The First Federal Indictment of a Former President
It's another first for our country.
On Thursday afternoon, SCROTUS truth-socialed that, “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax.”
For once, he didn't lie. 45 is under federal indictment. And yep, it's over the boxes. What's the big deal about a few score of bankers boxes containing intelligence secrets about the U.S. and other countries strewn about a gold-crusted resort?
The Document: Jeezus Christ
Yesterday, the indictment was released. A federal grand jury from the Southern District of Florida charged The Spy Kid with 37 counts in total, all felonies. For Documents Don, there are 31 counts under the Espionage Act of Willful Retention of National Defense Information and one count of False Statements and Representations. In addition, there are single counts of the following felonies, charged to him and to his co-conspirator Waltine Nauta: Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice, Withholding a Document or Record, Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record, Concealing a Document in a Federal Investigation, and one count of Scheme to Conceal.
There is no way I could improve upon the writing of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges. In his televised statement, Smith encouraged us all to read the indictment for ourselves. I also encourage you. Please read the document here. It is an easy read, a clear, concise, compelling short story of federal crimes perpetrated by the former leader of the free world. And boy! it packs a punch. I can't tell you how many times I muttered, "Jeezus Christ" as I read it and saw the photographs!
The Highlights
The two serious sides
The indictment outlines two very serious aspects to the case.
- That he unlawfully had the documents in the first place
- That he tried mightily to not give them back. He obstructed hard.
The photographs of the storage of "his boxes." OMG!
Among other widely-accessible locations at the resort, such as offices and unsecured closets, the boxes containing classified documents were stacked in a ballroom and in a freaking bathroom! By the looks of it, it's possible the bathroom was actively used, pictured with a lined trash bin and clean towels set out. Thousands of people potentially had access to these areas in Mar-a-Lago.
(For other photos that are contained in the indictment, go here)
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| Boxes of documents stacked on the stage of the Mar-a-Lago ballroom. This space was accessible to staff, members, and visitors of Mar-a-Lago. |
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| Raise your hand if you store your stolen classified documents in the bathroom. Rookie mistake. When I store my Top Secret documents, I put them behind the shower curtain! |
Literally Spilling Secrets
One photo showed a box overturned from a stack in a closet. One of the documents spilled on the floor was marked "SECRET/REL TO USA, FVEY.” The "Five Eyes" designation means the document contains information for the eyes of only officials from an intelligence alliance from the countries of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
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| The redacted Secret document lies between the vanity photos and the issue of the Wall Street Journal in the foreground. Jeezus Christ! |
There's bad, and there's very bad
It's all bad, but the fact that he had documents under Special Access Program (SAP) is especially bad. These documents are top-top-top level, so sensitive that not only is the information limited to the eyes of a very few people, but these documents are to be handled more securely, and the location where these items are to be viewed is a safe, secured facility. The bathroom at Mar-a-Lago? Doubtful that it qualifies.
The display to visitors and the recorded admission
The indictment outlines a couple instances where Trumpty-Dumbty brought out documents and showed them to visitors. Both were at his Bedminster, New Jersey club, where he had brought some of the items.
The first instance was when he showed someone from his political action committee a classified military map and "plan of attack" and freely admitted that he shouldn't be showing it. Reporting indicates that the PAC official is Margo Martin, a communications official from the Save America PAC, whose laptop and phone were subpoenaed, and who testified in front of the grand jury.
The other was with four individuals, including a writer and a publisher, none of whom had security clearance. This was audio-recorded and Double Agent Orange is heard saying, "As president I could have declassified it," and "now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret." The individuals weren't named in the indictment, and I can't find reporting on who the author is. Read the jaw-dropping transcript of the conversation on page 15 of the indictment.
This is proof that one, he knew the documents weren't declassified, and two, that he didn't have the power to do so after leaving the Whitewash House.
Jeezus Christ.
The incriminating statements
There's clear evidence of obstruction from statements he made to attorney Evan Corcoran, who "memorialized" conversations with his boss. As Sister Resister Anne noted, this shows that Corcoran knew he was being played. He didn't want to be implicated in the commission of a crime, and he wanted to preserve evidence.
Sneaky Pete
On page 21, Smith illustrates how The Bloat of Many Colors tried to implement several ways to avoid complying with the subpoena, including further hiding the documents, destroying the documents, or simply lying about having them.
The indictment tells the story of how SCROTUS asked Corcoran, who was preparing to comply with the subpoena, to postpone for a bit his search for the requested documents. Then POTATUS directed Nauta at Mar-a-Lago to move the boxes around. There are specific timestamps on Natua's movements, indicating that Smith has video evidence of the crime. Further, there is evidence that the bumbling idiot had planned to take some of the documents on the plane back to Bedminster with him.
The most beautiful pages
The second most delicious page was page nine, the one with the "But her emails!" quotes. His sick rhetoric has been used against him in a federal 👏 indictment 👏 for 👏 felony 👏 crimes 👏
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| Clay Jones |
The most beautiful words were on the last few pages, the Penalty Sheet, which outline the penalties attached to each count. Up to 20 years for many counts, 10 years for each of the espionage counts. Let's get that prison cot warmed up! On second hand, nah. No sheets in that cell. Gotta keep him uncomfortably alive until age 97½.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith was appointed to the job by Attorney General Merrick Garland back in November 2022 after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago and retrieved the stolen documents. He has been mum during the whole seven months on the job, and very few leaks have emerged from his investigation. We didn't even know what he sounded like until Friday night, when he appeared before the American people to encourage them to read the indictment for themselves. He also reminded us that, "We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone." And he reminded us that in our system, 45 is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Read more about Jack Smith in the Washington Post.
The Players
Though individuals and specific countries are not named in the indictment, the identities of the players have been reported as:
- "Attorney 1" is Evan Corcoron
- "Senior Military Official" is Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley
- "Country A" is Iran.
It seems that Corcoron's documentation and possibly his testimony is the basis for most of the conspiracy and concealing charges.
The co-conspirator: Waltine (Walt) Nauta
Previously unknown to me, and likely to you, Walt Nauta was the Mendacious Duckbilled Twatypus's right-hand co-conspirator. Nauta is originally from Guam. He enlisted in the Navy in 2001 and worked as a part of the Presidential Food Service from 2012 to 2021, rising to the rank of Senior Chief Culinary Specialist. After 2021, he worked for IMPOTUS as a valet or "body man" at Mar-a-Lago.
Shaking my head. This poor little fish flopping around in a bigly tremendous drying-up pond. Forever linked to the worst perpetrator of crimes by a former president in the history of the nation.
The Big Question: will Nauta save his tail and cooperate?
Read more about Nauta from Maggie Haberman at the New York Times.
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| Waltine Nauta and Don the Con Reuters |
What's next?
Attorneys have resigned. Hours after the indictment was released, two of SCROTUS's attorneys resigned. There was no reason given, but as you know, he is under investigation for two more crimes, indictments coming soon. These attorneys aren't the first to jump ship. He has difficulty retaining good counsel.
Tuesday, June 13: The arrest and the hearing
For the second time in as many months, The Former Guy will report to the authorities and will be placed under arrest for his crimes. He will stand before a judge and hear the charges against him, and he will enter pleas.
Will he make a plea deal so he can get on with his campaign? HELL NO! He doesn't really want to be president again. He wants to use his precious political persecution to WITCH HUNT! the hell out of it. He will get rallies all over RedLand with his base of deplorable Q people, soaking in all their applause and red hats, and he will bilk them for millions and millions of dollars. He'll have them going into (further) debt for him. And that's how he likes it.
Threats to Jack Smith and his family. It's his familiar playbook. Threaten and intimidate, and send your minions after "the enemy." On Friday, he truth-socialed insults about Smith, calling him “a deranged lunatic,” a “Trump Hater,” and a “psycho." No doubt Smith and his family are under increased security today.
Motions: will the judge delay proceedings?
The judge initially assigned to the case, über-conservative Aileen M. Cannon, is a win for Nostradumbass. He appointed her in 2020 to the federal judgeship for the District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In previous actions regarding this case, she ruled in his favor by restricting the FBI from conducting their investigation. It was later overturned by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (another conservative body) in a scathing decision, but I'm sure her appointer liked her style of delaying proceedings. If she decides to entertain motions from the defense in this case, it could be dragged out until after the election.
You can read more about Aileen the Sticky Wicket here.
The upcoming cases
It's unclear what effect, if any, this indictment will have on the other pending investigations. Fulton County, Georgia Attorney General Fani Willis's case surrounding election interference has been rumored to be imminent for a while.
And Jack Smith is keeping busy with the January 6 attempted coup investigation and will undoubtedly bring charges there as well. When? We don't know.
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| Clay Jones |
Stay tuned. Little Sister Resister will bring you what she knows!
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