Shit went down this week.
Bigly shit.
And not all of it down the Whitewash House executive toilet.
On Monday night, the FBI went to Mar-a-Lago and collected boxes of documents.
The first question we all had: "Ooooh! Which crime?!"
Answer: One we didn't know about yet!
Search and Seizure: The Facts So Far
The feds held a warrant signed by Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to search the offices, storage areas, and residence at Mar-a-Lago and seize documents.
Judge Reinhart (not to be confused with Judge Reinhold) had been a federal prosecutor, then in 2008 he became a defense attorney for some types of shady people like those who aided and abetted Jeffery Epstein. He became a magistrate judge, not a presidentially appointed position, in 2018. He is reportedly well-respected and "meticulous." He has donated to Republican and Democrat candidates, up and down the ticket, and not in huge amounts. He seems like a middle-of-the-road, stand-up judge (unfortunately, however, he has become the victim of violent, antisemitic threats as I type these words).
Anyway, the FBI took Reinhart's warrant down to Palm Beach and grabbed what they wanted. Legally, and by the book. They gave notice that they were coming and the secret service was there, not to help, but to facilitate access. SCROTUS's lawyers were also there, and reportedly Drumpf himself had a good view of the action on CCTV.
They took some 20 boxes from the residence.
It had to be serious. The DOJ was willing to expose itself to the Wrath of the Right, so it had to have been big stuff. Luckily we have free press, and reporters went to work finding out for us.
Immediately After the Raid
Hours after the raid, Treason D'être himself leaked the news. He issued a wordy press release, characteristically victim-y and included the requisite "But her emails!" Read the blather here.
Early speculation was that they seized documents that he took home with him in violation of the Presidential Records Act. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) wanted what was theirs. Presidential documents belong to The People, not former presidents.
Earlier that same day, we had just learned of photographic evidence of POTATUS's penchant for ripping up documents and flushing them down the toilet.
The DOJ has a policy of not discussing ongoing investigations. So, they remained quiet in the days afterwards, especially since Double Agent Orange himself informed the public that it had gone down and had the warrant and the receipt in hand and could release those on his own.
The Right's reaction was like you would expect in the hours and days afterwards. Indignation, outrage, bluster.
"It is unprecedented!" Well, yes, you are correct. We have never had such a criminal president before.
"Documents were planted!" Ummm, 20 boxes in the agents' back pockets? Or are they being issued new special FBI Planter Cargo Pants these days?
"We need an explanation NOW!" You could ask the man himself. He has the warrant as well as a list of items seized.
"The DOJ and FBI need to be investigated! How dare they investigate crimes!" So much for the party of law and order.
"If they can do this to a former president, they can do it to you!" Sure, I would expect it if I had committed a felony.
Days After the Raid
It soon became apparent that the raid wasn't entirely a surprise. It turns out that NARA had quietly gone down to Florida in January and retrieved 15 boxes of documents. When they realized some were missing, they asked again. Finally, NARA referred the matter to the Justice Department. The DOJ also tried informal means before they issued a subpoena for return of the rest of the items. When that was ignored, well, the only choice is to go get them.
So you can ignore all the outrage from The Spy Kid when he truth-socialed, "ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK!" They did, you moron. Over and over. Quit 👏🏻 Lying👏🏻
On Thursday, Merrick Garland spoke to the American people. In a short statement, he explained that he himself had signed off on the action, and that the DOJ is working with integrity "without fear or favor." Watch it here.
Garland then forced 45's hand. He moved to ask a judge to release the warrant and the receipt. The judge gave Diablo Naranjo a chance to object to the release. In his usual deception-is-the-way way, he issued a statement, "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents … I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents....Release the documents now!" You could've done it yourself all along, dumb-ass.
And so, they did.
Our speculation about violations of the Presidential Records Act? Well, yes, but....
What he stole weren't run-of-the-mill documents or his hand-sharpied hurricane map. On Thursday, The Washington Post broke that the FBI seized numerous classified documents. They took four sets of documents marked "top-secret," three sets of documents marked "secret," and three sets documents marked "confidential."
Not only that, some of the documents classified as top secret had the extra designation "top secret/sensitive compartmented information (SCI)." This last designation is the highest security classification, meant for documents that are so sensitive, and so dangerous to national security, that they are for the eyes only of the most privileged, and then in highly secure locations called "SCIF" or "Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility."
A storage room in the basement of Mar-a-Lago? Not so secure.
Top Secret/SCI designates the country's tippy-top most secret stuff, the things that can risk national security. You know, like nuclear weapons information. Yup. Nuclear weapons information. WaPo confirmed this.
Shit.
The Justification
"It was all declassified!" says the Salmon Seditionist. True, the sitting president has the power to declassify information. But it isn't just a matter of scribbling on it in Sharpie:
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There is a formal process, which includes a written and signed memo, review and input by agency heads that have an interest in the material, and an eventual official stamped designation on the document itself saying, "Declassified on (date)."
Besides that, a private-citizen former president has no power to declassify documents, no matter how long they were sitting in his basement.
And nuclear weapons information? Honey, there ain't no justification for declassifying TS/SCI documents unless......
The Motive: Show Me the Money
What drives TЯUMP in almost everything he undertakes? The Almighty Dollar. The motive in this theft? Undoubtedly money. There is no doubt in my mind that he was planning to sell government secrets to the highest bidder. No doubt in my mind.
The Possible Charges
Possible criminal charges include: violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Espionage Act of 1917.
Violations of the Espionage Act. Violations of the Espionage Act!!
There are three sections of Title 18 of the United States Code listed on the search warrant. They have to do with the Espionage Act of 1917. Section 793 surrounds the unlawful retention of defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary; Section 1519 surrounds destroying or concealing documents to obstruct government investigations; Section 2071 covers the unlawful removal of government records.
The right's reaction after all this information came out?
And since then, the Right has got even darker.
The Parallels and the Perpendiculars
Who else was convicted under the Espionage Act? Well, you remember the Rosenbergs. Remember what happened to them? Yes! 1951: executed. You know who prosecuted them? None other than Roy Cohn, Don the Con's good ol' buddy and ersatz protector.
Remember in 2016 when a whistle-blower warned about Russian interference in the 2016 election? The 25-year-old whistleblower, Reality Winner, was convicted for leaking an (meaning one) intelligence report under Section 793. She was sentenced to 63 months in prison and is now on supervised release at age 29.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They aren't parallels; they are perpindiculars. Giving comparisons any ink is giving them life. But let me give you others' voice. Here is a good write-up from a former DOJ attorney cautioning about any comparison to Hillary. This week, the National Archives and Records Administration issued a statement putting to bed any notion that Obama took classified – or any – documents with him when he left office.
I wish the lies would stop.
It's obvious, and I feel silly for pointing this out, but remember, Mar-a-Lago is not only the Rabid Yam's residence, it is also a resort. People come and go. Members are allowed to bring guests. There is no way to know what motives people have for joining the club, nor for visiting the very-well-known now-private citizen who lives there, nor what equipment they bring with them! Yes, you go through a secret service check-point (no weapons, please), but in general there is not the level of security that top-secret documents demand.
True, to stay there, you must join for a $200,000 initial fee with a $15,000 annual fee. There are about 500 members, and the list is shrouded in secrecy. Most people can't afford that, but if you have the dough, and if Orange Julius Rosenberg likes you, you can join. Or visit.
And you can see things and hear things if you go. Remember the Chinese national – a trespasser! – who had thumb drives and other electronic equipment at the resort? Or the tourist who took photos of the nuclear football during dinner? Or the dinner with Japanese P.M. Abe? Bystanders overheard their conversation about possible responses to a North Korean missile launch. Security? *shrug*
The Consequences
So far, there haven't been consequences to Cheeto Benito. Instead, there is hate boiling up again, with violent rhetoric around the internet and death threats to Merrick Garland, Judge Reinhart, FBI director Christopher Wray, and FBI agents, among other individuals surrounding the investigation, including addresses and family members' names. It's no surprise that the agents' names were leaked from an unreacted copy of the warrant by Brietbart. Hmmmm. Who had an unrelated copy?
The Hope. Well, my hope
My hope is that the Scamburgler will be indicted on numerous charges and will be tried, convicted, and sentenced to jail and he will die there at age 99½.
The Speculation. Well, my speculation
My reality check is that the government may decide that having the documents back is good enough and the political fallout would be too great to pursue an indictment. Best-case speculation: Agent Orange will be charged with one count, there will be a long, drawn-out legal process, and nothing will come of it.
What Makes Me Mad
Well, all of it. But what makes me especially mad is that he lies as often as he scratches his balls, and his minions lap it all up. They don't read any truth. They don't want to. They don't care. The Lord of the Lies can say whatever he wants, spin it completely opposite the reality, and his flunkeys run with it.
Agencies are forced to waste time stomping out these little fires, like the National Archives countering his claim that Obama "kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified." Or Garland having to waste a judge's time when 45 could have released the documents himself.
It also makes me mad and sad that we have to deal with whack-jobs who attack Federal buildings in the name of Scam and Cheese. Senseless violence. Senseless death.
But mostly the lies. Because the lies lead to the rest.
Cartoons and Memes
Because we need them.
Here is video of our banner saying HAHAHA flying over Mar-a-Lago today. This is how you treat wannabe authoritarians like Trump. You ridicule and mock them. pic.twitter.com/gFqndjMSUv
— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) August 11, 2022
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