Whatever the reason, I don’t understand the devotion given Trump would sell anyone down the river to save himself. I firmly believe his theft of tax payer owned documents and highly sensitive intelligence is ultimately about leveraging the information it contains to save himself in the future and/or possibly for money.
I don't get the devotion from GOP senators. I don't get the evangelicals who were holding their noses re his moral & criminal failings until Roe was tossed & now that it has been, are still w/him.
At least there are lawyers who won't work for him & his crazy legal theories for fear of disbarment and/or not getting paid so he's left w/not-so-smart or even not even licensed to practice in the jurisdiction. As it is, Trump's request for a Special Master to review the boxes taken from Mar-a-Lago (as if whoever is in charge of reviewing them didn't start the second they returned to DC) wasn't even considered a motion by the judge - just a bunch of political propaganda & no legal basis to request a Special Master. He's got until Fri to come up w/a motion by attorneys who are licensed to practice sent to the correct court.
I agree he'd sell/leverage information, but I suspect that ship has sailed - he's had the documents since 1/21. Whatever he had is now 20 months out of date & I'm pretty sure anything critical to national security has been changed since he left office. I'm less concerned about what's in the boxes now that what is missing.
CNN - happy now? The heavily redacted Affidavit in Support of the Search Warrant has been released & there's nothing new except it confirms that what FPOTUS returned before he left office had every level of classified material scattered among files, obviously not kept as prescribed, and missing pages suggested MORE documents were in FPOTUS's possession. There's a timeline of how many times FPOTUS was asked/subpoenaed to return documents. The only interesting point of keeping it sealed was to protect WITNESSES, including civilians, who could be "easily identified by SM" & would be targets for harassment & intimidation w/examples. The court order notes that this action was brought by media; although FPOTUS commented in his usual bombastic way, he didn't legally involve himself. This one's on the media. I despise Trump, but this particular useless exercise wasn't brought about by him.
Every President has similar docs at their homes after they leave office. This is just another witch hunt against Trump simply because he has a different opinion. When will the United States stop victimizing him?
There are people on this site, reading this right now, who actually believe it, but are too cowardly to come forward and debate it.
If anyone else stole the material Trump did they literally would be in prison without bail awaiting trial and would be looking at decades in prison. They would have been arrested immediately once the theft was discovered and taken out of their residence in handcuffs...
Personally I’m astounded Trump’s other properties haven’t been searched as this highly sensitive National Security material could have been copied, moved, stolen by others, and been strewn all over his various residences.
And if anyone doesn’t understand that Trump would sell this info. to whoever would pay him they haven’t been paying attention to how the Trump crime syndicate operates.
Americans - regardless of party affiliation - should be concerned that classified documents identifying CIA agents, defense plans, intelligence data, & basic national security - was lying around a club where anyone could access it and some of them (48 empty folders that we know of) could have been given/sold to the highest bidder during the 20 months it took for the government to retrieve them.
FPOTUS's minions are delaying the investigation, but it will eventually continue. I don't think the missing documents per se are the point of the DOJ investigation. The fact that classified information was out of the government's control is secondary to a larger crime (don't know what that is or if it even targets FPOTUS).
I saw a video clip of Hillary Clinton describing how she saw the highest classified documents during her tenure as Secretary of State. An agent would appear unannounced at her office with a briefcase handcuffed to himself in which a document resided. He uncuffed it, put it in front of her, stood next to her while she read it, she signed a declaration that she had read it, the agent put it back in the briefcase, locked it, re-cuffed it to himself, and departed. She was only allowed to read it. Intelligence officials have recently said that no president EVER asked to keep a document except W and that was a single flowchart of 9/11 conspirators. The point is who even allowed this unprecedent treatment of documents for the entire 4 years and why? FPOTUS didn't do this alone. Somebody who should have said NO didn't.
@chain If anybody else incited a mob to attack a building (or home) - while giving out vague instructions ("fight like hell ...") that resulted in deaths -THEY would most certainly be tried to the letter of the law. Trump's activities on Jan 6 were almost identical to those of Charles Manson - who goaded his sheeple into carrying out an attack that led to murders. Include that fat-ass Steve Baron, Roger Stone et al on this indictment. The scariest part is that about half of the people in the U.S. defend these actions - to the point of threatening violence in the streets should Trump be held accountable (see Lindsey Graham).
He's the real, "Teflon Don". I won't be surprised if he manages to get his old job back in a couple of years. No, this ain't justice in any form.
I'd add Marco Rubio to that list of flunkies who can't get out of the way of judicial proceedings - pointing to the DOJ/FBI as the "leaker" of the fact that some missing files covered the nuclear capabilities of one of the 8 countries that has them. What about anyone (staff, guest, vendor, cabana boy - some boxes were stored w/pool umbrellas, thieves, foreign agents) who could happen upon or deliberately search for the boxes in addition to FPOTUS? The entire GOP seems intent on obstructing justice & inciting violence against democracy.
Rusty,
Insightful and accurate comparison to Charles Manson....
One thing to be aware of, however, is that it’s not half of the country that believe the Jan. 6th. Coup attempt was justified, but that a little over a half of registered Republicans believe this.
In other words, these enablers are the minority. The majority of Americans know Trump tried to overthrow the United States gov’t.
A new development as of this morning is the serving of subpoenas by the Justice Dept. to. multiple individuals who worked for the hastily created PAC established by Trump and his cronies to raise money to “fight the steal.” Trump himself emailed individuals asking for donations to an entity that didn’t exist. This opens up consumer fraud, money laundering, etc. issues.
From what far brighter folks than I are stating, this is significant as it shows the Justice Dept. is expanding its investigations into the very shady money machine created by the Trump family crime syndicate.
These individuals include very close associates of Trump and, perhaps more serious, far lesser individuals who haven’t the means to afford high priced attorneys. Thus potentially leading to deal cutting.....Justice is following the money trail. That trail could expose a few rats NOT willing to go down with the sinking ship....
DOJ has been investigating multiple crimes of the previous administration for a while. I'd go so far as to say that the missing documents brought to their attention by the National Archives in Spring 2021 was secondary to their investigation and building of other solid, win-able cases against FPOTUS & others.
That's not to diminish the egregious national security breach that FPOTUS likens to "an unreturned library book." It's frightening for US agents, allies whose secrets may have been compromised or sold, or routine security procedures that may be outdated by now. The intelligence community no doubt protected itself against FPOTUS during his term and he's been cut off from all intelligence information by the current administration.
I agree that somewhere there are bad actors who will testify to crimes that are a higher class of felonies & carry stronger penalties than mishandling of government documents. I'm in no rush to see FPOTUS indicted; I'd rather it be a strong case for multiple serious crimes that would put him away for life.
@porkchopbob Trump's wife is creeped out and irritated the FBI examined her underwear.
Guess they were suspicious of everything. Or they were just curious. I think she has her own room down there.
Have you listened to John Bolton's interviews? Apparently Trump was flippant about most everything. Bolton was disappointed Trump didn't share or understand Bolton's conservative positions on philosophy and politics. Bolton says the only thing Trump thought about, cared about and planned was promoting Donald Trump. He is a man completely absorbed with himself.
@cyclone88 The DOJ better get an independent councel involved if they plan to put Trump in jail.
If it's not bipartisan then a special councel needs to be selected with input from some key Republicans.
The Watergate investigation was BIPARTISAN. This is not. January 6th is being mishandled. Only two Republicans on the committee who are strong never Trumpers.
If this isn't done right it will rip the country apart. There are millions of people out there who think this is just the Democrats trying to keep their man out of the White House. There are TWO political parties in this country AND THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN FURTHER APART!! They don't agree on much of anything. This has to stop before the red and blue states split into separate countries.
If this isn't handled carefully, Republicans will impeach the Democrat President and investigate Hillary Clinton.
We have high gas prices, record inflation, unacceptable levels of crime coast to coast, a border that is wide open and other problems that are being largely ignored because of Donald Trump' and the widening political divide in this country.
The constitutional authority of judicial investigations and charges is vested in the Executive Branch through the DOJ. It needs to be allowed to do its job. Judicial proceedings are NOT the province of partisan civilians.
There was a Congressional bi-partisan investigation of Nixon that could have led to his impeachment & there were sufficient cojones on both sides to convict & oust him from office. The LEGAL investigation of Nixon was done by the DOJ; Nixon tried to fire his counsel through the AG - both refused & resigned. This was back when politicians - Congress - understood criminal conduct. Nixon, hated at the time for Vietnam, at least respected and honored the Constitution. He was capable of being humiliated. He knew when evidence was stacked against him and resigned w/as much decency as he could muster rather than suffer the indignity of impeachment where he knew an honorable Senate would oust him.
Most of the legal arguments used against FPOTUS, the money-grubbing TV celebrity who doesn't know basic civics, cite SCOTUS rulings in US v Nixon as the basis for its proceedings.
The country is already divided and on fire. When a US Congressman (Louie Gohmert, R, TX) awards an American flag that had been flown over the Capitol to a lawfully & rightfully convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionist upon her release from prison, there is something very, very sick about America.
@cyclone88 Attorney General Garland was appointed by Joe Biden. Garland reports to Joe Biden. Both are Democrats. If something came to light that would show Attorney General Garland had violated serious laws, it would fall on President Biden to ask for his resignation. So this naturally is seen as partisan by Trump, his lawyers, other Republicans and many of the millions who voted for Trump.
That is exactly why a special independent councel should step in. Archibald Cox was appointed for Nixon. Kenneth Starr for Bill Clinton concerning possible criminal charges connected to Whitewater. Robert Mueller was appointed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take over investigation of possible Russian involvement to help Trump cheat in the 2016 election.
The Democrats DEMANDED Trump be investigated and it not be run by Trump's Attorney General!!! Why is it different this time?
When it became apparently clear the IRS was treating conservatives differently than liberals, President Obama fired the Commissioner of the IRS. Obama could not be seen as allowing his political positions influencing decisions made by the IRS.
When I left a high school football game Friday night I switched on the the talk station here and conservative host Mark Levin was on. Mark is a right wing trouble maker as there are those on the left in broadcasting too.
Mark Levin told his national audience "the old senile fool in the White House has told you and me and millions like us we are fascists, a threat to democracy and the constitution. Why would this old man say that? When he wants his Education Department to force critical race theory upon us. Have his heavy handed EPA tells us what to drive, when we can drive, fly on an airplane, how we heat our homes, where we live, who we can or cannot hire or accept as a customer at our businesses. An old man that has politicized his DOJ, FBI and EPA to come after people he doesn't like. To come after our former President and raid his home. A man his political party accused of teaming with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. A party where many of it's members refused to attend Trump's inauguration because Trump wasn't legitimate.
A man and party that has hired 80 thousand new IRS agents to join the Biden DOJ and FBI to come after us!!"
I had to turn it off. This kind of talk is further dividing a nation heading to more violence, another possible civil war or splitting into two or more smaller countries. One of which apparently would welcome Donald Trump to be their dictator.
What we face now is a time when the temperature needs to be lowered. Politics and left vs right, blue vs red needs to be avoided.
The possible jailing of the former President can't be seen as an act from the Democrats. If Trump were the CEO of The Trump Group it wouldn't look this way But this is the former President who divided this country more than at anytime since the civil war and has millions of followers many of whom view him as a guru or cult leader. This needs to be run by a special master who would be accepted by both sides as honest, fair and neutral and void of any political leaning. Joe Biden disqualified Attorney General Garland when he began attacking Trump by name and calling his supporters fascists and a threat to democracy and the constitution.
I say this as one who is liberal socially and perhaps a bit conservative politically. Who thinks Trump is unqualified to be President and has no philosophy or politics. A man who only thinks about and promoted himself. Donald Trump. A man who actually has been this way long before he became President.
Today is not a day for me to be particularly patient or charitable. Dozens of my colleagues and a family member died in the 9/11 attacks and it will always be a defining moment in my life.
I don't care what individual Americans think about how things are done. I analyze situations based on the constitution and the actual judicial filings that have been made by both parties. I haven't watched news since 2014.
A lot of misinformation in your post.
You're confusing a Special Master w/a Special Counsel.
Administrations fill positions. For almost 250 years, when there is a transition of power from one party to another it has gone smoothly until 2020 when a sore loser promoted a Stolen Election lie.
The National Archives (NARA) - a neutral record-keeping staff of CIVIL SERVANTS - discovered missing classified documents when cataloguing them in 2021 and contacted FPOTUS's representatives re that fact. There were no accusations, threats, or anything more than a notice that X number of classified documents hadn't been returned. FPOTUS didn't co-operate for 20 months & ultimately a legitimately supported search warrant was executed at FPOTUS's hotel/club. None of this is partisan; it's bureaucracy. Do you really think DOJ wants to be hunting down ill-guarded classified documents instead of carrying out its usual order of business - immigration, healthcare fraud, RICO, anti-trust, human trafficking, cyber crimes, drugs, terrorism, piracy to name a few?
There was no raid; there was a recovery of government property & some hats, shirts, & magazines were in the same boxes. They'd been examined & separated into government documents & FPOTUS personal effects AND FPOTUS was provided a log w/the items through his attorneys 2 WEEKS before FPOTUS decided to request a Special Master. Even then, the filing was so convoluted, contradictory, & prepared by lawyers not licensed in FL that the novice judge demanded it be re-submitted by FL lawyers to be comprehensible.
All of that was to stall the inevitable - FPOTUS knew where the files were, there were at least 48 missing that anyone in the club could've grabbed, & he knew what info was contained. Special Masters are appointed when law offices are searched by local, state, or federal government to protect the attorney's other clients' attorney-client privilege. There's no need for a SM because 1) the documents have already been reviewed so the government already knows what's there & 2) the documents weren't recovered from a law office. Special Masters are partisan - each side suggested 2 names; 1 from FPOTUS is married to a current judge so he's ineligible unless his wife wants to quit her job. It's not like Obama (who is qualified w/clearance & a law degree) was suggested by the DOJ.
If anyone is stupid enough to believe that execution of a legit search warrant is a witch hunt or raid and that anyone other than NARA correctly reported that classified documents were not returned at the end of the administration, let them think it.
Hillary Clinton has already been investigated & no charges were brought. A private lawsuit against her by FPOTUS in 2016 was thrown out Friday by a federal judge concluding it was nothing more than 200 pages of perceived grievances & not a lawsuit at all.
If you want to turn down the temperature, I suggest you turn off the TV, read actual documents from courts and federal agencies, and stop referring to people by party affiliation. I am a registered Democrat and I haven't demanded that FPOTUS be investigated for anything.
As much as I despise FPOTUS, the media caused and continues to cause divisiveness by exaggeration, speculation, & giving air time to charlatans.
By misinformation in my post, you must mean my quote from Conservative talk show host Mark Levin, I wouldn't be surprised if Mark engaged in that. He and other conservatives call it a raid and claim the FBI examined the former first lady's underwater as if they engaged in some kinky deed.
I wasn't aware both sides had submitted names to be a special master. Yes Obama could look at classified information.
A special councel would be necessary if the DOJ decides to criminally charge Trump for the same reason Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate Trump when the Democrats DEMANDED Trump be investigated for conspiring with Russian to steal the election from Hillary Clinton. BTW, Hillary just the other day said she appreciated the then FBI Director decided her case didn't deserve criminal charges but the man wouldn't shut up about it The former FBI Director was still talking about it just three days from the election and the former FBI Director indeed had a big part in Hillary loosing. Attorney General Jeff Sessions removed himself and the general DOJ from that investigation. Trump, if you recall, exploded and bashed Jeff Sessions repeatedly in the media until Sessions eventually resigned. Trump kept saying if he knew his choice for Attorney General would recuse himself and appoint a special councel, Trump would have never appointed Sessions to be his Attorney General. Apparently Trump thought the Attorney General was his personal attorney and was responsible for defending the President in all matters.
Let's see if the DOJ decides to criminally charge Trump. I bet the Republicans will demand a special councel and Garland will appoint one and remove the case for the Biden Administration.
My sincere condolences on those lost at the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks.
When a few years later I visited ground zero and saw the hundreds of names etched around were the towers once stood, I was moved to tears. My friend noticed I had lost my composure and ask why did I break down. My answer was it was beyond my understanding why a group of people could become so mad, be so filled with HATE for another country and it's people, they could MURDER almost 3,000 innocent people and 19 of them carry such hate in their hearts they would give their own lives to carry out the act of evil.
I'm aware their understanding of the Muslim faith told them this evil act would assure their grand entrance into paradise in the spiritual realm.
Certainly they are mistaken. If there is an afterlife, murdering people and commiting suicide can't possibly be the ticket to heaven. That is illogical and insane!!
By misinformation, I meant virtually all your theories of how the DOJ should conduct its work, confusion re terms, lack of knowledge re what is actually proceeding in the SM case - information that is publicly available - & use of divisive language.
If you re-read this entire thread, you will see my point all along is that justice moves slowly. That is due in large part to give defendants - presumed innocent until proven guilty - ample opportunity to mount legal challenges and defenses after a charge. FPOTUS hasn't been charged because the DOJ & other investigative avenues are moving at THEIR pace. FPOTUS is moving at a political pace - presumably to delay any theoretical indictments until after the mid-terms. The media is moving at a 24/7 fill up the airways pace. Neither FPOTUS nor the media impact the judicial process.
You are determined to spread wild theories. All that blather about Garland & Republicans who have ZERO to do w/a SM. You're missing the point that the issue of appointing a SM is already before the court, the judge ordered the appointment of one, both sides have suggested 2 SM names & the judge will determine who she'll appoint, there is a legal challenge about the scope of the SM review given that the documents have already been reviewed, & the judge is considering whether to limit the scope based on filings by both parties.
Huh? Congress (through the House Oversight Committee) is conducting a separate investigation re missing government documents and NARA staff recently informed the committee that it "is STILL not certain whether all are in its (NARA's) custody." In response, the Committee Chair sent at letter to the National Archivist this morning re-iterating her concern that the itemized list of classified documents recovered during DOJ's SEPARATE criminal investigation suggests that there are other documents not under NARA control. The Chair considers this "concerning" and invokes the possibility that sensitive documents are "lost or under third party control" or in other places such as Trump's Bedminster Country Club. She requests that NARA conduct a precise inventory of what is missing AND a written certification from Trump that he has returned all documents.
Her letter lays out the sequence of events in a less formal way than court filings and refers to witnesses John Bolton and Bill Barr who have expressed their concerns directly to the Oversight Committee. She also confirms the concerns that the documents contained information about human agents in addition to nuclear information. She cites an incident that a Ukrainian woman posing as a Rothschild heiress attended a party at Mar-a-Lago but was caught by the FBI & that Mar-a-Lago (& Bedminster) is club for hire where weddings & other events attended by foreign nationals take place. Unsecured documents could be taken by anyone because they weren't in possession of NARA.
I don't know that this has any legal standing given that the DOJ's investigation is already before the court. A written certification from FPOTUS would probably be as worthless as all his other pronouncements re the documents having been returned.
A request from Congress to FPOTUS for a written certification would raise the issue of Executive privilege (Legislative request to Executive) which the current DOJ rightly ignores (the DOJ is part of the Executive branch requesting documents from a former member of the Executive branch).
Still, the driving force behind this is NARA: a non-partisan record-keeping dept that is sounding an alarm that FPOTUS had & possibly still has government documents. This is unprecedented. No other president kept classified documents or moved them to any of his various residences.
I thought the Garland DOJ was to appeal the judge's rulling that a SM school be named.
As Senator Lyndsey Graham, R.SC said if the DOJ charges Trump with a crime and an indictment is served, Garland better turn this over to an Independent Councel and get out of it personally or all hell will break loose in Congress and on the streets.
I agree. The Biden DOJ better step aside and turn this over an independent councel. Just as Robert Mueller investigate Trump over the 2016 election per possible cheating with Putin to deny Hillary the White House. Or Kenneth Starr (he just died) was appointed to investigate Bill Clinton concerning Whitewater and the affairs Clinton had with Monica and Paula Jones. I think Jennifer Flowers was also interviewed by Starr.
Some Democrats worry Trump will be allowed to stall until the mid-terms hoping the Dems will lose control of the House and the January 6th investigation will go away. But the investigation of Trump concerning the documents would continue especially it it's under a special councel.
Personally I haven't made any comments that are offensive or misinformation. I simply repeated what I heard conservative talk show host Mark Levin said.
I watched a portion of Sean Hannity last night and he too claims Biden has weaponised the DOJ, FBI and IRS to not only come after Trump but his supporters and base.
That to me is difficult to believe but Biden did recently say Trump and Maga Republicans are a threat to democracy and the constitution and are fascists.
So I don't know.
I am not a Trump supporter or voted for Trump and not a member of any political party. Just an old 75 years old hippy still listening to Blue Sky at least once a day and I've been doing that since February, 1972 when I bought my copy of Eat A Peach.
Personally I haven't made any comments that are offensive or misinformation. I simply repeated what I heard conservative talk show host Mark Levin said.
I watched a portion of Sean Hannity last night and he too claims Biden has weaponised the DOJ, FBI and IRS to not only come after Trump but his supporters and base.
I appreciate everyone's personal opinions and insight here. However, Trump cucks like Hannity and Levin aren't presenting news or information, they are presenting editorials based on misinformation and outright lies. There's no purpose in repeating it.
I think I said a while back that the FCC should reconsider its license to Fox "News" because it doesn't meet any standards of journalism. Fox has plenty of entertainment & sports programming that keep it on the air, but the "news" section needs to go.
@cyclone88 Well you know Fox would find some judge to rule their 1st amendment rights are being violated and they and their supporters ( millions of them) would claim contrary to the constitution and the bill of rights, they are being silenced by the socialist left wing in this country, who like all socialists, do not allow differing opinion, facts, voices and votes. So the FCC would be overruled by a federal judge or perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court.
We are in the biggest left/right divide and fight to determine how America will look moving forward I've ever seen. I would love for the temperature to cool here and it seems this degree of left right fighting began with Donald Trump whom John Bolton says has no political views, no philosophy or ideology. Bolton said after he became Trump's foreign policy advisor he discovered the only thing Trump cares and thinks about is Donald Trump and promoting Donald Trump and how something will make him look good. Bolton said he noticed too that Trump didn't seem to care about secret information and would throw something sensitive on top of a golf manazine then throw a Gentleman's Quarterly on top of the secret document.
Trump perhaps his a good showman and promoter but he is not qualified to be President and sit in the Oval Office.
Yesterday Ted Cruz of Texas said Biden must be impeached if Republicans gain control of the House and Senate for not enforcing our border laws. The border is wide open and illegal border crossings are at records levels and millions of people are being allowed to cross and stay here and we don't know exactly who they are. It's dangerous and not fair to the many who have been waiting for entrance who are coming legally and going by the rules. Is that Ted's opinion or does he have facts to back it up. BTW when Ted and Trump were running for President, Trump said Ted's father was one of the people involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Trump supporter Roger Stone claims Lyndon Johnson had Kennedy killed in his recent book. That also is a lie. Lee Oswald shot Kennedy according to the Warren Commission, Clark report, Rockefeller Commission and the 1979 House Committee on Assassinations.
Stop all the impeaching and bickering and let the voters decide the issues every two years.
Misinformation comes from opinions/editorials/politicking aired as facts. Cases in which the US government is a party are argued by someone from the DOJ - the Solicitor General if it gets to SCOTUS. IF - and it's a big IF - Trump is charged w/a federal crime, the US will prosecute through the DOJ just like it does for all other defendants.
Graham is one of the last people to expect to say anything correct or useful. Special Counsel was appointed re Nixon and Clinton when Congress was considering impeachment of sitting presidents. Mueller worked as Special Counsel when Congress was investigating incumbent POTUS Trump for impeachable offenses. Congressional investigations aren't criminal proceedings.
Trump is an ordinary citizen. If the AG in NY or AZ or GA believe they have enough admissible evidence to win a case & decide to prosecute Trump, they will. Ditto for the US AG.
My pet peeve is when anyone says "Republicans say x" or "Democrats do z" as though everyone registered to that party is part of a vast plan to do x, y, or z. It's divisive.
IMO, there ARE fascists at work in the US. There are white supremacists at work who have been emboldened by FPOTUS. There most definitely is a movement of Christian Nationalists determined to make this country a Christian theocracy instead of the secular democracy it has been since conception. Biden just said it out loud.
Check your PMs.
Stop all the impeaching and bickering and let the voters decide the issues every two years.
The voters do by appointing representatives.
I agree that we can't just be trying to get the other side out of power after an election (see California) but if the President (or a former President) has violated the law there should be investigations and consequences.
@porkchopbob I agree. But when it's leaders of the two political parties be it Garland, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr or Ramsey Clark, they must recuse themselves and appoint a special councel or prosecutor that is not currently involved with officials of either party or the other side will call it a political witch-hunt.
Archibald Cox was appointed in the Richard Nixon case and didn't Nixon eventually fire him.
Trump wanted to fire Robert Mueller but aids and advisors talked him out of it telling him the Democrats would explode and then it would be a mess.
I wish Trump would go away and just play golf. But his ego is such he has to find ways to stay in the spotlight. What a self-centered man.
@porkchopbob I agree. But when it's leaders of the two political parties be it Garland, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr or Ramsey Clark, they must recuse themselves and appoint a special councel or prosecutor that is not currently involved with officials of either party or the other side will call it a political witch-hunt.
Garland isn't a leader of a party. He's the Attorney General. The FBI and DOJ are conducting the investigation, of which we don't even know the entire focus. Trump is now a plebe open to investigation of any and all illegal actions.
Jeff Sessions recused himself from the 2016 election interference investigation because Sessions had previously been involved in the 2016 campaign and had known contact with Russian representatives. The conflict was Sessions was a potential witness or participant, it was not because he was politically affiliated.
TO GOP LEADERS: STOP SPREADING LIES & MAKING WILD THREATS because you're endangering the lives of government employees - civil servants who are doing their non-partisan jobs - is the message today from the chairs of The Congressional Oversight Committee & Subcommittee of National Security. Citing the rise of threats against ordinary staff that have risen post the Mar-a-Lago search & passage of certain legislation, the Chairs wrote to the Federal Protective Service agency charged w/ensuring the safety of federal workers.
Because this is essentially a business letter w/no legal constraints, it freely names GOP leaders who are promoting false theories (Scott, McCarthy, Grassley, McDaniel, & Gaetz), promoting violence (Trump, Graham, Gosar, Jordan), and summarizes the lies. It notes the government agencies who have already increased security for employees (FBI, IRS, EPA, and NARA) and asks what specific procedures the FPS is taking to ensure federal workers' security and asks what resources/funds the FSA needs to handle the increased threats at 9,000 government facilities, its staff, and visitors.
Politically motivated or not, Congress is putting on record the names and actions of those who are endangering government workers w/their lies. There's a difference between exaggerated political speeches & lies that can & have resulted in violence. I'd hate to be a relative of an accountant w/a job at the IRS or an IT staffer at the EPA or a library clerk at NARA who is suddenly in danger just by going to work because a political leader w/a fanatical and violent following gets fired up by a speech.
The letter is here:
@porkchopbob Yes and Trump exploded like a torpedo at Jeff Sessions. Trump said if he had known Sessions was going to recuse himself Trump would have never selected him to be Attorney General.
It was unprecedented. Never in the history of the United States of America did a President of the United States bash, belittle and trash the current Attorney General and it lasted for weeks day after day. I couldn't believe it. I kept saying " Fire Sessions so to stop this childish and street thug behavior from the President". And to Sessions " Quit!! Turn in your notice and after you leave your post, call a news conference as a private citizen and let Trump have it on the chin. This is Mafia like behavior by the President".
Here is John Bolton being interviewed by PBS Frontline for a coming documentary with some eye opening information about Donald Trump. Trump didn't understand anything and was totally focused on himself!
FPOTUS's legal maneuvering actually is beginning to seem like undermining democracy.
As warned, the DOJ filed a slimmed down appeal to the 11th Circuit Friday after Judge Cannon (either incredibly ignorant or deliberately delaying a document review) flippantly refused to hold back the documents clearly marked "Classified" from Special Master review. She isn't buying the arguments that 1) the government owns government documents marked CLASSIFIED & 2) FPOTUS returned 2 batches of other classified documents w/o legally asserting they were his personal property, had been declassified by his waving a magic wand, or were protected by Executive Privilege so why is he raising it now? She also isn't buying the argument that Classified documents pertain to national security. Her position is that there is greater harm to Citizen Trump not possessing them than to the US not being able to access them while the SM & his unknown team reviews them. With a Nov 30 deadline for the SM to finish review, she's succeeded in at least delaying the outcome beyond the midterms.
I can go w/the theory that Cannon is acting on FPOTUS's behalf because it is just so obviously legally incorrect. The 11th circuit may have recent Trump appointees, but only 3 of the 11 judges hear the appeal. Presumably, they will grasp that Classified documents belong to the government which is all they've been asked to consider (DOJ really doesn't care about the newspaper clippings & clothes found in the boxes). If they don't, then an appeal can be made for the entire judicial panel to hear it.
No matter which way this falls, IMO it's headed to SCOTUS where who knows what will happen given this crop of justices. FPOTUS is up to his usual trick of delay, delay, delay when it's not necessary. There's no question that classified documents are classified until they aren't (by a codified procedure). This delay is costing FPOTUS lawyers - 2 of them directly involved are under scrutiny & have hired lawyers to defend them against any charges. I don't think he cares; they're disposable.
There's so much inaccurate reporting (by even the most liberal media like the NYT), it's amazing anyone knows what's actually going on. Even Trump's lawyers seem to have fallen under the spell of TrumpWorld by referring to him as POTUS Trump rather than FPOTUS Trump in court filings - he's the Plaintiff and he's an average citizen now. Biden is POTUS.
After messing around in FL, Trump got his 1st taste of a judge & legal system he can't control yesterday AND his attorneys are standing on their heads to avoid perjury or suborning perjury so maybe, the Mar-a-Lago document detour will end & the DOJ will continue its normal business. The appointed SM has been on the federal bench since Reagan & has probably seen everything. At any rate, he's told Trump the documents marked classified are going to be considered classified unless & until Trump proves otherwise. In fact, they actually don't even have to BE classified as the search warrant specified documents "marked" classified. The SM denied all the delaying tactics put forth by Trump's team EXCEPT the deadline for selection of a vendor to digitize all the documents since Trump is paying the bill. They asked for months & got 2 days. Welcome to Brooklyn.
Apparently, Trump expects to lose the simultaneous proceeding - DOJ's appeal to the 11th Circuit to keep 100 pages marked classified out of the SM review. Predictably, he's barking from the sidelines that he'll appeal any adverse decision to SCOTUS. His lawyers remain silent.
Finally, the SM AND the 11th Circuit brought some sanity to the proceedings. The best part is that Trump has to shut up or provide evidence that 1) he psychically declassified documents even though the classification status is a legal red herring and 2) the FBI planted evidence. His lawyers can't do that since there is no evidence & they're not going to perjure themselves. The District Court judge was shredded by the 11th Circuit as a laughable judge but staunch Trumper & she was so chastened she modified her opinion ASAP. So, the DOJ continues its larger investigation while Trump has his sideshow.
His supporters don't care; they'll continue to believe in the Witch Hunt. IMO, he'll not be tried for anything absent a receipt from Putin that he paid Trump for a list of covert CIA agent names.
