrats obviously believe that the former part offers a pretext for opposing Trump without limitation, including corrupting federal courts and law enforcement, the impeachment process and the news media.
The phony document controversy makes me wonder if the statute of !imitations has run on Hillary.
Mishandling government documents isn't a crime? Seems as if someone was promising to "lock her up" in 2016 when HRC was found to have mishandled some.
Mishandling government documents isn't a crime? Seems that someone back in 2016 was promising "to lock her up" when HRC was found to have mishandled some.
Am reading Germaine De Stael's first hand account of the French Revolition. In writing about one of the radical players of whom she disapproved, and who was being hounded by the Royallist party, she writes "A popular chief can desire nothing more than an apparent persecution, followed by a real triumph."
"Is that all there is" Brought to you by the same Republicans who spent years screaming Lock Her Up at Hillary Clinton over irrelevant emails. But Trump stealing, mishandling, destroying, and refusing to return hundreds of top secret documents, and suddenly it's "its that all there is, you gotta have more" lol
If the right is wondering why their midterm prospects are dimming and why children of conservatives households are fleeing to liberalism, start with raging hypocrisy.
"Is That All There Is?" (26 Aug), brought to you by the same Republicans who screamed 'Lock Her Up!' at Hillary Clinton over irrelevant emails containing nothing serious or important.
But Trump putting national security at risk by stealing, mishandling, and refusing to return top secret documents, and now suddenly it's "its that all there is."
If the right is wondering why Democrats' midterm prospects are rising -- and why children of conservative households are increasingly liberal -- start with Republicans' raging hypocrisy.
Our government is completely and thoroughly corrupt, as is our media. This is not new. What is new is how open, brazen, and in your face they are with it. They might as well just go up to a podium and just raise their middle finger to us all. They are acting as if they see themselves as a untouchable. And in fact, they may be. May.
They ‘came out’ during the Obama administration and continue to work against the citizens of this country uninhibited. This will go on for exactly as long as the citizens allow it, and not a day longer.
Ann, on August 23, 2018, Reality Winner was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for leaking a top-secret document about Russian interference in the US election.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Trump initiated Special Prosecutor John Durham's poor efforts to disprove that there was any Russian "collusion" in the 2016 election.
Winner apparently believed she did the right thing in revealing the classified document to the public, but she still paid the price. But now we let the Chief Colluder off the hook for knowingly stealing classified government documents - because why? This is a document-proven case and you're the lawyer here.
Impeachment 3.1: the fetus is plausibly nonviable, please stand by.
So they're going with the "short skirt" blame game?
The making of a federal case out of a marital-asset-distribution like dispute.
Note to Harshaw and Dude...: The rules applying to presidential handling of documents differ from Sec. Of State. Also, there is no evidence that Trump tried to cover his actions by destroying documents and hard drives.
Most importantly, they didn't "lock her up" or even search her premises. So why are they treating Trump differently? It ain't rocket science and it has nothing to do with the reaction of Trump supporters to FBI corruption!
Yeah somehow the ex-POTUS, who got 76 million votes, "brought in on himself" Really, how so? Examples please. There are none.
And The Biden adminsitration is breaking norms/traditions JUST LIKE TRUMP.
Oh really? When did Trump use the DOJ/FBI to go after Obama? When did the R's impeach Obama for anything? The fact is, no matter how outrageous and crazy the D's act in their desire to destroy Trump, the WSJ (aka Republican establishment) still has to do the "Both sides are wrong" crap. That's why a significant part of the Republican party no longer cares what they say or think. There's just talking to their DC-Manhattan circle jerk.
Dead to rights, dead nuts, dead reckoning.
One thing Trump has brought to the surface is how many Republicans/Conservatives are basically clowns. They pretended to be serious people who cared about policy and "Institutions and norms" but when Trump came along and supported 80% of what they wanted, they still opposed him.
Policy didn't matter. He was too "icky" and "declasse" for them. All those mean tweets, my dear. The right sort of people don't support Trump. All those... truckers and plumbers. Remember Peter FBI shit Stork texting how he could smell Walmart on all those Trump supporters?
That's really basis for most of the Never-trumpers and R establishment opposition. What a stupid reaon to oppose a politican. Pure clown show.
And now we're suffering through biden. But everything's wonderful, right bozos?
The Hopeless gadfly: "Ann, on August 23, 2018, Reality Winner was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for leaking a top-secret document about Russian interference in the US election.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Trump initiated Special Prosecutor John Durham's poor efforts to disprove that there was any Russian "collusion" in the 2016 election."
Ladies and gentlemen (yes Howard, there are really only 2 categories), you are just going to have to accept that what gadfly writes is not a "put on", he/she/xe is 100% serious in posting these insane takes. He/she/xe is not kidding.
And remember, this person is able to cast votes for public office.
Mishandling government documents isn't a crime? Seems as if someone was promising to "lock her up" in 2016 when HRC was found to have mishandled some.
I know that you refuse to acknowledge it, Harsh and IG, and I know that DOJ refuses to acknowledge it with their lawless actions, but the difference is that Trump was president. And he was president when he declassified the documents and exercised the prerogatives of the president to retain said documents, which means that he was legally incapable of "mishandling" documents.
Hillary was never president. She was bound in ways that PRESIDENT Trump never was.
hombre: "The problem we face is that Democrats obviously believe that the former part offers a pretext for opposing Trump without limitation, including corrupting federal courts and law enforcement, the impeachment process and the news media."
Incorrect.
The democraticals/NeverTrump-AlwaysDemocraticals (but I repeat myself) believe they can create a pretext for opposing EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH THEM without limitation, including corrupting federal courts, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, every other federal agency (IRS, EPA et al), private companies including banking/pharma/social media, educational institutions, etc.
The democraticals/NeverTrump-AlwaysDemocraticals (but I repeat myself) are after every one of us, in every way.
Trump just got in the way.
IG: @DudeKembro: ""Is that all there is" Brought to you by the same Republicans who spent years screaming Lock Her Up at Hillary Clinton over irrelevant emails"
Ponder the degree of ignorance combined with mendaciousness it took to write that sentence.
"... Winner apparently believed she did the right thing in revealing the classified document to the public, but she still paid the price...."
Is Trump accused of leaking classified documents to the public? I think the charge is just that he moved them incorrectly (and he's asserting that the documents are actually his (or that he declassified them)). Seems to be 2 different things. You might think what she did was heroic and in the public interest. I'm not opining on that. I just think when a party takes power, it shouldn't use that power to take vengeance on its opponents and that Presidents once out of office should be left alone (as Nixon was).
The real "crisis" is going to show up when they trot out "evidence" the FBI hoovered up in the raid at the Jan 6 committee hearings set to resume in September.
It will reveal the FBI's true nature
Meanwhile, Biden is denying any knowledge or involvement.
There is enough now to justify impeachment proceedings against Biden for abuse of office.
If the right is wondering why Democrats' midterm prospects are rising -- and why children of conservative households are increasingly liberal -- start with Republicans' raging hypocrisy.
It might have a bit to do with the takeover of Education by leftist loonies like you.
ladies and gentlemen (yes Howard, there are really only 2 categories)
To be fair, in some comedic circles, in a time of funny making, it's "ladies and germs".
The FBI leadership is heavily political. They pushed to escalate this, and when Garland dithered, they went ahead and did it. Now Garland has to thread his way
I think you may be correct on this, Tom. Somebody said Garland looked like a hostage video when he made his brief appearance.
The democrats lurched way past norms long ago.
Althouse: "Is Trump accused of leaking classified documents to the public?"
The Usual Althouse Lefty Suspects were just recently accusing Trump of selling our nuclear secrets, including codes, to Putin.
Literally.
That was the insane left (which is all of them) very first hot take on this transparent Shampeachment Hoax #3.
Trump committing treason and should be put to death was their FIRST narrative push.
FYI, Bill Barr is out and praising the FBI today, because of course he is.
"Somebody needs to grab the Editorial Board of the WSJ by their pussy."
They've probably just transitioned, so be careful with that.
Shorter WSJ: "Damn it! You got our hopes up!!"
Meanwhile, Garland going Hoover with Melania's panties.
I think you may be correct on this, Tom. Somebody said Garland looked like a hostage video when he made his brief appearance.
8/27/22, 12:42 PM
This has been basically my take as well. Someone at the WH knew about the spat between Trump and the National Archives and told the FBI to go in, hoping that it would embarrass Trump and the GOP. Instead, once it became apparent that it was backfiring, they sent out Garland to take responsibility because they couldn't dare admit that the WH sidestepped the DoJ, or that someone in the admin was giving orders without Biden's approval (since they'd already claimed that he didn't know).
I think that the best way to understand the admin is to realize that they're third- and fourth-string staff who are desperately trying to keep control of the news cycle. Hence all these stupid decisions which end up hurting them in the long run.
Achilles: "All of you pearl clutching Romney/Bush/Dole/McCain/Desantis supporters who don't want to support Trump just don't really want to fight.
The reason Trump would get at least 10 million more votes in the general than Desantis is that those working class people can see through the facade and they know who really fights for them and who just talks about fighting but is working with the regime right now."
***************
Can you offer some examples of Desantis really "working with the regime right now"----and with the has-beens and defunct Old Timers you cite??
Can you more examples of Desantis working with the older timers who opposed
Achilles: "All of you pearl clutching Romney/Bush/Dole/McCain/Desantis supporters who don't want to support Trump just don't really want to fight.
The reason Trump would get at least 10 million more votes in the general than Desantis is that those working class people can see through the facade and they know who really fights for them and who just talks about fighting but is working with the regime right now."
***************
Can you offer some examples of Desantis really "working with the regime right now"----and with the has-beens and defunct Old Timers you cite??
‘But now we let the Chief Colluder off the hook for knowingly stealing classified government documents - because why? This is a document-proven case and you're the lawyer here.’
You’ll have to prove they were classified, Gadfly. Spoiler alert: they weren’t.
An impeachment inquiry means that DOJ cannot hide behind prosecutorial privilege or executive privilege or need to keep secret or even their abuse of grand jury secrecy. Congress' impeachment investigatory power is supreme, particularly since failure of DOJ to turn over things is itself an obstruction of justice.
A full inquiry will show that the Stasi's raid on Mar-a-logo was on the pretext of what is actually a non-crime, but hyped up with the aid of shadows to be able to present it to the public as one.
I always assumed the warrant was basically just a last resort to get the documents back after discussions and a document subpoena (!) failed to do the trick. But now tend to agree with Andy McCarthy, who thinks Trump may talk himself into being indicted with his ridiculous reaction to the search.
ladies and gentlemen (yes Howard, there are really only 2 categories)
n.n: "To be fair, in some comedic circles, in a time of funny making, it's "ladies and germs"."
Adding additional fun nuance to the classic phrase only sows more confusion and befuddlement amongst the "pro-science" crowd.
Hillary's Mishandling government documents
"Mishandling"? Stupid, ignorant, or dishonest. I don't know which label to put on statements like this. Ignorant would be best case, but you never know. Are the people who say something like that wrapped so tightly in their bubble nothing can penetrate it?
From Jeff Childers' Coffee and Covid this morning;
"This looks bad. REALLY bad. According to the FBI’s partially-redacted affidavit released yesterday afternoon, Trump maintained a secret email server at his home through which he surreptitiously ran all his classified communications. Then, investigators discovered that lots of hostile foreign governments had hacked the server and read all kinds of classified secrets. And then, when asked about the server, Trump used special software normally used by organized crime, to completely erase the hard drives, and then he physically destroyed all the evidence by smashing the hard drives into bits."
The walls are closing in! Let's see him get out of this one!
Readering: "I always assumed the warrant was basically just a last resort to get the documents back after discussions and a document subpoena (!) failed to do the trick. But now tend to agree with Andy McCarthy, who thinks Trump may talk himself into being indicted with his ridiculous reaction to the search."
And here we see the perfect example of the corruption pushed by the combined dem/left/never-trump crew.
Gee, our latest shampeachment ploy is clearly failing, so lets criminalize the reaction to it!!!
And they aren't kidding. They want to criminalize the act of complaining about their corruption.
Mishandling government documents isn't a crime? Seems as if someone was promising to "lock her up" in 2016 when HRC was found to have mishandled some.
You understand there is no statute of limitations on mishandling classified information and that Hillary's situation was never tried in court. If you are attempting to suggest hypocrisy, then please explain the consistent application of the law in which Hillary's mishandling of classified information is an administrative matter and Trump's is a criminal matter. Or let us know when Garland opens up the criminal investigation of Hillary.
as part of criminal slang, [not part of leagal mumbo-jumbo] >>>>
means death penalty = cement boots is called for and decided upon
side note === Trump did feed the Koi so let us feed him to the Koi
effinayright: "Can you offer some examples of Desantis really "working with the regime right now"----and with the has-beens and defunct Old Timers you cite??"
The concern is that DeSantis, for his presidential purposes, has surrounded himself with beltway insiders and his major funders, which represent the majority of where his funding comes from, are the Wall St and billionaire classes.
In comparison to Trump who has a very large populist small ($200 or less) individual donor base which keeps him (Trump) nearly equal with DeSantis in fundraising.
DeSantis has been more than willing to fight the cultural wars at the state level, and we all support that, but the fear is that when it comes to actually challenging the established bureaucracy and entrenched uni-party monied interests, will DeSantis really stand up for American workers when all his major funders benefit from business as usual?
Further, there is still zero evidence that the broader populist working class base would actually turn out for DeSantis on a national level and that populist working class base is the ONLY path forward if a resurgent republican party is to effectively compete, assuming the democraticals/nevertrump-alwaysdemocraticals (but I repeat myself) don't permanently "fortify" our "election systems" so that the dems never lose again.
Note to Hombre and Bender
Trump was our employee, an employee of the United States. The laws cited in the search warrant don't pertain to classified materials, they apply to government records. I'm old enough to remember the long struggle over Nixon's records, which was resolved by declaring all records the property of the US, not of the president.
There's no excuse for him to hold onto them for 18 months or whatever it is.
As always the comments are filled with loonies and the post shows you would not want to take a legal class from her. Really, informed legal opinion has shifted to when is Trump going to be indicted and she is supporting a bad WSJ opinion defending a Republican, in this case Trump, which they always do.
Mishandling government documents isn't a crime? Seems as if someone was promising to "lock her up" in 2016 when HRC was found to have mishandled some.
Another dumbshit who doesn't know the difference between the President of the United States and the Secretary of State.
Readering said...
I always assumed the warrant was basically just a last resort to get the documents back after discussions and a document subpoena (!) failed to do the trick. But now tend to agree with Andy McCarthy, who thinks Trump may talk himself into being indicted with his ridiculous reaction to the search.
We all saw you.
You are a fascist piece of shit.
This walk back garbage is clearly garbage. Your mask slipped too far.
effinayright said...
Can you offer some examples of Desantis really "working with the regime right now"----and with the has-beens and defunct Old Timers you cite??
Can you more examples of Desantis working with the older timers who opposed
Desantis hasn't destroyed himself. I could still support him in 2028. But he has a long ways to go before I trust him.
Here is my list of warning signs:
Desantis has been obviously and blatantly silent about the raid on Trump's house that happened in his home state.
Desantis just hired the same DC consultants to manage him and shape him that Cruz hired in 2016.
Desantis has on several occasions said if Trump runs in 2024 he will not run. If he runs in 2024 he is a liar.
Desantis out raised Trump in 2nd quarter through large donations from wall street and corporate interests.
The working class voters that I have described will not turn out for Desantis until 2028 and he was part of the Trump administration.
If you want a DDesantis who will get 65 million votes in 2024 instead of a Trump who will get 75 million you are not serious about this fight.
"the WSJ is saying you need a more important crime than mishandling documents, and even if you had it, you'd also need absolutely indisputable proof before you indict a former President.
Which is very nice. But also irrelevant, as long as progs have all the power. They don't need a "more important crime"; any crime will do. They don't care about "indisputable proof"; any hint will do. What is this business about "what you need" after the Hillary exoneration and the Russia collusion hoax and the Hunter laptop disinformation trick? The prog establishment fights hard. The nice reasonable people to their right lament their misdeeds. So here we are.
Bill Harshaw said...
Mishandling government documents isn't a crime? Seems as if someone was promising to "lock her up" in 2016 when HRC was found to have mishandled some.
What Trump did and what Hillary did are obviously different things.
Trump legally declassified documents and took them to his storage to create his library just like every president in history has done.
Hillary illegally ripped documents off of NIPR and other classified secure networks and distributed those documents to people without clearances. She stored those documents on unsecure computers and networks. Then she destroyed those documents during the investigation. Hillry destroyed over 33000 documents that were under subpoena. There are Service members in jail for years for destroying 1 or 2 pictures during hte investigation.
You are just a dishonest piece of shit if you conflate these two actions.
Try this on your prog friends. Ask which two Trump laws or policies most offend them. They firs give a thousand Mike stare and then say something like he’s a racist. Agree. Yep he’s a racist but which two policies offended you or influenced your way of living. You will not get an answer , but agree with every stupid thing they claim about him and ask the question again. It’s fun.
Most everyone by now assumes that the “classified” documents are those showing the malfeasance and perfidy of the FBI and DOJ in the Crossfire Hurricane RussiaGate investigation - that turned out to have been originated, pushed, and funded by Crooked Hillary, her campaign, and the DNC. Trump repeatedly tried to get the incriminating documents declassified throughout 2020, and formally ordered them declassified his last full day in office. Amazingly, despite a formal signed Presidential order, they still aren’t declassified (according to FOIA requests). This means that either the FBI Counterintelligence Division (CD) and DOJ National Security Division (NSD), the two organizations that would had to do the declassification work, ignored a Presidential order, implementing his plenary declassification authority, the FJB Administration reclassified them, or they have been declassified. Note that the search warrant ordered seizure of documents marked classified, and not actually classified documents. This may be a critical admission there. In any case, the claim that Trump illegally removed and stored classified documents verges on frivolous. Moreover, by its very terms, the Espionage Act does not apply to Trump. He was never an officer or employee of the federal government. (Plenty of Supreme Court precedent that the President is not covered by statutes covering officers and employees of the govt - but Crooked Hillary, as Secretary of State obviously was covered). Let me add that the surfacing of Andrew Weissman and Peter Strzok, rearing their slimy heads, as talking heads, is additional indicia that the supposed classified documents involve their RussiaGate perfidy and malfeasance.
This means that indicting Trump under the Espionage Act would be legally frivolous. And note that the magistrate who granted the search warrant could not try the case - since he is not an Article III judge (arguably he didn’t have the authority to issue the search warrant for the same reason).
In any case, this leave the supposed violation of the Presidential Records Act - which is a civil, not a criminal violation.
eadering said...
I always assumed the warrant was basically just a last resort to get the documents back after discussions and a document subpoena (!) failed to do the trick.
Yes, the FBI was determined to get and shred those crossfire hurricane docs. Trump declassified them, of course, but that did not impress the FBI. They remember Hillary saying hysterically, "If this guy wins we'll all hang !" So they ignored the rules and went after those damning docs. Maybe Garland was not even warned they were doing it. Maybe that is why his short appearance 3 days later looked like a hostage video.
By the way, did you ever answer my questions?
"We aren’t defending Mr. Trump’s behavior in any of this..."
"...because we don't want to get cancelled."
Ann Althouse said...
"... Winner apparently believed she did the right thing in revealing the classified document to the public, but she still paid the price...."
Is Trump accused of leaking classified documents to the public? I think the charge is just that he moved them incorrectly (and he's asserting that the documents are actually his (or that he declassified them)). Seems to be 2 different things. You might think what she did was heroic and in the public interest. I'm not opining on that. I just think when a party takes power, it shouldn't use that power to take vengeance on its opponents and that Presidents once out of office should be left alone (as Nixon was).
The subject is Donald Trump, not Reality Winner's motives that I speculated about. Sorry.
What we know is that upon leaving the White House, FPOTUS took classified and other documents the Presidential Records Act says must be in the Archives.
After begging for and finally receiving several document returns, DOJ intelligence found that even more unauthorized documents remained at Mar-a-Lago. If so, obstruction comes into play, as defined under 18 USC 1519, put in place as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was used against Enron, Arthur-Anderson, and WorldCom.
During the FBI search, even more illegally retained documents showed up despite Christina Bobbs' previously signed statement that all had been returned. Depending on the seriousness of the classifications, the Espionage Act might also come into play, so this is a case for the courts, not Truth Social.
The law is the law and being an ex-president status doesn't change the laws - especially laws pertaining only to ex-presidents. Trump himself signed the law that raised the violation of the Presidential Records Act to a felony.
"But his political enemies make it worse when they break political norms themselves. They also help Mr. Trump by making him into a political martyr. If you’re going to indict a former President, you’d better have him dead to rights on something bigger than mishandling documents."
'nuff said.
Michael K: It might have a bit to do with the takeover of Education by leftist loonies like you.
Conservatives pretending kids have ever listened to teachers lol
Sorry, Michael, but the reason kids of Republican households are turning liberal is because they see with their own ears and ears, up close and personal, what a sick, twisted, fascist, unpatriotic personality cult conservativism has become. They see, in their own homes, that most Republicans today are hate mongering, patholgical lying, hypocritical phonies and climate change denying lunatics.
Your children are running away from your Republican politics because of YOU.
Try this on your prog friends. Ask which two Trump laws or policies most offend them...You will not get an answer, but agree with every stupid thing they claim about him and ask the question again. It’s fun.
Talk about a stupid claim lol
1) Traumatizing migrant kids with family separation instead of implementing serious immigration fixes
2) Cutting taxes for billionaires
3) Worsening the pandemic by not taking COVID seriously, undermining mitigation measures, and focusing on sore loser election lies instead of getting America vaxxed
So that's three. I got about a dozen more. Debunking right wing delusional bs is fun.
"That's about what I'm thinking on the subject. I wouldn't use the phrase "dead to rights." I know it just means caught in the act/caught red-handed, but in America, even when you are caught red-handed and all the evidence is against you, you have rights. I know the "to rights" part of the phrase isn't a reference to legal rights (and "dead" doesn't mean not living), but it's distracting."
Althouse gibberish at its best
Leland: "Or let us know when Garland opens up the criminal investigation of Hillary."
Imagine not knowing Hillary's emails were already criminally investigated by the FBI, as well as by congressional Republicans. She was cleared because she did nothing wrong: unlike in Treason Trump's trove of top secret documents including intel sources, there was nothing serious or important in Hillary's emails, only 3 (of tens of thousands) with classified markings that weren't clear, and rules at the time allowed her both broad latitude to declassify and to curate/delete at her discretion.
Let us know when Trump testifies publicly under oath for 11 hours as Hillary did. Oh, right, he won't, because he's a criminal, a thug, and a patholgical liar who will perjure himself.
Would like to know when the Bush White House will be investigated for deleting millions of emails from their private server during the Plame Affair. And when the investigation into Trump's crimes expands to include his crime family's use of private email and unsecured phones.
There's no excuse for him to hold onto them for 18 months or whatever it is.
Obama held on to his a month longer before reaching a MOU agreement with NARA to only provide them digital copies.
“Meanwhile, Garland going Hoover with Melania's panties.”
A greedy snort of panties! I hope they have that on film.
That phrase could go back to Gaelic. A lot of early New York underworld slang does.
Trump is Emmanuel Goldstein, the necessary enemy.
The link to Coffee and Covid supplied by Jupiter is a really good analysis. In detail it explains what I said briefly in many spots: the opening was BS and everything that follows is more BS to support the initial BS, probably including all the redacted BS.
And no one on any blog, including this one, has met my challenge to find the law that outlines the procedures POTUS has to follow to declassify a document. One self identified lawyer said, well, other presidents had procedures- he should have followed them! So I challenged him to find and document those non-existent procedures.
And remember- the government, in any case, has to prove the case. Seems the entire “case” consists of the FBI and NARA saying Trump didn’t declassify the documents, and Trump said he did. And as a “distinguished “ law professor said at Reason.com, well , who’s going to believe Trump? Doesn’t matter- how does the government prove he didn’t. I guess “distinguished “ doesn’t have the same meaning it used to when that’s the best argument that can be mustered.
IG @DudeKembro must be some sort of deranged sock puppet or paid troll. Looks like his posts today are some of the worst idiocy I’ve yet seen in the Althouse comment section.
Saying Hillary was cleared because she did nothing wrong- Good Grief. The excuse used was no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute. When the correct terminology should have been “Our DemoncRAT prosecutors won’t prosecute.”
Achilles @ 9:25am,
Reminds me of Kipling's "Tommy".
So that's three. I got about a dozen more. Debunking right wing delusional bs is fun.
Especially with lies, lefty.
I thought it was odd that someone would call herself 'IG @DudeKembro', with the larger part apparently a Twitter handle. Looked up '@DudeKembro' on Twitter, was not surprised to find he was suspended. Is he here because he heard that AA has no ability to ban anyone and can only delete offensive posts one by one? Seems likely.
Starting to get a "lifelong republican" vibe from IG: @DudeKembro
“Trump himself signed the law that raised the violation of the Presidential Records Act to a felony.”
He may regret that one day.
IG: @DudeKembro
How's climate change embracers Germany going to deal with upcoming winters?
Emgland predicted to have quadrupling of energy costs by April.
It ain't CO2 doing that.
https://t.me/MizDonna/8649
It's been awhile since PBJ/anywho or President Toilet Paper Shoe's Perfect Phone Call has shown up, but perhaps sneaking in.
Ingot,
Gonna regret your grandkids getting mrna jabbed?
Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "He may regret that one day."
LOL
Why?
Did Trump stop being President? The PRA is quite clear that the President has sole and complete authority to determine what are or are not Presidential records and personal records.
Interesting Note: We are about 3 full weeks into this latest Sham-peachment hoax by our democraticals/NeverTrump-AlwaysDemocraticals and our Althouse idiot lefties still, to this very moment, refuse to acknowledge Trump as an elected President with all rights and authority that accrues with that position as head of the Executive Branch.
Do you actually need proof when it's TRUMP?
Am I the only one who can't take no more
Screamin', "If you don't like it there's the fuckin' door"
This ain't the freedom we've been fightin' for
It was somethin' more, yeah, it was somethin' more
Am I the only one, willin' to fight
For my love of the red and white
And the blue, burnin' on the ground
Another statue comin' down in a town near you
[Post Chorus]
Watchin' the threads of Old Glory come undone
I'm not the only one
I can't be the only one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV0aFRWY4fE
gadfly said...
Ann, on August 23, 2018, Reality Winner was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for leaking a top-secret document about Russian interference in the US election.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Trump initiated Special Prosecutor John Durham's poor efforts to disprove that there was any Russian "collusion" in the 2016 election.
Winner apparently believed she did the right thing in revealing the classified document to the public, but she still paid the price. But now we let the Chief Colluder off the hook for knowingly stealing classified government documents - because why? This is a document-proven case and you're the lawyer here.
8/27/22, 11:27 AM
Tell that to Snowden and Assange.
I’ll bet dollars to donuts that Mr. Garland has the same criteria for indicting a former president as the WSJ and Prof. Althouse.
The FBI better have found the Lindbergh Baby at Mar-a-Lago because if it’s anything less, they just made Trump president again in 2024. The redacted affidavit is an insult to the American people and fuel for campaign ads for Trump.
That we are, 3 weeks later, being asked to consider whether it is possible that there might be something that Trump could maybe have done or been construed to have done or failed to do properly with regard to records, rather than why Garland hasn't resigned or been fired, tells us that we are in a very bad place as a nation.
Richard Aubrey: "Do you actually need proof when it's TRUMP?"
Not at all.
However, the dems/lefties/NeverTrump-AlwaysDemocraticals (but I repeat myself) like it even more when they use fake and hoaxed up "proof". Over and over and over and over and over again.
Tom:The FBI better have found the Lindbergh Baby at Mar-a-Lago because if it’s anything less, they just made Trump president again in 2024. The redacted affidavit is an insult to the American people and fuel for campaign ads for Trump.
Imagine being so deep down the delusional right wing rabbit hole, you actually believe this lol
Imagine not knowing Americans are totally exhausted with Trump's nonstop lies, incompetence, and drama, and have zero interest in four more years of it.
Imagine not knowing ~60% support the investigations into Drama Queen Donnie's thuggery and semi-fascist criminality. Imagine thinking more Americans trust pathological lying birther bigot Trump than trust law enforcement to investigate Putin-puppet Trump's criminal theft, destruction, mishandling, and refusal to return top secret classified documents.
Imagine not knowing Trumpist swing state Senate candidates are going down in flames, as Americans reject forced birth and the sore loser election lies with which Trump incited the deadly Jan 6 QAnon #MAGATerrorist insurrection attack to destroy democracy.
Imagine thinking Trump (who got 3 million fewer votes than the 2016 Democratic nominee, and 7+ million fewer than the 2020 Dem nominee) has any chance as his base of geriatric, racist Boomers dies off and youth voters who despise everything he and his change denying party stand for age into the electorate.
Maybe when Dementia Donald loses by 15 million votes in 2024, his fanboys will realize that nobody outside of their out of touch, radical right extremist cult is buying what the Trump crime family is selling. #LockHimUp
IG: @DudeKembro - The only President with actual dementia is the one you are rooting for...the one destroying America as we know it.....Joe Demento Biden. Open your eyes. Or Wake up and turn off MSNBC.
IG: @DudeKembro: "Imagine being so deep..(lots of moronic filler)..is selling."
You were wise to give up on the thread topic given the indefensibility of your position.
Trump incited the deadly Jan 6 QAnon #MAGATerrorist insurrection attack to destroy democracy.
--
Worst insurrection ever. More shots fired at Lady Gaga's dog-napping.
Only caused deaths at hands of the cops/incompetent security officer who made his name prior by misplacing his gun.
Doors opened by cops/staff. Planted Feds and their hired hands fomenting aggression. Arrests for "parading". Tons of footage unreleased. Corrupt DC court.
Ridiculous jail treatment/torture.
Democracy!
Imagine the FBI sitting forever on Renaissance man Hunter Biden's coke and cum covered laptop with oodles of incriminating evidence of the true crime family of Biden, Inc.
Imagine big tech squashing the story before an election at behest of FBI and/or their own bias against Trump.
No need to imagine.
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