The Washington Post is reporting that the Mar-a-Lago classified documents held secrets about Iran and China.
At least one of the documents seized by the FBI describes Iran’s missile program, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation. Other documents described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China, they said.
Also, too, the Trump documents case legal team blew a deadline yesterday. Special Master Raymond Dearie is not happy.
Per an earlier order from the special master, U.S District Judge Raymond Dearie for the Eastern District of New York, both sides had to file by Thursday a list of unresolved disputes between them over a subset of the records seized by the FBI in its August raid.
The Justice Department filed its own rundown of the disputed documents in a timely fashion, but Trump attorney Jim Trusty seemed to unilaterally give himself four extra days to file. In a brief letter Thursday night, Trusty disputed claims that the DOJ had made about what documents that Trump wants shielded from the investigation, and added that Trump would file its full response on Monday.
Dearie wasn’t having it with the blown deadline and self-appointed new deadline. In a Friday order, Dearie said that Trump’s filings were now “untimely” and that he needed to submit his position by close of business on Friday.
It’s coming out that a lot of the dispute seems to stem from the definitions of “government” and “personal.” Trump is claiming White House pardon and immigration policy records as “personal,” for example, a position the DoJ says is nonsense. Trump also seems to think he can claim “executive privilege” over “personal” documents, suggesting he still doesn’t grasp how any of this works. It’s possible his lawyers do understand how it all works, but that Trump is not letting them file anything with the court without his approval. And he’s a bleeping moron. So it’s a mess. Lawrence O’Donnell explains it:
Also, too, Steve Bannon got a slap on the wrist sentence today; more months in prison and a $6,500 fine. And Bannon will remain free pending an appeal of the sentence.
And the House J6 Committee has formally issued its subpoena to Donald Trump. Unless by some miracle the Dems keep the House, this will go nowhere.
Is this me and my wildass imagination, or can you also see something like this?
Somewhere in FL, there's an orthodontist who knows more about our relations with China than some government experts. "Hey Doc, I just opened up these secret documents at breakfast. Jesus! Come here. You wanna see the kind of BS I used to get when I was in charge? Take it home and explain it to me next week."
And somewhere else in FL, there's a proctologist who, because he handles holes all day long, was the unwilling audience for the presiDUNCE on matters of Iran's secret underground labs. "So Doc, if you was hide-in some nukes underground, where'd you store them? Here's a map of Iran. Study the layout and see me next week."
"HEY LADIES! YOU WANNA SEE MY LOVE LETTERS WITH THAT NORTH KOREAN LEADER?!?!?
IMO, the 'clock' starts right after the November election. That's the soonest the DOJ could have filed charges of Obstruction or of violations of the Espionage Act. The 11th Circuit will decide in late November on a motion by DOJ to toss Cannon's decision to appoint a special master. Personally, I think Judge Dearie's decisions have been on solid legal ground, Lawrence is probably right that if Loose Cannon reverses Dearie, it's going back to the 11th. And Cannon will go down in flames. The question is how much time Trump can waste. I am not sure any of the documents in question are important to the two most likely charges so does the sideshow of Cannon's bias mean anything?
The Oath Keepers trial is turning up some interesting conversations. It seems to me that the most militant insurrectionists wanted Trump to validate the attack by invoking martial law (basically.) But they weren't sure Trump had the balls to do it. And they went ahead, not for Trump, but because J6 provided the excuse to justify an attempt to overthrow the government, which remains their goal.
The 'average' GOP voter seems to be more of a Trump cultist than the Oath Keepers. The loyalty to Trump in polls looks like a cult following – not a dedication to a conservative ideology that another disciple could also claim if they ran against Trump. Today, Trump warned other potential candidates not to run against him for POTUS. But there's not a lot to indicate Trump is eager to declare. Trump invested a lot in reconditioning "Trump One", so Trump is planning to travel with an entourage. This may have to do with the change in the rules over the Trump slush fund, which is currently footing the considerable legal bills. This will be worth watching – Trump does not want to declare but he doesn't want any Republicans to declare either. Stay tuned.
The Federalist Society (IMO) is primarily committed to protecting the donor class. Money. That's why we're hearing again rumblings about cutting entitlement programs and raiding SS and Medicare. A bunch of the top Federalist judges are religious kooks. Except for Cannon, I see little loyalty to Trump from the Federalists, and I don't thiink the USSC will bend over backward to help Trump, but they will allow the stats to do a lot – we will find the limits perhaps next year.
So the dynamic is a lot of GOP voters loyal to Trump personally, and a judiciary wit no great inclination to protect Trump. The NY civil case is a year off – that will be first and they will clobber Trump and the kids. I'd wager money that DOJ will have criminal charges filed long before that. GA will move, but who will get charged in the first round? The rape case will be up in that time frame and the civil suit against Trump in DC for J6. All in the works in '23 and '24.
So Trump won't declare in early '23. Others will (DeSantis.) Trump will attack them and it's game on. Expect the ugliest primary of our lifetime. Eventually, Trump will declare but the other candidates will run against Trump's legal baggage. Lovely! I think Trump will demand that the Federalist Society and the USSC must support him and end the criminal proceedings. And they won't. By this time, everyone who is not a full-blown cultist will be against Trump and the polls will reflect it. Trump will be less than discrete calling for riots wherever he's a defendant. Violence will be the only arrow left in the quiver for Trump to fire.
Mostly agree Doug. According to the polls we're going get shellacked (I hope not!!) but the thing that will keep us sane are the indictments that everyone expects to start rolling in after Nov 8. Should start a pool about who will file first…
Trump is both serious about running in 2024, but also just blowing smoke to rake in money from the rubes. He's got to keep the fiction alive that he's viable, otherwise the donations stop. The Jan 6 committee and all the indictments out there now and yet to come are letting the air out of his balloon. In the meantime, the various players are lining up behind DeSantis…
What I'm terrified of is that the Rs control both the House and Senate. At least nothing will get done, and the world will see them for the rabid fools that they are…
I don't think time matters to them they have their strategy in place … basically tear down everything because they are busy rapturing and the collateral damage is acceptable, especially to TFG because he wants to be warshiped as the sun god and to him a bunch of rubes getting killed is totally worth it.
If the GOP has any control of any of the houses the markets and the economy should crash a-la the UK. Unless the hydrocarbon barons queer the market in favor of their favorite gang of pedo guys. Enjoy shit now, the GOP will shortly wreck everything if they cant have their rapture-on-earth … the freaking Flynn-stones are calling for "the great reset" which literally means that they want to crash the markets and let the old and young die from starvation (or whatever other weird poverty disease) and the middle-aged house-cat citi-dwelling GOPers will have their one last big pee-wees adventure: they want the end of the movie before they die in a nursing home full of drugs and tubes. Sedition is way cooler than that pitiful state.
The title of this post is "The Mar-a-Lago Docs: The More We Learn, the Worse It Gets" … but this is the GOP platform and strategy: run towards the gutter every time, it pays the bills so to the absolute bottom we go!
How special? It is special at the master level. That must take quite a person with some awesome abilities. Just look at what they have done. You get a piece of paper divided into columns and rows. In the first column is a document ID composed of an assortment of meaningless letters and numbers. Wow, that is special. In the other boxes there is more meaningless and redundant information about the documents. That is even more special. It sure makes for a quick read though. So how much are they billing per hour for this? Top Secret, eh?
Wasn't document A-017 and A-018 the dirt Trump got on Miss Lindsey that turned him into a cultist? Top Secret too, eh.
Wasn't document A-017 and A-018 the dirt Trump got on Miss Lindsey that turned him into a cultist? Top Secret too, eh.
Cynicism breeds corruption.
Corruption breeds cynicism.
Cynicism breeds individual self-preservation and fear; fear and doubt (who is/isn't corrupt?).
Corruption breeds unequal justice.
Unequal justice breeds cynicism, fear and doubt in society. which undermines social cohesion and leads to tribalism.
Tribalism breeds lawlessness by the powerful and further undermines social cohesion.
Undermined social cohesion makes well-meaning or clueless individuals susceptible to manipulation.
All of the above makes fertile ground for kleptocracy & oligarchy.
Kleptocracy and oligarchy make fertile ground for autocracy and totalitarianism.
Are we on a slippery slope? Feels more like the rings of hell in The Inferno.
That's the entire strategy, for Trump and his minions. Draw it out, take Congress and shut the whole thing down.
Also, please explain to me without using the phrase "the law doesn't apply to Donald Trump" why finding classified documents at ONE of his properties did not trigger a full-on SWAT-style search of ALL of his properties within like an hour?