Special Counsel investigation of Trump part 2

[blastula]

Electric boogaloo.

APPOINTMENT OF JOHN L. SMITH AS SPECIAL COUNSEL - DOJ

It will cover crimes related to 1/6 and the purloined government documents.

Okay John Smith, if that is your real name, let's lock him up this time. Even if he is an easier candidate to defeat.

 

[Elixir]

Drag it out.
Make it (even more) obvious that Trump is a lying scumbag, but please, Jesus, don’t lock him up until after he causes Republicans to lose in ‘24!

 

[ZiprHead]

Trump explodes at special counsel appointment: ‘I am not going to partake in it’

The former president on Tuesday had formally announced he is mounting another White House campaign for 2024.

thehill.com

“I have been going through this for six years — for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore,” Trump said. “And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this.”

“I am not going to partake in it,” Trump added. “I’m not going to partake in this.”

The former president on Tuesday had formally announced he is mounting another White House campaign for 2024.

“I have never heard of such a thing. They found nothing. I announce and then they appoint a special prosecutor,” he said Friday. “They found nothing, and now they take some guy who hates Trump. This is a disgrace and only happening because I am leading in every poll in both parties.”

Both parties??? Geez, he's a moron!

 

[Elixir]

Both parties???

I’m all for him right now. Just sayin’…

 

[ZiprHead]

What crimes has Donald Trump ever committed? (Life of Brian)

Reg: What crimes has Donald Trump ever committed? Xerxes: Campaign finance crimes? Reg: What? Xerxes: Campaign finance crimes. Reg: Oh. Yeah, yeah. He did do that. Uh, that's true. Yeah. Commando #3: And intentional interference with elections....

www.dailykos.com

 

[SLD]

Drag it out.
Make it (even more) obvious that Trump is a lying scumbag, but please, Jesus, don’t lock him up until after he causes Republicans to lose in ‘24!

My fear too. I suspect that they’ll have this wrapped up by late Spring. They’ll indict him before June. If not sooner. There’s not much to it really. He’s fucking guilty. Both of plotting to overthrow the government and of mishandling classified documents. Highly classified documents.

But maybe Trump’s lawyers can get it delayed by numerous appeals to the Supreme Court. Then he will continue his campaign because if he wins, he can pardon himself.

 

[blastula]

National Archives has informed former president Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records - CNN.

The National Archives has informed former president Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records that show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president, according to multiple sources.

In a May 16 letter obtained by CNN, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall writes to Trump, “The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”

The 16 presidential records, which were subpoenaed earlier this year, may provide critical evidence establishing the former president’s awareness of the declassification process, a key part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.

The records may also provide insight into Trump’s intent and whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be clearly established protocols, according to a source familiar with recent testimony provided to the grand jury by former top Trump officials.

Trump and his allies have insisted that as president, Trump did not have to follow a specific process to declassify documents. At a CNN town hall last week Trump repeated the claim that simply by removing classified documents from the White House he had declassified them. “And, by the way, they become automatically declassified when I took them,” Trump said.

According to the letter, Trump tried to block the special counsel from accessing the 16 records by asserting a claim of “constitutionally based privilege.” But in her letter, Wall rejects that claim, stating that the special counsel’s office has represented that it “is prepared to demonstrate with specificity to a court, why it is likely that the 16 records contain evidence that would be important to the grand jury’s investigation.”

 

[blastula]

From 2 weeks ago,

Special counsel probing Trump Organization's handling of Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage | CNN

Prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have been asking questions in recent weeks about the handling of surveillance footage from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after the Trump Organization received a subpoena last summer for the footage, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.

The handling of the footage, and how employees within the Trump Organization responded to the Justice Department’s demand for it, have prompted a new round of grand jury subpoenas to top Trump employees in the last few weeks, the sources told CNN.

Longtime Trump Organization executives Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son Matthew Calamari Jr. are expected to appear Thursday before the grand jury investigating possible mishandling of classified documents brought to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, sources said. Prosecutors are expected to ask them about the handling of the surveillance footage and Trump employees’ conversations following the subpoena, according to the sources.

Calamari Sr., the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Trump Organization, has primarily overseen security operations for Trump and his properties during his decadeslong career working for Trump. His son, Calamari Jr., is director of security for the Trump Organization.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Both parties??? Geez, he's a moron!

Leading in the loser column. I'll admit, Orange is in fact my favorite loser of all time.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Drag it out.
Make it (even more) obvious that Trump is a lying scumbag, but please, Jesus, don’t lock him up until after he causes Republicans to lose in ‘24!

My fear too. I suspect that they’ll have this wrapped up by late Spring. They’ll indict him before June. If not sooner. There’s not much to it really. He’s fucking guilty. Both of plotting to overthrow the government and of mishandling classified documents. Highly classified documents.

But maybe Trump’s lawyers can get it delayed by numerous appeals to the Supreme Court. Then he will continue his campaign because if he wins, he can pardon himself.

He admitted in the CNN townhall that he took classified documents. He said "I took them". And he also said "they became declassified" when he took them, thus admitting they were classified before he took them. What will be easy to show is that there is no legal precedent for the idea that simply taking them declassifies them. If he can't get indicted and convicted on this charge then there really is no justice for the rich and powerful in this country.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

At best, he is an idiot and can not be trusted with classified information. This is something we already knew when he allegedly leaked to the Russians about a deep deep deep undercover Israeli asset in ISIS... and then confirms it via denial in a press conference!

The next step is that he is an idiot that provided the wrong people with intel they shouldn't have had... and was too stupid to know it.

Finally, he is trading secrets for access to capital.

None of these options are good, they are merely more or less criminal than the others. The guy who was a President in abestenia for most of his Presidency and definitely at the end, is looking to run in 2024 for that job he barely bothered to do in his first term.

 

[blastula]

Prosecutors Sought Records on Trump’s Foreign Business Deals Since 2017

The special counsel scrutinizing the former president’s handling of classified documents issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization seeking records related to seven countries.

www.nytimes.com

Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents have issued a subpoena for information about Mr. Trump’s business dealings in foreign countries since he took office, according to two people familiar with the matter.

It remains unclear precisely what the prosecutors were hoping to find by sending the subpoena to Mr. Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, or when it was issued. But the subpoena suggests that investigators have cast a wider net than previously understood as they scrutinize whether he broke the law in taking sensitive government materials with him upon leaving the White House and then not fully complying with demands for their return.
.....
Collectively, the subpoena’s demand for records related to the golf venture and other foreign ventures since 2017 suggests that Mr. Smith is exploring whether there is any connection between Mr. Trump’s deal-making abroad and the classified documents he took with him when he left office.

 

[blastula]

Trump was warned about retaining classified documents, notes reveal

Exclusive: previously unreported warning contained in notes taken by lawyer Evan Corcoran that prosecutors have viewed in recent months

www.theguardian.com

Federal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump was put on notice that he could not retain any classified documents after he was subpoenaed for their return last year, as they examine whether the subsequent failure to fully comply with the subpoena was a deliberate act of obstruction by the former president.

The previously unreported warning conveyed to Trump by his lawyer Evan Corcoran could be significant in the criminal investigation surrounding Trump’s handling of classified materials given it shows he knew about his subpoena obligations.

Last June, Corcoran found roughly 40 classified documents in the storage room at Mar-a-Lago and told the justice department that no further materials remained at the property. That was later shown to be untrue, after the FBI later returned with a warrant and seized 101 additional classified documents.

The federal investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith has recently focused on why the subpoena was not compiled with, notably whether Trump arranged for boxes of classified documents to be moved out of the storage room so he could illegally retain them.

In particular, prosecutors have fixated on Trump’s valet Walt Nauta, after he told the justice department that Trump told him to move boxes out of the storage room before and after the subpoena. The activity was captured on subpoenaed surveillance footage, though there were gaps in the tapes.

 

[blastula]

Special Counsel Is Wrapping Up Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe - WSJ

Special counsel Jack Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in his criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump mishandled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some of Trump’s close associates are bracing for his indictment and anticipate being able to fundraise off a prosecution, people in the former president’s circle said, as clashes within the Trump legal team have led to the departure of a key lawyer.

In recent weeks prosecutors working for Smith have completed interviews with nearly every employee at Trump’s Florida home, from top political aides to maids and maintenance staff, the people said. Prosecutors have pressed witnesses—some in multiple rounds of testimony—on questions that appeared to home in on specific elements Smith’s team would need to show to prove a crime, including those that speak to Trump’s intentions, and questions aimed at undermining potential defenses Trump could raise, they said.

The special counsel team conducted a flurry of grand jury interviews in recent weeks that appeared to tie up loose ends, the people said.

The Journal couldn’t determine whether Smith has decided whether to charge Trump, or if he has presented a recommendation on the matter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who would ultimately make a final decision on any such charges. A spokesman for Smith declined to comment. A Trump spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously described the probe as a politically motivated witch hunt.

 

[jab]

Drag it out.
Make it (even more) obvious that Trump is a lying scumbag, but please, Jesus, don’t lock him up until after he causes Republicans to lose in ‘24!

My fear too. I suspect that they’ll have this wrapped up by late Spring. They’ll indict him before June. If not sooner. There’s not much to it really. He’s fucking guilty. Both of plotting to overthrow the government and of mishandling classified documents. Highly classified documents.

But maybe Trump’s lawyers can get it delayed by numerous appeals to the Supreme Court. Then he will continue his campaign because if he wins, he can pardon himself.

is May 25 late Spring?

 

[blastula]

Trump workers moved Mar-a-Lago boxes a day before Justice Dept. came for documents - Wapo

Two of Donald Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before FBI agents and a prosecutor visited the former president’s Florida home to retrieve classified documents in response to a subpoena — timing that investigators have come to view as suspicious and an indication of possible obstruction, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump and his aides also allegedly carried out a “dress rehearsal” for moving sensitive papers even before his office received the May 2022 subpoena, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive ongoing investigation.
Prosecutors in addition have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others, these people said.

Taken together, the new details of the classified-documents investigation suggest a greater breadth and specificity to the instances of possible obstruction found by the FBI and Justice Department than has been previously reported. It also broadens the timeline of possible obstruction episodes that investigators are examining — a period stretching from events at Mar-a-Lago before the subpoena to the period after the FBI raid there on Aug. 8.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Charging Orange Manchild with taking the documents would be a shit show because the behavior of taking documents was just so pervasive and likely still is, unfortunately. It's why obstruction is the charge we will see. The Orange Pussy Grabber isn't perceived as invulnerable as he once was. I would put the odds at 80/20 that he will be charged.

 

[Elixir]

I would put the odds at 80/20 that he will be charged.

I would put it closer to 98%.
Unfortunately, nobody really suffers from being charged (unless we’re talking about electric chairs). And I put the chance of Trump being incarcerated at maybe 30%, and if we’re talking about the years that he deserves, I have almost zero faith he’ll ever see that kind of time.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I read about the dress rehearsal and I've got to wonder if that is just an accusation or multiple people back it up or there is actual video evidence of it. A dress rehearsal for destroying documents in case of a raid... kind of sells the argument that Trump knew he wasn't supposed to have the docs. Much like how Dominion had Fox... the Justice Department seems to have Trump.

 

[Elixir]

the Justice Department seems to have Trump.

That, plus $4.50 might get them a latté.

Seriously - the guy has lied, cheated and stolen for his entire life. If they get him a life sentence it will never* approach justice for the misery he has intentionally caused, let alone the collateral misery of which he is almost certainly unaware.

*Unless his fake doctor was right and he lives to be 200