After news broke a week ago—from the former president himself no less—that the FBI had conducted a search of his property at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump and very soon his allies began a drumbeat of deflections and defenses. These were so numerous and often contradictory that they called to mind Steve Bannon’s infamous
How many times does he deflect and come off with the same excuses before people wake up and see him for the lying conman he is! I will never understand how anyone can take this guy seriously even before he was president he was a joke, a liar, and conman yet here we are, I don’t get it! He has committed numerous crimes here why is he still walking g the streets? Not a consequence to be had! SMDH anyone else and they already would of been arrested!
On the larger scale, I can only conclude that after decades of declining standards of living, and seeing others get ahead as their perceived advantages have eroded (or seem to have been stolen), a huge population of this country is just ready to burn it all down. The rule of law, pretense of adherence to equality, democracy and truth; these are all expendable in fealty to the would-be authoritarian who promises to restore what’s been lost, but really only delivers hatred of those they also hate. Its really sad to see, but my most enduring takeaway from this entire episode is the shattering of the myth ‘it couldn’t happen here.’
“A subpoena for six months of video surveillance footage, however, led investigators to doubt the veracity of that representation.” Very interesting. I hope we see and hear more about these videos. Maybe DOJ can get all the videos at MAL going back to 2016.
Even assuming, arguendo, that TFG had declassified everything, the question remains: Why did he take these documents and refuse to return them? What did he intend to do with them?
Jay, I am no legal expert, so could an indictment end up in the Dupreme Court? I understand that the Espionage Act is archaic and has few teeth today in our more modern times. If that can happen, then the court will save Trump, and he gets off free and clear again.
True but I think the grievance level for those who used to be upper-middle but now find themselves lower-middle may be more acute than those lower all along. Easy to point to bigotry as another big cohort of his appeal, and then there are those who just hate ‘I know what’s good for ya liberals’ and of course those who are justifiably sick of Congress… Trump was a brick thru the window in 2016 and has moved on to full-on arsonist…
Trump truth failed again! Trade, Weapons, USA Agents overseas are Top Secret or TS:SCI, the highest USA Security level were found at Mar-A-Lago, incurring possible Espionage Charges.
I agree. I heard Rand Paul spew his garbage that he wants the act repealed, because it is vague and outdated. A Georgetown law professor said it indeed was vague, and that worried me, because I could see Trump arguing that very point and having the Supreme Court agree. I just don't see him getting what he deserves!
I believe that the claim of Executive Privilege is ludicrous -- from everything I've read, ALL Presidential documents (with the exception, perhaps, of personal attorney-client communications) belong to the people of the US, not to the person temporarily occupying that office. As the NARA noted, they (not Obama) have control over the 30,000 pages of his unclassified records stored in Chicago; he has to go through them to gain access to them.
I believe that someone noted that declassifying a document means that anyone can see it. If so, that means that anyone can now file a Freedom of Information request and learn how to build an atomic weapon. Also, if a document is marked top secret, then it must be marked as having been declassified. If it hasn't, then it wasn't.
Jay, now that these documents have been found, does the law about federal documents being archived apply, specifically the portion that states that someone disposing of or removing federal documents can no longer hold any political office? If so, when can we see that implemented?
Thank you Jay, a superior summary as always. We cannot underestimate the long term reach of 18 USC 1519.
How many times does he deflect and come off with the same excuses before people wake up and see him for the lying conman he is! I will never understand how anyone can take this guy seriously even before he was president he was a joke, a liar, and conman yet here we are, I don’t get it! He has committed numerous crimes here why is he still walking g the streets? Not a consequence to be had! SMDH anyone else and they already would of been arrested!
On the larger scale, I can only conclude that after decades of declining standards of living, and seeing others get ahead as their perceived advantages have eroded (or seem to have been stolen), a huge population of this country is just ready to burn it all down. The rule of law, pretense of adherence to equality, democracy and truth; these are all expendable in fealty to the would-be authoritarian who promises to restore what’s been lost, but really only delivers hatred of those they also hate. Its really sad to see, but my most enduring takeaway from this entire episode is the shattering of the myth ‘it couldn’t happen here.’
“A subpoena for six months of video surveillance footage, however, led investigators to doubt the veracity of that representation.” Very interesting. I hope we see and hear more about these videos. Maybe DOJ can get all the videos at MAL going back to 2016.
Trump taking Top Secret and even higher level security documents has potential of Espionage charges forthcoming.
Even assuming, arguendo, that TFG had declassified everything, the question remains: Why did he take these documents and refuse to return them? What did he intend to do with them?
Jay, I am no legal expert, so could an indictment end up in the Dupreme Court? I understand that the Espionage Act is archaic and has few teeth today in our more modern times. If that can happen, then the court will save Trump, and he gets off free and clear again.
True but I think the grievance level for those who used to be upper-middle but now find themselves lower-middle may be more acute than those lower all along. Easy to point to bigotry as another big cohort of his appeal, and then there are those who just hate ‘I know what’s good for ya liberals’ and of course those who are justifiably sick of Congress… Trump was a brick thru the window in 2016 and has moved on to full-on arsonist…
Sounds like his typical egocentric and delusional, "I make the rules." fabrication.
Trump truth failed again! Trade, Weapons, USA Agents overseas are Top Secret or TS:SCI, the highest USA Security level were found at Mar-A-Lago, incurring possible Espionage Charges.
I agree. I heard Rand Paul spew his garbage that he wants the act repealed, because it is vague and outdated. A Georgetown law professor said it indeed was vague, and that worried me, because I could see Trump arguing that very point and having the Supreme Court agree. I just don't see him getting what he deserves!
I believe that the claim of Executive Privilege is ludicrous -- from everything I've read, ALL Presidential documents (with the exception, perhaps, of personal attorney-client communications) belong to the people of the US, not to the person temporarily occupying that office. As the NARA noted, they (not Obama) have control over the 30,000 pages of his unclassified records stored in Chicago; he has to go through them to gain access to them.
As always, thank you so much for the clear, concise breakdown. I just hope the DOJ plans to indict him and this wasn't just a retrieval effort.
I believe that someone noted that declassifying a document means that anyone can see it. If so, that means that anyone can now file a Freedom of Information request and learn how to build an atomic weapon. Also, if a document is marked top secret, then it must be marked as having been declassified. If it hasn't, then it wasn't.
Jay, now that these documents have been found, does the law about federal documents being archived apply, specifically the portion that states that someone disposing of or removing federal documents can no longer hold any political office? If so, when can we see that implemented?
I'm just going to sit here and eat my popcorn....This is getting good.