So late last night, reports started coming out about how many of the documents the National Archives retrieved from Mar-a-Lago were clearly marked “classified,” and some were “top secret.” Oops!
There was some excuse-making about how the packing was done in a rush. It may well have been. Usually the packing process would have began as soon as the election was called, but since Trump refused to concede it probably was a last-minute thing. In the rush, who wouldn’t have confused a document marked “top secret” with one of Melania’s favorite family recipes? (/snark)
Was Trump thinking of selling some secrets, I wonder? He’ll do anything for a buck.
Even before the “top secret” news was released, there was musing that Trump’s reaction to criticism of his handling of documents was unusually lawyerly. Trump is “characterizing the whole thing as a big misunderstanding and trying to appear collaborative rather than combative,” writes Amber Philips at WaPo.
His usually pattern, of course, is to deny, insult whoever criticized him, and then whine piteously about how unfair it all is. Instead, he released a statement that said this:
“Following collaborative and respectful discussions, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) openly and willingly arranged with President Trump for the transport of boxes that contained letters, records, newspapers, magazines, and various articles. Some of this information will someday be displayed in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library for the public to view my Administration’s incredible accomplishments for the American People.”
Yeah, for once, he’s letting the lawyers do their jobs.
Oh, wait, cancel that. This just in today:
On Friday, the former president lashed out at the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol as “out of control” while reviving baseless voter fraud narratives.
He can’t help himself. It’s a compulsion. Like dropping random things into a toilet to see if it will flush.
As a US congressional committee prepares to investigate Donald Trump’s handling of administration documents after 15 boxes of records were transferred from his Florida resort, the former president is insisting he was “under no obligation” to hand any materials over – despite laws requiring him to do exactly that.
The thing is — and I would have explained this to him back in 2016, if he’d asked — that when you’re the POTUS you can’t hide. You may be able to hide a few things for a little while, but sooner or later everything you did in the White House will become public. And all the financial shenanigans he got away with for years, because no one wanted to bother about investigating and prosecuting him, are now a big bleeping deal that will be publicly unraveled sooner or later. Because now a whole lot of people are really, really eager to investigate and prosecute Trump
Anyway, not it’s not just the January 6 Committee but the House Oversight Committee looking into things. And the National Archives is bringing the Justice Department into the mix, if the JD wasn’t already in it. It’s hard to tell with the JD.
In other news — There are several reports that Sarah Palin pretty much screwed her own lawsuit against the New York Times. See:
Erik Wemple, WaPo, Sarah Palin bombs on witness stand in New York Times trial
Seth Stevenson, Slate, The Moment Sarah Palin’s Testimony Fell Apart
Forbes (Video), Sarah Palin Struggles To Show Professional Damage From N.Y. Times Op-Ed In Defamation Trial Testimony
The judge hearing the case has already said, when the jury was not present, that he would not award punitive damages against the Times. “The evidence frankly that Mr Bennet harboured ill will toward Ms Palin is quite modest indeed,” he said. Let’s see what the jury does. I believe closing arguments are today.
A worker stacks boxes on West Executive Avenue before loading them onto a truck at the White House in Washington.
Image Credit: AFP https://gulfnews.com/photos/news/photos-moving-out-of-the-white-house-ahead-of-biden-inauguration-1.1610693122302?slide=11
Just a thought or two, but an artist friend and I were discussing the Trump Memorial Library plans today. We thought and Architectual design resembling a toilet bowl and the location of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico might warrant consideration.
Trump wouldn't know truth if it bit him on the butt and his whole life has been about avoiding consequences,
LOL! But, NO, not in New Mexico, we can't stand anything about the fat buffoon here!
Bernie,
I think The tRUMP Library will reflect tRUMP the man.
We'll find tRUMP's presiDUNCEtial Library in a medium-sized meeting room – with a bathroom – in a wing at Merder-dhe-Lardo.
And the reading material will consist of books ghost-written for tRUMP, as well as People and Hustler magazines.
Reading will cost $100.00 for the Librarian to get the book or periodical and bring it to you.
The cost will go up to $150 if you want to take a magazine in the bathroom with you. And $50 extra per Kleenex.
Exactly…the experience needs to be one of complete absurdity…reflecting the essence of the man and his presidency.
I don't know if anyone here knows answers, but there's so much spinning through my head while me/CFS is in remission. Still
1) we know the Republicans no longer care about the rule of low.
2) we know the Constituion never mattered, "see that the laws are faithfuly execute.
3) we know that we need mandated reporting
My beloved (that's the noun version) has to file a report on questionable child care, and it can get as crazy as "timouts should last the child's age in minutes." (Er, that is, 8 year old gets 8 minutes, not an 8 year old's age, in minutes :-).)
She could lose her license if she saw actual, illegal child abuse, and it's found that she had concerns she didn't report.
It seems to me that some standards like that are appropriate for the White House. I don't mean Trump needed to be put in timeout, I mean he was supposed to see to the "faithful execution" of the laws. That means openly plotting against a Presidential candidates, in the hopes of creating a falsely predicated investigation at the DOJ should have been caught long before it got that bad. Why was there only *one* whistleblower? Why aren't there people who had a duty to act?
4) isn't it strange that a vote, with an oath to impartial justice, shows that one of the parties took its oath seriously, and one didn't. We know one side wasn't impartial, and thus are oathbreakers, while swearing to justice. That's the utmost toxicity to the rule of law.
Seriously, if one can swear to impartial justice, and fail to be impartial, it means "justice" means "only if I decide otherwise." How could you trust an oathbreaker like that to fairly split a peanut butter sandwich, if they're hungry?
But we know which side was the oathbreakers. Evil always forgets goodness.
They just didn't care whether the Democrats were breaking the oath or they'd have screamed bloody murder. It never even occurred to them that the oath was binding.
5) Seriously – isn't shouldn't even be mayor McCheese = Gov DeSantis, isn't what he's doing precisely randomized biowarfare?
6) Don't we save lives? Suggestion: Mr. Christopher Walken, redo cowbell. Only, "Gene" is in a 5 flavor lifesaver's costume.
"I can pull it back… a little."
"But not too much – you're going to want that lifesaving!"
"I got a FEEVUH. Because someone didn't want *lifesaving*"
We all hate 'em, right? We all know we need 'em, right? So let's let America decide that, yes, we need Gene to" lay that down right now. Here. With us. TOGETHER"
Or maybe do something, you know, cool or humorous. But think: it could blow COWBELL off the radar, and might make a pretty penny from LifeSavers :-).
(Mr. Walken is reported to "almost" regret doing the skit. if you're out there, be polite – try something like just "Loved it!" so he doesn't have to feel like he's gotta be all Bruce Dickenson who will smoothly, and skillfully, make absolutely no sense whatsoever. )
It may be behind a paywall, but great NYT article, Christopher Walken Shares the Secrets of Acting Like Christopher Walken
"Because now a whole lot of people are really, really eager to investigate and prosecute Trump."
There's an episode from Star Trek TNG where Q (the omnipotent trickster from the Q continuum) gets in trouble with his colleagues for antagonizing lesser races and they strip him of his powers and make him human, dumping him butt-naked on the bridge of the Enterprise. That's Trump – without the legal protection the Oval Office gives, Trump knew in the 2020 election and he certainly knows now, he's mortal. And his enemies, that he took such delight in tormenting, are in a position to exact revenge. IMO, Trump tried to steal the election because he knew that otherwise, his crimes would be found and he would be charged!
Trump knows he's guilty and he might be found guilty by a jury in NY or DC. The judiciary has proven to be immune to Trump threats or bribes. There's nothing to prevent a judge from putting Trump behind bars upon being found guilty. There's no way Trump would be denied bail for tax evasion until he's found guilty – but there's no reason for Trump to expect he'd be allowed to flee in the time after a guilty verdict and prior to sentencing. (And that's months, typically.)
Here's my prediction – Trump will never face justice in the US. Once he's charged, Trump will delay the start of the trial as long as possible. Trump would probably stay for the start and to see if the prosecution screws up or if the defense finds a legal rabbit they can pull out of a hat. Trump might offer to cop to a lesser plea if there's a guarantee of only a fine and no jail time. (Not likely.) If you make your mind real small and narrow, you can think like Trump. He's NOT gonna take a chance on jail – not even a cushy camp. He'll bug out.
Here's the thing normal people do not realize. There is nothing to prevent a man of wealth from fleeing the country. Take away his passport – BFD! There's a bunch of executive jet planes that could make the trip from Florida to Moscow in one hop.
So Trump gets on a plane he bought – but he hid the movement of money through three shell companies. The pilots are not US citizens – they will be paid well enough to never return to the US to face charges for an unauthorized flight. They file a domestic flight plan and no one knows Trump is onboard. Once aloft, they fly to Moscow where Trump has worked out a deal with Putin.
Small detail, but important. If Trump is present when the trial begins, he can be found guilty even if he's not there. If he leaves before the trial begins, the trial can't start. Either way, Trump can never return to the US or leave the protection of Russia.
Nobody else is suggesting this. (That I know of.) So maybe there's a flaw in my reasoning. Pray, tell. What is it?
Why would Putin even let him land? Trump is no longer useful.
Maybe to keep him for a trophy?
Putin might take him in if he thinks that Trump could continue to cause instability in the U.S. But that's an "if."
How does TDFG manage to shake his Secret Service security detail long enough to pull this off? I imagine a quick call to an interceptor squad of fighter jets. After pulling up, the leader issues an order to turn around and land, or be blown out of the air as a threat to national security.
Maybe not realistic, but a guy can dream.
That sort of dovetails with a weird thought that crossed my mind a while back (in keeping with his presidency being the weirdest America has ever seen) Trump and the plane disappear without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle!
(I hope this doesn't post twice, the first time it disappeared!)
In keeping with Trump being the weirdest president America has ever seen, I could imagine the flight out of Florida disappearing without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle!
Whatever happened to/with the supposed "ongoing IRS Audit" of Trump's taxes that "prevented" him from publishing his tax history in *** 2016 *** ? Is it still "ongoing"? Did the IRS mysteriously lose all the paperwork between 2017-2020? Are they still digging?
The IRS could have saved this country a "huuge" headache by prosecuting Trump decades ago. Of course, the GOP has been starving the IRS for decades, to make sure they don't have the resources to audit high-end tax cheats.
Or NY state could have spotted irregularities in Trump's state returns.
Or any number of agencies that dealt with Trump's racist real estate practices, or a big flag should continue to be the ridiculously high level of litigation. Trump cheats the contractors as a matter of policy.
As a matter of practice, the likelihood of investigation/prosecution has an inverse ratio to wealth. Why? Justice should be blind. In the courts, that's often the case but as far as a DA looking at or bringing a case against a billionaire… In my observation, it's almost never done. (Epstein is a classic example. Even with an ironclad case of repeated and flagrant statutory rape, he was let off the first time around with a slap on the wrist.