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Trump's Present and Future possible indictments
- Thread starter Sixties Fan
- Start date
Sixties Fan
Diamond Member
- Mar 6, 2017
- 57,390
- 10,921
- Thread starter
- #222
[ Breaking news last night ]
“The email lady,” as Jeff Tiedrich refers to Hillary Clinton, was right about everything. And here we are: Donald Trump has been indicted again, for the second time in less than two months. This time the charges (seven counts—at least for now—will be read in Federal Court in Miami next Tuesday) are more serious, relating as they do to the fact that Donald stole classified and highly sensitive documents that belong to the United States government—that is, to the people.
I didn’t use the word “allegedly” before “stole” because we know he took the documents from the White House after he no longer had legitimate access to them; we know that he refused to return them even thought the National Archive asked him repeatedly and deferentially; we know that he lied about having returned everything; and we know that if anybody else in this country had done something similar—or even significantly less egregious—that person would have been arrested, handcuffed, and imprisoned a very long time ago. And that person would very likely be spending the rest of their life in prison.
We know so much.
It is gratifying (I’m not sure if that’s the right word) that there is finally some movement towards treating his casual disregard for our national security—and for us—with the level of seriousness required.
There are many reasons I don’t like to talk or write about Donald. Of course, I have to—not because he’s my uncle but because in 2016 he was tragically elevated to a position of power he had no right to inhabit and in four short years he came very close to breaking this country irreparably. And we still can’t ignore him because the party that failed to stop him in 2016 continues to support, enable, and cover for him with the result that, barring unforeseen circumstances, he will be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. It is gobsmacking, it is breath-taking, and it is all of a piece with what I have witnessed of Donald and his bizarre trajectory throughout the course of my life.
As somebody who cares about the future of this country and the people living in it, I cannot ignore the fact that Donald Trump is a significant and malign force in American politics. And I hate it. I hate it in the ways that anybody who cares about democracy or equality or the well-being of their fellow citizens hate it. But I hate it, too, because he is my uncle. He is a man I have known my whole life. I watched him rise to ridiculous levels of wealth and fame, propelled in part by his father, despite his obvious lack of skills or intelligence. I watched as he, along with my grandfather, destroyed my dad.
And then, because America is so broken, so mired in its history of racism and misogyny and hatred of the Other; because America is so incapable of looking at itself in the mirror, I had to watch him, in his position as leader of the free world (what a fucking travesty), as he tried to destroy the Western alliance in order to appease brutal dictators simply because they knew how to flatter his pathetic ego. I had to watch as implemented the Muslim ban, threw trans service members out of the military in which he never bothered to serve, and kidnapped children only to put them in concentration camps.
I had to watch as he implemented policies—or failed to implement policies—that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans knowing all along that he did it willfully and maliciously for his own political gain. I had to watch as he destroyed the economy and brought American democracy to the brink with his Big Lie and incitement of an insurrection against his own country.
There is nothing he won’t do to get away with his crimes. He will turn his followers against the rest of us, he will threaten to destroy the Republican Party if it doesn’t do his bidding (and it will do his bidding). If none of that works, he will burn it all down.
It will get worse before it gets better. It will be frightening, it will be frustrating, and it will be dangerous. But it will get better eventually. If we stick together and refuse to give up hope, it will get better.
Mary L. Trump
“The email lady,” as Jeff Tiedrich refers to Hillary Clinton, was right about everything. And here we are: Donald Trump has been indicted again, for the second time in less than two months. This time the charges (seven counts—at least for now—will be read in Federal Court in Miami next Tuesday) are more serious, relating as they do to the fact that Donald stole classified and highly sensitive documents that belong to the United States government—that is, to the people.
I didn’t use the word “allegedly” before “stole” because we know he took the documents from the White House after he no longer had legitimate access to them; we know that he refused to return them even thought the National Archive asked him repeatedly and deferentially; we know that he lied about having returned everything; and we know that if anybody else in this country had done something similar—or even significantly less egregious—that person would have been arrested, handcuffed, and imprisoned a very long time ago. And that person would very likely be spending the rest of their life in prison.
We know so much.
It is gratifying (I’m not sure if that’s the right word) that there is finally some movement towards treating his casual disregard for our national security—and for us—with the level of seriousness required.
There are many reasons I don’t like to talk or write about Donald. Of course, I have to—not because he’s my uncle but because in 2016 he was tragically elevated to a position of power he had no right to inhabit and in four short years he came very close to breaking this country irreparably. And we still can’t ignore him because the party that failed to stop him in 2016 continues to support, enable, and cover for him with the result that, barring unforeseen circumstances, he will be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. It is gobsmacking, it is breath-taking, and it is all of a piece with what I have witnessed of Donald and his bizarre trajectory throughout the course of my life.
As somebody who cares about the future of this country and the people living in it, I cannot ignore the fact that Donald Trump is a significant and malign force in American politics. And I hate it. I hate it in the ways that anybody who cares about democracy or equality or the well-being of their fellow citizens hate it. But I hate it, too, because he is my uncle. He is a man I have known my whole life. I watched him rise to ridiculous levels of wealth and fame, propelled in part by his father, despite his obvious lack of skills or intelligence. I watched as he, along with my grandfather, destroyed my dad.
And then, because America is so broken, so mired in its history of racism and misogyny and hatred of the Other; because America is so incapable of looking at itself in the mirror, I had to watch him, in his position as leader of the free world (what a fucking travesty), as he tried to destroy the Western alliance in order to appease brutal dictators simply because they knew how to flatter his pathetic ego. I had to watch as implemented the Muslim ban, threw trans service members out of the military in which he never bothered to serve, and kidnapped children only to put them in concentration camps.
I had to watch as he implemented policies—or failed to implement policies—that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans knowing all along that he did it willfully and maliciously for his own political gain. I had to watch as he destroyed the economy and brought American democracy to the brink with his Big Lie and incitement of an insurrection against his own country.
There is nothing he won’t do to get away with his crimes. He will turn his followers against the rest of us, he will threaten to destroy the Republican Party if it doesn’t do his bidding (and it will do his bidding). If none of that works, he will burn it all down.
It will get worse before it gets better. It will be frightening, it will be frustrating, and it will be dangerous. But it will get better eventually. If we stick together and refuse to give up hope, it will get better.
Mary L. Trump
Sixties Fan
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- Mar 6, 2017
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Here’s where we stand as of Thursday evening:
First, Trump claimed on social media that he’s been indicted in what he has taken to calling “the boxes hoax.” There is nothing official yet from DOJ, we have not seen the official indictment but word began to trickle out, confirming the former president has been indicted by the federal government.
Here’s what Trump said.
He continued.
Of course, except for the fact of being indicted, the rest is garbage.
The New York Times is reporting Trump was charged with a total of seven counts, including willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and an obstruction of justice conspiracy, according to people familiar with the matter. That first charge is an espionage act violation that carries a statutory penalty of up to 10 years. The second two charges most likely have a statutory maximum of 5 years each, although it’s not possible to be certain until we see the indictment itself.
We’ve come a long way. A year ago, the January 6 committee was preparing to start its hearings. There was little, if any, certainty that the process would succeed, and less that our legal system was up to the task of holding Trump accountable. There were some early signs that DOJ had begun grand jury proceedings, but the Trump-spun narrative of a witch hunt had taken hold, and many people believed that the former president who inspired an insurrection would walk away clean.
We are in a much different position a year later, with the former president now indicted. The Attorney General, who said in a January 2022 speech that he was committed to following the evidence no matter where it led has fulfilled a part of his commitment, even if these first steps involve the surprise detour into Trump’s abuse of his access to classified documents and other sensitive material. Garland had signaled he would not interfere with the special counsel’s decisions unless they were outside the mainstream of how DOJ would conduct similar cases, and he did not.
We are an America that is in a much better place than we were a year ago. Yes, it’s still fraught. But the rule of law seems to be gaining strength. These next few weeks will bring public reactions to indictments. We will learn whether the special counsel is willing to and has the ability to make his case to the American people, within the confines of due process. In other words, can he explain the process and the charges, without veering into improper argument at this stage about the former president’s guilt. And in the midst of all this, we are still surrounded by the political aftershocks of the Trump era, including a rising tide of would-be authoritarian entrants into the political arena and a Republican Party that appears to have no interest in stemming it. It’s a volatile moment. But we enter it as a stronger nation than we were a year ago.
The Trump era was one characterized by shock, as we saw the laws and norms that girded our democratic institutions stripped away. We learned that a leader who worked to advance his own interests, not to secure the future of the country, could ignore, twist and even violate the basic principles and laws that have served our country well over the centuries, often with impunity. In a constitutional republic like ours, there is a basic assumption that our leaders will be people of good faith people who work, perhaps not exclusively, but primarily, with the interests of the country at heart. As Americans we may have reasonable disagreements about what those best interests are and what executing them looks like, but Trump, uniquely among our presidents, was willing to burn down the country in service to himself. These are plain truths that far too many of our country’s leaders are still unwilling to publicly acknowledge.
If Trump had his way, by the end, there would have been no peaceful transfer of power to the Biden administration. Free and fair elections would have been at an end in our country. Institutions would have served Trump and his minions. Career employees who couldn’t or refused to demonstrate loyalty to Trump would, at best, have been dismissed. And Trump has made it clear that democracy would suffer death by a thousand cuts if he ever regains the White House.
But that is not where we are. Our republic has shown surprising resiliency in the face of not only a corrupt president but a political party that was willing to shield him. We are not the healthy, vibrant democracy, the shining city on the hill that can speak with authority to other nations about improving democracy at home and abroad, but we are still here. And we are in the moment that will determine whether we continue to grow stronger and what our future looks like.
Trump predicted that if he was indicted in NYC there would be violence in the streets. That prospect did not materialize. The District Attorney’s charges will move forward on their merits to resolution in court. Trump has amped up his calls for “support” from his base on social media. There is no reason to believe the president who instigated January 6 to hold onto power will not pull out all of the stops available to him to save himself from prison. We can’t predict with certainty what will happen now. Perhaps people will go on with their lives, waiting to see what happens; the idea of a former president under indictment sufficiently normalized by the Manhattan charges. Perhaps there will be protests—that is our right as Americans. What we cannot tolerate is a repeat of January 6-style efforts to further damage our government. Our political leaders, government officials, and law enforcement must stand prepared to resoundingly turn back any effort to respond to a Trump indictment in an extra-legal fashion. As citizens, we must insist that they do so.
Nonetheless, this is a moment to take stock and to realize how far we’ve come from the fragility that shook the country in January of 2021. We’re entitled to a small moment of self-congratulation to appreciate everything that we have accomplished, and to double down on the commitment to preserve an American Republic from succumbing to a dangerous cult leader with fascist tendencies.
The American dream has always been aspirational, in the sense that there is always more work to do to extend its promise to include all of us. Women, Black people, immigrants, people who follow different faiths or none at all, people who were formerly incarcerated, and on and on. We, like always, have much important work ahead of us as a country to make sure we have a more perfect union. The good news is, we have fought our way back from a struggle it looked like we might not survive. We have the strength and the grit to restore ourselves. The next few weeks will tell an important story. Tonight, we go to sleep knowing no man is above the law. We still live in a rule of law country where even a former president can be prosecuted for violating the law.
Joyce Vance
First, Trump claimed on social media that he’s been indicted in what he has taken to calling “the boxes hoax.” There is nothing official yet from DOJ, we have not seen the official indictment but word began to trickle out, confirming the former president has been indicted by the federal government.
Here’s what Trump said.
He continued.
Of course, except for the fact of being indicted, the rest is garbage.
The New York Times is reporting Trump was charged with a total of seven counts, including willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and an obstruction of justice conspiracy, according to people familiar with the matter. That first charge is an espionage act violation that carries a statutory penalty of up to 10 years. The second two charges most likely have a statutory maximum of 5 years each, although it’s not possible to be certain until we see the indictment itself.
We’ve come a long way. A year ago, the January 6 committee was preparing to start its hearings. There was little, if any, certainty that the process would succeed, and less that our legal system was up to the task of holding Trump accountable. There were some early signs that DOJ had begun grand jury proceedings, but the Trump-spun narrative of a witch hunt had taken hold, and many people believed that the former president who inspired an insurrection would walk away clean.
We are in a much different position a year later, with the former president now indicted. The Attorney General, who said in a January 2022 speech that he was committed to following the evidence no matter where it led has fulfilled a part of his commitment, even if these first steps involve the surprise detour into Trump’s abuse of his access to classified documents and other sensitive material. Garland had signaled he would not interfere with the special counsel’s decisions unless they were outside the mainstream of how DOJ would conduct similar cases, and he did not.
We are an America that is in a much better place than we were a year ago. Yes, it’s still fraught. But the rule of law seems to be gaining strength. These next few weeks will bring public reactions to indictments. We will learn whether the special counsel is willing to and has the ability to make his case to the American people, within the confines of due process. In other words, can he explain the process and the charges, without veering into improper argument at this stage about the former president’s guilt. And in the midst of all this, we are still surrounded by the political aftershocks of the Trump era, including a rising tide of would-be authoritarian entrants into the political arena and a Republican Party that appears to have no interest in stemming it. It’s a volatile moment. But we enter it as a stronger nation than we were a year ago.
The Trump era was one characterized by shock, as we saw the laws and norms that girded our democratic institutions stripped away. We learned that a leader who worked to advance his own interests, not to secure the future of the country, could ignore, twist and even violate the basic principles and laws that have served our country well over the centuries, often with impunity. In a constitutional republic like ours, there is a basic assumption that our leaders will be people of good faith people who work, perhaps not exclusively, but primarily, with the interests of the country at heart. As Americans we may have reasonable disagreements about what those best interests are and what executing them looks like, but Trump, uniquely among our presidents, was willing to burn down the country in service to himself. These are plain truths that far too many of our country’s leaders are still unwilling to publicly acknowledge.
If Trump had his way, by the end, there would have been no peaceful transfer of power to the Biden administration. Free and fair elections would have been at an end in our country. Institutions would have served Trump and his minions. Career employees who couldn’t or refused to demonstrate loyalty to Trump would, at best, have been dismissed. And Trump has made it clear that democracy would suffer death by a thousand cuts if he ever regains the White House.
But that is not where we are. Our republic has shown surprising resiliency in the face of not only a corrupt president but a political party that was willing to shield him. We are not the healthy, vibrant democracy, the shining city on the hill that can speak with authority to other nations about improving democracy at home and abroad, but we are still here. And we are in the moment that will determine whether we continue to grow stronger and what our future looks like.
Trump predicted that if he was indicted in NYC there would be violence in the streets. That prospect did not materialize. The District Attorney’s charges will move forward on their merits to resolution in court. Trump has amped up his calls for “support” from his base on social media. There is no reason to believe the president who instigated January 6 to hold onto power will not pull out all of the stops available to him to save himself from prison. We can’t predict with certainty what will happen now. Perhaps people will go on with their lives, waiting to see what happens; the idea of a former president under indictment sufficiently normalized by the Manhattan charges. Perhaps there will be protests—that is our right as Americans. What we cannot tolerate is a repeat of January 6-style efforts to further damage our government. Our political leaders, government officials, and law enforcement must stand prepared to resoundingly turn back any effort to respond to a Trump indictment in an extra-legal fashion. As citizens, we must insist that they do so.
Nonetheless, this is a moment to take stock and to realize how far we’ve come from the fragility that shook the country in January of 2021. We’re entitled to a small moment of self-congratulation to appreciate everything that we have accomplished, and to double down on the commitment to preserve an American Republic from succumbing to a dangerous cult leader with fascist tendencies.
The American dream has always been aspirational, in the sense that there is always more work to do to extend its promise to include all of us. Women, Black people, immigrants, people who follow different faiths or none at all, people who were formerly incarcerated, and on and on. We, like always, have much important work ahead of us as a country to make sure we have a more perfect union. The good news is, we have fought our way back from a struggle it looked like we might not survive. We have the strength and the grit to restore ourselves. The next few weeks will tell an important story. Tonight, we go to sleep knowing no man is above the law. We still live in a rule of law country where even a former president can be prosecuted for violating the law.
Joyce Vance
Sixties Fan
Diamond Member
- Mar 6, 2017
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- #224
Sixties Fan
Diamond Member
- Mar 6, 2017
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- Thread starter
- #225
“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.”
Mike Pence
Mike Pence
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Part 1
With the hammer of the U.S. justice system seemingly poised to come down at any moment on our already disgraced, twice impeached former President Donald Trump, it is vital we frame the case or cases filed against the president the right way.
Failure to do so misrepresents the crimes that he is alleged to have committed and understates the threat Trump continues to represent.
This means that my brothers and sisters in the media and the D.C. commentariat need to stop referring to the former president’s theft of classified documents vital to our national security as merely “the documents case.”
Even as short-hand, it makes it sound as though Trump were being charged with a bureaucratic slip-up, a mistake in shifting a few pieces of paper he moved from the White House to his southern temple of excess in West Palm Beach. It is a framing that serves the former president’s defenders, and allows them to equate it to other instances in which government documents ended up in the homes of former officials—but were quickly returned as soon as the mistake was discovered.
Shorthand descriptions of events we refer to repeatedly may seem useful, but they are deeply misleading if what they leave out are the essential elements of what we are describing. Based on evidence that has already been made public we know that Trump did not mistakenly shift a classified document or two from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. He was briefed repeatedly on the proper handling of classified materials. He has even acknowledged, on tape, that he understood how such sensitive, easily weaponizable documents should be treated.
news.yahoo.com
With the hammer of the U.S. justice system seemingly poised to come down at any moment on our already disgraced, twice impeached former President Donald Trump, it is vital we frame the case or cases filed against the president the right way.
Failure to do so misrepresents the crimes that he is alleged to have committed and understates the threat Trump continues to represent.
This means that my brothers and sisters in the media and the D.C. commentariat need to stop referring to the former president’s theft of classified documents vital to our national security as merely “the documents case.”
Even as short-hand, it makes it sound as though Trump were being charged with a bureaucratic slip-up, a mistake in shifting a few pieces of paper he moved from the White House to his southern temple of excess in West Palm Beach. It is a framing that serves the former president’s defenders, and allows them to equate it to other instances in which government documents ended up in the homes of former officials—but were quickly returned as soon as the mistake was discovered.
Shorthand descriptions of events we refer to repeatedly may seem useful, but they are deeply misleading if what they leave out are the essential elements of what we are describing. Based on evidence that has already been made public we know that Trump did not mistakenly shift a classified document or two from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. He was briefed repeatedly on the proper handling of classified materials. He has even acknowledged, on tape, that he understood how such sensitive, easily weaponizable documents should be treated.
Trump Case Isn’t About ‘Documents,’ It’s About National Security
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyWith the hammer of the U.S. justice system seemingly poised to come down at any moment on our already disgraced, twice impeached former President Donald Trump, it is vital we frame the case or cases filed against the president the right...
Trump Case Isn’t About ‘Documents,’ It’s About National Security
The media needs to stop focusing on the paperwork and make it clear that the former president’s actions posed a serious threat to the country.
www.thedailybeast.com
Sixties Fan
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Part 2
But he ignored the law. He ignored the advice he was repeatedly given. And, based on reporting to date, he stole scores of items that were not his, to which he had no right, which could put the lives of Americans and our national interests and those of our allies at risk.
When news of his theft was discovered and the U.S. Department of Justice sought the return of those documents, Trump did not cooperate. He lied about them. He concealed documents from the government. He obstructed justice. In fact, if recent reporting is true, he did not just obstruct justice, he went to great lengths to do so. Indeed, the lengths he went to force us to ask another question that is relevant in this case: “Why?”
Why did he go to such great lengths to violate the law and put his future freedom at risk not to mention exposing U.S. intelligence assets to great jeopardy? Was it just to satisfy his admittedly gargantuan ego? To be able to say, “Lookee here, I was president once and I can prove it?” Even for Trump, that would be reckless.
No, it is unlikely he would have committed these alleged crimes unless he had a purpose in mind, an audience for what he had taken in mind, an anticipated return envisioned for the investment of time he had made, and for the risk he had undertaken.
We do not know to whom the documents may have been shown. Perhaps we will learn that in due course. We do not know (and perhaps may never know) to whom he may have contemplated showing them. But it seems safe to assume he did not hang onto them because he possessed some Harlan Crow-like impulse to create a personal museum that paid tribute to historical misdeeds.
We know this, in part, because he had shown a complete contempt for our national security, for the products produced by our intelligence community, for the entire concept of protecting vital national secrets throughout his presidency.
He appointed a national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who lied to the FBI about inappropriate exchanges he had with foreign enemies. He sought to defend that national security adviser after his crimes were clear (and has said he would reappoint him should he be elected again.) In one of his first meetings in the Oval Office with Russia’s foreign minister, he revealed to him and to the Russian ambassador sensitive classified information that put allied intelligence assets at risk.
He ignored the advice of national security professionals and granted his son-in-law and daughter classified clearances they should not have had. He repeatedly attacked and denigrated the intelligence community including one time, while standing alongside Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018.
He put stooges in high places in the intelligence community to ensure that he would be able to control any revelations they might produce that he saw as threatening, and perhaps to enable him to come up with dirt on his enemies. He has said he would fire the professionals in the U.S. government in a clear effort to be able to replace them with those who placed loyalty to him above loyalty to the country or our Constitution.
This is all known. All on the public record. He was a threat to national security long before he stole these classified materials and went to great lengths to illegally retain them.
Indeed, there are not only these facts to provide context but the other major cases against Trump that are looming. What could better illustrate that Trump was something more than a souvenir hunter? He was, after all, impeached for seeking to blackmail Ukraine’s President Zelensky into performing a political hit job on Joe Biden prior to the 2020 campaign. He was again impeached for leading an insurrection against the U.S. government, actions which themselves may lead to a set of indictments from special prosecutor Jack Smith. Part of what Smith may be investigating are the efforts at defrauding the U.S. electorate, and perhaps Trump’s own donors in an effort to illegally maintain the presidency. Fulton County (Georgia) District Attorney Fani Willis may also prosecute him for those crimes.
news.yahoo.com
But he ignored the law. He ignored the advice he was repeatedly given. And, based on reporting to date, he stole scores of items that were not his, to which he had no right, which could put the lives of Americans and our national interests and those of our allies at risk.
When news of his theft was discovered and the U.S. Department of Justice sought the return of those documents, Trump did not cooperate. He lied about them. He concealed documents from the government. He obstructed justice. In fact, if recent reporting is true, he did not just obstruct justice, he went to great lengths to do so. Indeed, the lengths he went to force us to ask another question that is relevant in this case: “Why?”
Why did he go to such great lengths to violate the law and put his future freedom at risk not to mention exposing U.S. intelligence assets to great jeopardy? Was it just to satisfy his admittedly gargantuan ego? To be able to say, “Lookee here, I was president once and I can prove it?” Even for Trump, that would be reckless.
No, it is unlikely he would have committed these alleged crimes unless he had a purpose in mind, an audience for what he had taken in mind, an anticipated return envisioned for the investment of time he had made, and for the risk he had undertaken.
We do not know to whom the documents may have been shown. Perhaps we will learn that in due course. We do not know (and perhaps may never know) to whom he may have contemplated showing them. But it seems safe to assume he did not hang onto them because he possessed some Harlan Crow-like impulse to create a personal museum that paid tribute to historical misdeeds.
We know this, in part, because he had shown a complete contempt for our national security, for the products produced by our intelligence community, for the entire concept of protecting vital national secrets throughout his presidency.
He appointed a national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who lied to the FBI about inappropriate exchanges he had with foreign enemies. He sought to defend that national security adviser after his crimes were clear (and has said he would reappoint him should he be elected again.) In one of his first meetings in the Oval Office with Russia’s foreign minister, he revealed to him and to the Russian ambassador sensitive classified information that put allied intelligence assets at risk.
He ignored the advice of national security professionals and granted his son-in-law and daughter classified clearances they should not have had. He repeatedly attacked and denigrated the intelligence community including one time, while standing alongside Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018.
He put stooges in high places in the intelligence community to ensure that he would be able to control any revelations they might produce that he saw as threatening, and perhaps to enable him to come up with dirt on his enemies. He has said he would fire the professionals in the U.S. government in a clear effort to be able to replace them with those who placed loyalty to him above loyalty to the country or our Constitution.
This is all known. All on the public record. He was a threat to national security long before he stole these classified materials and went to great lengths to illegally retain them.
Indeed, there are not only these facts to provide context but the other major cases against Trump that are looming. What could better illustrate that Trump was something more than a souvenir hunter? He was, after all, impeached for seeking to blackmail Ukraine’s President Zelensky into performing a political hit job on Joe Biden prior to the 2020 campaign. He was again impeached for leading an insurrection against the U.S. government, actions which themselves may lead to a set of indictments from special prosecutor Jack Smith. Part of what Smith may be investigating are the efforts at defrauding the U.S. electorate, and perhaps Trump’s own donors in an effort to illegally maintain the presidency. Fulton County (Georgia) District Attorney Fani Willis may also prosecute him for those crimes.
Trump Case Isn’t About ‘Documents,’ It’s About National Security
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyWith the hammer of the U.S. justice system seemingly poised to come down at any moment on our already disgraced, twice impeached former President Donald Trump, it is vital we frame the case or cases filed against the president the right...
Sixties Fan
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- #228
Part 3
If Willis does it, let’s be careful not to refer to it as the “Georgia case” or simply as the “fake electors” case.
If Smith goes after Trump for leading an attempted coup against his own government, let’s not call it just the “Jan. 6 case” or be tempted to frame it in a way that makes it look, as some Republicans would have it, as though it were about just another partisan spat on Capitol Hill, albeit one that got a little out of hand.
The stakes in all these cases are much greater.
Take, for example, the reported case of a recording of Trump suggesting he was in possession of a classified war plans memo concerning possible moves we might make against Iran.
It’s not just egregious behavior, whatever the reason for his mentioning it, it also requires we consider what might happen if he shared that with his friends and business partners in Saudi Arabia or how, should the document become more widely available to our enemies, it could in a future conflict put U.S. soldiers lives at risk.
The case against Trump for leading a coup attempt is not about something that happened almost three years ago. He is running for president again. He has repeatedly shown his disregard for the Constitution and his willingness to place his own personal interests above those of the country.
It is not about punishing him for violating the public trust. It is about preventing him from doing it again. (And let’s be clear, Trump acting on his own behalf or on behalf of a mob of right-wing extremists is absolutely no different from acting on behalf of a foreign enemy. Those posing a conscious threat to American national security and interests are our enemies, whatever their origins or stated rationales.)
That is why we must frame the nature of the crimes with which the former president is being charged so carefully. We dare not numb ourselves to why they are important, numb ourselves to the anger and outrage we should be feeling or to the sense of danger that the likely defendant carries with him should the cases prove unsuccessful or, God forbid, their verdicts are subsequently nullified by an American electorate that failed to understand the scale and gravity of the crimes Trump committed repeatedly, often before our very eyes.
Donald Trump is not simply a clown, a fraud, an incompetent, a former game show host, or a sloppy, vulgar, golf-and-fast-food-loving doofus. Yes, he is all those things. But they are not the aspects of his character—or his behavior—that are important here.
He is, above all, a threat. He is a danger. He is tied to our worst international enemies and a threat the FBI director calls the greatest we face (domestic terror).
His trials should not be seen as political spectacles or some new twisted Trumpian reality show. They should be seen as an effort by our system to protect us, to take a dangerous man off the streets, to reduce the threat to our nation, our children, our allies, our values, and our institutions that this one malevolent, profoundly corrupt man poses.
news.yahoo.com
If Willis does it, let’s be careful not to refer to it as the “Georgia case” or simply as the “fake electors” case.
If Smith goes after Trump for leading an attempted coup against his own government, let’s not call it just the “Jan. 6 case” or be tempted to frame it in a way that makes it look, as some Republicans would have it, as though it were about just another partisan spat on Capitol Hill, albeit one that got a little out of hand.
The stakes in all these cases are much greater.
Take, for example, the reported case of a recording of Trump suggesting he was in possession of a classified war plans memo concerning possible moves we might make against Iran.
It’s not just egregious behavior, whatever the reason for his mentioning it, it also requires we consider what might happen if he shared that with his friends and business partners in Saudi Arabia or how, should the document become more widely available to our enemies, it could in a future conflict put U.S. soldiers lives at risk.
The case against Trump for leading a coup attempt is not about something that happened almost three years ago. He is running for president again. He has repeatedly shown his disregard for the Constitution and his willingness to place his own personal interests above those of the country.
It is not about punishing him for violating the public trust. It is about preventing him from doing it again. (And let’s be clear, Trump acting on his own behalf or on behalf of a mob of right-wing extremists is absolutely no different from acting on behalf of a foreign enemy. Those posing a conscious threat to American national security and interests are our enemies, whatever their origins or stated rationales.)
That is why we must frame the nature of the crimes with which the former president is being charged so carefully. We dare not numb ourselves to why they are important, numb ourselves to the anger and outrage we should be feeling or to the sense of danger that the likely defendant carries with him should the cases prove unsuccessful or, God forbid, their verdicts are subsequently nullified by an American electorate that failed to understand the scale and gravity of the crimes Trump committed repeatedly, often before our very eyes.
Donald Trump is not simply a clown, a fraud, an incompetent, a former game show host, or a sloppy, vulgar, golf-and-fast-food-loving doofus. Yes, he is all those things. But they are not the aspects of his character—or his behavior—that are important here.
He is, above all, a threat. He is a danger. He is tied to our worst international enemies and a threat the FBI director calls the greatest we face (domestic terror).
His trials should not be seen as political spectacles or some new twisted Trumpian reality show. They should be seen as an effort by our system to protect us, to take a dangerous man off the streets, to reduce the threat to our nation, our children, our allies, our values, and our institutions that this one malevolent, profoundly corrupt man poses.
Trump Case Isn’t About ‘Documents,’ It’s About National Security
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyWith the hammer of the U.S. justice system seemingly poised to come down at any moment on our already disgraced, twice impeached former President Donald Trump, it is vital we frame the case or cases filed against the president the right...
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Federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment Friday against former President Donald Trump and one of his aides in connection with his handling of government documents.
The former president was hit with 37 charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and scheme to conceal while his aide Walt Nauta was indicted on six charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements and representations.
Read the full indictment here:
(vide indictment online)
abcnews.go.com
The former president was hit with 37 charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and scheme to conceal while his aide Walt Nauta was indicted on six charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements and representations.
Read the full indictment here:
(vide indictment online)
Sweeping 37-count indictment alleges Trump hoarded national secrets, orchestrated obstruction of investigation
The special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump unsealed the federal indictment and revealed more details about the charges.
abcnews.go.com
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Classified documents were stored in the bathroom and shower of what appears to be a guest suite at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.Department of Justice
- A federal grand jury brought criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
- The Justice Department brought the case over Trump taking government records to Mar-a-Lago.
- Some of those documents were in a shower, the unsealed indictment says.
The revelations were contained in the 37-count indictment unsealed on Friday, which detailed the federal charges against the former president. Trump is set to appear in federal court in Miami on Tuesday over the charges, which could amount to decades of prison time and stem from a Department of Justice.
The boxes contained hundreds of classified documents, some of which had information about defense and weapons capabilities of the US and other countries, vulnerabilities the US had to military attacks, and US nuclear programs.
The Department of Justice has maintained that Trump didn't have the right to keep the documents, while Trump has claimed that as president, he had the power to declassify documents simply "by thinking about it."
"Mar-a-Lago Club was not an authorized location for the storage possession, review, display, or discussion of classified documents," the indictment reads. "Nevertheless, Trump stored his boxes containing classified documents in various locations at the Mar-a-Lago Club — including in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, and office space, his bedroom, and a storage room."
In one part of the indictment, investigators gathered a text message exchange from April 5, 2021, between employees at Mar-a-Lago. One of the employees asked another whether the boxes of classified material could be moved out of a business center so that staff could use it for an office.
The second employee initially pushed back, saying Trump specifically wanted the documents to be in the business center because they were "his 'papers.'"
Later in the day, the first employee said there was room in the shower "where his other stuff is."
"Is it only his papers he cares about? There's some other stuff in there that are not papers," the employee said. "Could that go to storage? Or does he want everything in there on property?"
Later that month, some of the boxes were moved from the business center to the bathroom in what was known as Mar-a-Lago Club's Lake Room. The indictment contains a photo of the room, which appears to be part of one of the club's guest suites.
(full article online)
Trump stored classified documents in a shower at Mar-a-Lago, unsealed indictment shows
The documents stored at Mar-a-Lago included classified information about vulnerabilities the US had to military attacks and nuclear programs.
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conserveguy877
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When will the election interference against Trump stop already?
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Trump said the documents were his. Now he can prove it:When will the election interference against Trump stop already?
Donald Trump was warned that the records he was holding on to were illegally retained, but the former president refused to give them back because he disagreed with that assertion, a new report claims.
‘It’s not theirs, it’s mine’: Trump resisted advisers’ calls to return White House documents
President ignored advice from counsel to heed National Archives’ demands for records
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