In the movies, a spy had to break in through amazing security (disguises, fake ID, special locks, motion sensors, etc), and then bring a tiny camera to take pictures of secret documents.
Here, the spy just had to be one of thousands of people going to a club, ask the way to the bathroom, and then just use the handy photocopier that was provided for their use in the room.
Would make for quite a boring movie.
It would have to be a comedy. Framing device: a bunch of spies are sitting around a pub talking shop about the easiest mission they ever had. Like in the Princess Bride, we keep cutting back to the pub as one of the other spies says things like, “Come on now, that’s just too stupid! They were in a bathroom?!?” “…and that was the improvement over the stage in the ballroom, yes, do try to keep up!”
Is there any way? Definitely. Many copiers (and every one I’ve professionally managed in the last couple of decades) have hard drives just like computers. Often you’ll have digital copies of items you’ve copied or scanned or printed from the device. You can encrypt the drive to frustrate recovery of data and you can set protocols to regularly purge data but not every device will be configured that way.
So is there a chance? Most definitely there is a chance. No guarantee, but I expect that if they knew about that device it should have been taken as part of the warrant (or at least the drive should have been taken for FBI computer forensics people to go through).
Which why someone would take a picture with a phone instead of using a copier.
But of course, no foreign agents would have gotten past security to get into Mar a Lago, would they?
Here’s another one.
Some more info:
Ms. Zhang, a financial consultant from Shanghai, was never charged with espionage. She carried a Faraday bag, which blocks electromagnetic signals. Inside were four cellphones, a computer and an external hard drive. In her room at a different Palm Beach hotel, the authorities found nine flash drives, five cellphone SIM cards, a device used to detect hidden cameras and about $8,000 in cash.
Pressed by the judge on Monday about why she needed so much equipment, Ms. Zhang said she was being careful as a woman traveling alone.
Ms Zhang wasn’t the only Chinese national to get in there.
Those are just a couple of people we know about. I’m sure the real professionals didn’t get caught.
Since this is the schadenfreude thread, let’s all enjoy the fact that donald got in his plane today and flew to Miami, where the gross heat and humidity have already set in (not a place to be wearing a suit; the makeup will be running).
Why?
Because if he didn’t show up to court tomorrow, US Marshals would track him down and deliver him in shackles.
Damn, to bad.
I couldn’t find the exact place to put this because there is no “Trump makes a good point” topic. But it is some schadenfreude about his followers.
Trump calls his supporters stupid sheep and they don’t even realize it in their bloodlust. No one distains Trump supporters more than Trump.
WANTED: Lawyer barred in the Southern District of Florida. Must have high tolerance for humiliation. Retention of license to practice law not guaranteed.…
In any event, the announcement that Trump has been indicted in Miami with an initial appearance scheduled for Tuesday at 3pm set off a scramble in Trumpland to find local counsel. Apparently, when you’re the world’s worst client, it’s not so easy to find a lawyer barred in the Southern District of Florida to represent you…
Hmmm… I wonder if, in addition to the usual reluctance to work for someone who 1)won’t listen to them and 2)won’t pay the bills, Florida lawyers are concerned about the local mini-Mussolini getting vindictive toward anybody who helps the guy standing between him and the nomination…
Michael Popok (MeidasTouch) long time Miami resident reports on the very real threat, based on trump and MAGA leadership’s commands and directions, of an out of control trump protests in the streets leading to the federal courthouse on Tuesday, and how that will effect the terms and conditions of the pretrial release sought by the federal prosecutors against Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1jBZleB_fE
I sure as hell wouldn’t take his case unless I got a multimillion-dollar retainer up front, enough to cover not only my fee but also all the ancillary costs of a trial – copying, expert witnesses, investigators, jury-selection consultants, transcripts, likely renting a war room near the courthouse, food, support staff, oh, all kinds of expenses.
And the very next day, Operation Bawitdaba was launched.
Better factor in YOUR lawyer bills.
Oy. I watched that video and I really, really hope he’s wrong, because if he’s right it will be very, very bad.
It’s lawyer bills all the way down.
DeSantis signed a law decriminalizing mowing down protesters with your car if they block traffic. That would be a shame if that happened.
I hear water cannons are quite effective at breaking up riots.
I’d need at least $10 million in good funds up front. (But I’d start the negotiations at $25 million)
The way I figure it, if I take on Trump as a client, he may be the last client I ever have. So I need to fund my retirement. And I’d want to fund a nice one.
(Bolding mine.)
And perhaps more appropriate in this case than many others.