Let’s see how the SDMB feels about this news event. Feel free to civilly discuss after voting.
- Yes I support the Search
- Maybe but the FBI needs to justify it.
- No the Search was inappropriate
0 voters
I do. Not because I care about the legal stuff, but because Trump is so annoying and this might finally be the thing to frighten him into non-annoyingness.
I don’t understand why there’s any controversy. Trump and his associates have been under investigation for over a year. Searchs are a natural part of investigations. Several of Trumps associates have been questioned and offices searched.
Apparently a Judge approved a search warrant. It was lawfully executed. Trump has no privileged status as an ex-president. I would be concerned if the same property was searched multiple times. That could become harassment.
I’ve seen sitting governors investigated & prosecuted. It happened to Gov Edwin Edwards in Louisiana, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and Gov Jim Guy Tucker in Arkansas.
Political office doesn’t matter to law enforcement. You pay the consequences when the law is Broken.
That is, “I support using law to bludgeon people I don’t like”.
I agree with you about Trump, and would also be glad if he were “[frightened] into non-annoyingness”. But the idea that a legal action is justified by this? That is one of the positions Trump holds that I find so “annoying”.
The government knew Trump had boxes of classified information, because they removed 15 such boxes from his home just recently. Since the government also has at least some idea of what was missing, they could see quite easily if some documents were still missing.
At that point, Trump (or someone in Trump’s employ) is either concealing those documents, or had destroyed them, and not informed the government of such destruction. Either of those actions are a crime on their face. Trump has already had more than sufficient time and opportunity to comply with the government’s desire to recover these documents, and has failed to do so. As such, a search warrant is perfectly appropriate.
I don’t quite understand what you mean by “support.” Are you asking whether we are rooting for Team Trump or Team FBI? Or are you asking whether we judge there to be sufficient evidence to warrant a warrant? In other words, is this about where we’d direct our thoughts and prayers, or is this about whether we agree intellectually with the procedure?
Yep, I support the search. And Trump should be prosecuted if he committed a crime.
I also believe Hillary should be indicted for storing classified emails on her private server. (And no, I will not debate this topic in this thread.)
I believe in holding all politicians accountable, regardless of their political stripes.
I support the FBI on the assumption they have a valid search warrant for a matter that will be examined critically. I hope to see justification for the warrant, and the search more generally. If a public statement further explaining those reasons is not forthcoming it may end up being a mistake in the end.
I both support the FBI search for pure reasons of shadenfreude, and because I trust that the FBI had probable cause and went through proper protocols. Two thumbs up.
No debate, just pointing out it’s possible neither of them committed a crime for their seemingly illegal activities.
The question could be interpreted several ways. I was asking if you support the FBI’s obligation to investigate allegations against an ex-president that may run for office again.
Trump and other supporters are trying to politicize what should be business as usual.
The use and storage of classified documents is very serious. General Petraeus lost his job over it. There was talk of prosecution.
This. They had a warrant. Trump is not above the law.
Even when he was President, he wasn’t above the law; it was just that the law allows a sitting President certain specific rights which go with the office.
I’ll grant that I haven’t seen their evidence; but I wouldn’t expect to have seen it, any more than I’d expect to be shown personally the evidence behind every other search warrant issued in the country. If the warrant was invalid, there are court procedures, specified in the law, for challenging that. Considering the situation in general, combined with Trump’s known willingness to sue, I’d be astonished if in this case the warrant wasn’t valid.
I think this is where
Comes in.
Leaving out all the speculation, based on what we know and how the legal system is at least supposed to work, the FBI went in under legal warrant, which has to show sufficient probable cause. Since I don’t think anyone was blind to the social consequences, I also believe that the ‘sufficient’ in this case was at a much higher bar than serving a warrant on your average white collar criminal, much less the level where our society allows a cop to shoot up the wrong place on a warrant and walk away with a slap on the wrist.
Lastly, since Trump has to know what the warrant covered, but isn’t talking about it, instead repeating his favorite ‘witch hunt’ lines, it even more strongly supports the theory that it is legitimate. So I do show support for the FBI search at Mar-A-Lago, but if it is shown to be incorrect, I also support a full apology and compensation for damages to the exact extent supported in every other example of legal overreach by our various police forces in the country as supported by our various Republican representatives.
From what I’ve read, 97% of federal prosecutions result in either the defendant pleading guilty or losing at trial. And the feds are notorious for extremely detailed, ‘overkill’ investigations that gather far more evidence than necessary. So yes, Trump’s goose is all but cooked now.
But back to the topic, I think Trump needs a big scare - not necessarily jail, but at least a scare - to turn his head straight for once and behave like an adult rather than a 7 year old.
No, the proper response to Trump being annoying is to make fun of him.
FBI searches should only be used as part of the legal process. In this case, there is ample evidence that Trump has broken numerous serious laws and that the search was legal and justified.
Some people thought the awesome responsibility of the Presidency would bring about a positive change. Spoiler alert: It didn’t happen.
Trump is 76 years old. I doubt he will grow up at this point. He grew up in an environment where he never faced serious consequences so he never had to learn how to behave. He has spent his life as a toddler.
Thanks. I have now voted “yes,” because in that sense, I absolutely support it.
You are insulting 7 year olds.
I support it, as others said, in the sense that I have no reason to believe that it wasn’t based on probable evidence and lawfully approved and executed. The only reasons I could see not to “support” it would be to believe that it wasn’t lawfully approved/executed (and I see no evidence of that despite knee-jerk responses from the Right) or because you think it was legitimate but they shouldn’t have done it for social/political reasons which isn’t a stance I agree with.