The DOJ is pursuing obstruction.
The Justice Department says classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate as part of an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into the discovery of the government records.
They aren’t satisfied with just having the documents back.
NO one knows just what what compromised. Could be nothing. Could be bullshit, or stuff that could put operatives lives in peril. And could be worse. We will likely never know. The DOJ and Defense department and Homeland Security et al should be able to find out what might have been compromised.
I just have to say that I really love the way that Garland is managing the press releases. He is scrupulously maintaining his pledge not to publicize or politicize any of the actions of the DOJ, but like an Aikido master he is using Trumps own public attacks as an opportunity to absolutely destroy him.
If Trump had kept entirely mum about the raid, then we wouldn’t know much of anything about Trump’s crimes, but since Trump can’t keep his mouth shut we now know almost everything.
Here is the time line according to my recollection:
FBI conducts raid without any publicity.
Trump complains on social media and so the FBI is “forced” to acknowledge that there was evidence of a crime on Trump property.
Trump complains that the warrant wasn’t public, so the FBI is “forced” to release it and reveal that Trump had boxes of top secret documents.
Trump gets upset and complains the the affidavit isn’t public, so the FBI is “forced” to reveal the affidavit which shows that Trump lied about returning all the documents, and also that trump is not only being investigated for having the documents illegally, he’s also being investigated for obstruction of justice.
Trump’s lawyers send out a highly political motion to the judge to demand a “Special Master”. The FBI is “forced” to make public a response that not only clearly lays out why Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice but also includes a “smoking gun” photo that will be on the front page of every paper from her to Poughkeepsie.
And there sits Garland with his enigmatic smile honestly saying that they only discuss ongoing investigations when absolutely necessary.
I can’t wait for the next Trump bum-rush attempt that leads to his hard faceplant SMACK into the floor.
The idea that Merrick Garland wasn’t doing anything was always dumber than shit, but this is a particularly stupid week to trot that dog shit out.
This time they’re gonna get him (in two weeks).
What was it about doing the same shit and expecting different results?
(I would be ecstatic to be proven wrong)
Practicing?
It’s not the same shit.
Besides, there’s a difference between not succeeding and not trying. The subject line of this thread definitely suggests the latter for me.
“This time he really got found out”
“This time he’s not getting away with it”
“This really shows who he is”
Etc.
Same shit since the “access Hollywood” tape, over and over.
I still want to proven utterly wrong, but it is a bit early to be picking out colors for his prison garb.
There’s fucking thousands of posts on this board fantasizing about karma catching up with the guy. I share the hope, but calling more pessimistic voices “idiotic” says more about you than anyone else.
The “Schadefreude” thread is the biggest collection of wishful thinking on the interwebs- the guy is still living his best life, his supporters are still falling over themselves to throw money at him; the GOP treats him like a rockstar elder statesman. What fucking Schade is there to have Freude about?
Yet thousands of posts (there are some of mine among them) are seeing the end coming for him every time a new bagman is thrown under the bus.
Let’s grow up a little bit. Let’s exercise some goddamn skepticism about any breathless reporting of the impending doom of Donald. The reporters are exploiting your desire to see him go down to peddle asinine clickbait, stop treating that shit as if Moses just brought it down the mountain.
Life without Hope is futile.
So you think that the fact that he is no longer protected by Executive Privilege, that he has had a warrant out to reclaim documents he illegally stole from the government, that he practically admitted to major crimes as has been laid out clearly and publicly by the DOJ, to be the same shit as a comment he made years ago about groping women?
You are a dipshit.
How about you follow your own advice, because you’re acting like a kid throwing a tantrum. We are talking about the situation being different and the likelihood of legal consequences being greater. Nobody is talking about “impending doom” here.
I posted this in the other thread, but probably more appropriate for this one: why has Trump not been arrested yet? The longer he roams free, the more the chance that national security and intelligence channels are further compromised.
I don’t believe the government sees him as an imminent threat because they believe they have all of the documents back now. So they don’t agree with you.
If and when they’re ready to charge him, he’ll likely be arrested then.
They didn’t even know exactly how many documents were missing, so how could they possibly be sure that they got them all back? That is the most surprising thing about this whole situation: that steps were taken to classify specific documents, but there was apparently little to no cataloging. It’s only when the first boxes were delivered did they even figure out that he had top secret content with him. Plus, he could easily have taken pictures that he can send off to Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc.
I have that concern too but they need probable cause for an arrest warrant, not just concerns about what he could possibly do. Especially when everything they do is under so much scrutiny and gets blown up publicly.
If I understand the situation, merely having these documents at home was a crime.
It’s like the cops finding a pound of weed after being alerted that there was weed. No need to discern probable cause. Handcuffs ensue, if were you or me.
If Trump can, he may have managed to remember some names of US operatives in foreign countries. Even just a few.
Or he may know some names of operatives in the US.
That’s huge.
That Trumps brain is no more than some soggy cereal, doesn’t really matter. He may remember something. Or of course, copies of the documents may have already been sent. I doubt we will ever know. The man has already shown that treason is no big deal (let’s not get into the definition of treason, we all know what it is)
This is huge. I don’t care if he just wanted Top Secret documents to carry around like it’s a menu at MaL to impress people.
If you were the last POTUS it would be different. The government is trying to figure this out.
Yes thats my sentiment too, why on earth would he not make copies of the top secret documents? He would likely want to keep the originals for himself, if nothing else, for bragging rights. He could have tons of copies of the secret documents stored in different places. The danger is still more than realistic.