Maybe Trump or Fox News will try to pull an Alex Jones. “You wanted those documents, now you have them. I don’t see what the big deal is”.
As wrong as it may have been about everything, I give Alex Jones the smallest amount of credit for coming up with it [you wanted my phone records and they gave them too you] that fast.
FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024
Note that “Broke in” may consist of trying the default combination that comes with the safe under the likely assumption that Trump wouldn’t know enough to reset it, or trying Trump’s birthday as a combination.
He’ll be quite relieved that they didn’t take his McDonald’s coupons from the safe. I don’t understand his motivation not to have turned them in over a year ago. He’s doubtlessly been told that they don’t belong to him, though that may not penetrate his skull. I doubt they’re incriminating since, being the good mob boss that he is, he doesn’t put anything in writing. I don’t even think he has the brains to know what is worth selling. It’s more likely than not in my opinion that he hasn’t read a single one of them. So why the death grip on these documents?
I’ll skip explaining my thinking but I’ll be very curious to see if Trump’s current Secret Service detail stays the same.
Dark Helmet: “So the combination is one, two, three, four, five. That’s the stupidest combination I’ve ever heard in my life! That’s the kinda thing an idiot would have on his luggage!”
Maybe it’s a stack of papers marked “pardon”, which he signed at the bottom. I can see Donald at the copier on his last day in office.
Trump figured that they’re like coupons that you get to use whenever you get in trouble, and he’s been selling the things for a million each.
Usually a raid involves an expedited, unannounced intrusion in order to prevent people from fleeing custody or destroying evidence. The lack of body armor or heavy armaments doesn’t matter.
On the other hand, if they really did wait until 9 AM to show up, that does make it less of a raid. Usually they’re carried out before dawn so that people get woken up and are disoriented and vulnerable.
On the other other hand, it’s surely not a coincidence that this happened when Trump was away.
I think “raid” fits, but it’s not the “SWAT busting down a door and holding everyone at gunpoint” sort of raid.
…hanging upside-down from the cave roof.
Dan
Local journalist Peter Schorsch broke the story first. Then all the major news organizations were scrambling to confirm when Trump provided the confirmation for them. Schorsch is not getting the credit he deserves and is pretty much not being mentioned at all by the big media outlets.
Schorsch first Tweet:
Dammit, Now I have to sue Reuters for stealing my post over in the Pit. And sue Oranganus too.
"I can see in my mind the fundraising letter for a new safe.
The best safe, hugely, gold plated, You don’t want the 45th President of the United States with a broken down/into safe, do you? Please donate what you can. Simply fill out the forms linking your life savings (do not do this - it’s parody) to my MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN account. Convenient plans include monthly, weekly, daily, hourly automatic withdrawal options. If you act now, President Trump will personally match 1000% of your donations. (do not do this - parody only). 100% of your donations after expenses, grift, and outright embezzlement will go to this purchase. Other items are for sale as well such as personal letters to various dictators, autographed notes from my meetings with Vlad, unretouched pee films, and retaped security briefing papers (with original water stains - not NFTs)."
I think most people don’t know or don’t care about the difference between a raid and a search or whatever this was.
This is what TMZ is saying about that:
The FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and Donald Trump’s visit to New York City were not coincidental … the feds timed the raid so there would not be a confrontation between agents and the former President … law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
Sources involved in numerous FBI searches tell TMZ … even if there were not a confrontation, protocol in raids like the one Monday would go like this … the FBI would swoop in and, if the target of the search warrant was in the house, agents would typically handcuff the target until the property was secured. The target would not be arrested, but rather detained.
Once the property was secured, agents would remove the handcuffs but the target could not reenter the premises until the raid was completed.
This would present an extremely awkward situation for the feds, and it would become a political hot potato.
But not surprisingly. As I’ve said before, conservatives have honed the skill of talking out both sides of their ass into a fine art.
Well when you light your farts, you do want separate streams for s’mores and another for destroying documents.
I wish I could find the meme I saw this morning that said something to the effect of “Florida man, living in cemetery where ex-wife is buried, raided by FBI”.
How disturbing will it be if that doesn’t narrow it down much?
The plain view doctrine is somewhat more complicated for documents. You cannot simply haul off a filing cabinet and leisurely leaf through it for evidence of arbitrary crimes that weren’t listed in the search warrant. Or rather… you can physically do that, but any evidence you discover (outside the scope of the warrant) will likely not be admissible.
In more concrete terms, if your search warrant says “Jan 6th”, an investigator who opened and viewed a file labeled “The Pee Tapes” would not be able to admit it as evidence. (again, it’s complicated… it might be OK if the judge decides that they’re related)
[Makes mental note to start mis-labeling files]
On the third hand, it would be interesting to see what would happen if Trump was there and he denied them entrance.
Stand off between SS and FBI I suppose.
Plus it’s hard to find child-sized handcuffs in the first place, even in Florida.
In my experience, judges are pretty lenient on cops who got a warrant. If Jan 6th stuff could conceivably be in the pee tape file, they won’t care. All the cops have to do is come up with a justification. (Cop: “we often discover that people, intentionally or unintentionally, put stuff in files with different names. We have to look at every piece of paper in the residence.” Judge: “Okay.”)