Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Jeff- That he had documents marked "HCS" just sitting around in boxes in an unlocked room for over a year is also a bit alarming but again, without knowing the actual contents of the documents, it's hard to say whether that's a case you prosecute or not. I have to say, if this was just some ordinary citizen, they'd be prosecuted. Which makes me again suggest that any of Trump's political allies or media cronies who had a peek at stuff they shouldn't is in more potential trouble than Trump.

[lineygoblue]

So the conclusion is Trump is as guilty as Hillary?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Hey what is 30,000+ sensitive emails on an unsecured server between friends?

[Dr. Strangelove]

So the conclusion is Trump is as guilty as Hillary?

If you have a chance you should read this article from Andy McCarthy that I posted yesterday.

His conclusion is important because he asks his audience to explain what other options Garland had given the facts that I've bolded.

Trump World’s Mar-a-Lago Offensive Backfires | National Review

For those of us who remain skeptical about whether the drastic measure of a search warrant was really necessary (especially given the FBI and DOJ’s evident lack of urgency in the months after Trump’s surrender of the 15 boxes in January 2022), these revelations require grappling with a hard question:

Given that the former president was not responsibly securing the government’s most closely held intelligence, that he was trying to prevent the FBI from examining what he’d returned, that his lawyers were either misinformed about or lying about the classified information still retained at Mar-a-Lago, and that even the issuance of a grand-jury subpoena (with potential criminal penalties for noncompliance) had not succeeded in getting Trump to hand over the remaining classified information, what option short of a search warrant would have sufficed?

Meantime, some unsolicited advice to the former president and his apologists: If you are trying not to get indicted, the best defense is usually not a good offense. And it is never an offense that backfires.

[THE_WIZARD_]

This is the proverbial fishing with dynamite. If these docs were sooooo sensitive why didn't they grab them when they visited Mar-A-Lago several months before? The entire raid was political...and we know now Biden knew about it...yet he lied that he did. Why?

[Dr. Strangelove]

This is the proverbial fishing with dynamite. If these docs were sooooo sensitive why didn't they grab them when they visited Mar-A-Lago several months before? The entire raid was political...and we know now Biden knew about it...yet he lied that he did. Why?

Read the Andy McCarthy article. He talks about Biden lying as well and largely excuses it because Trump's behavior is much worse (in his view)

[THE_WIZARD_]

Well that's the whole Dem strategy...the end justifies the means...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Andy McCarthy explains in these paragraphs, if you'd simply read what I posted, that Biden was required by law to be briefly involed because Trump had asserted executive privlege in trying to block the FBI from reviewing anything from his house. He said Biden's lie was foolish but understandable given that any hint of him being involved would be immediately politicized by Trump's camp.

*************************

Solomon obviously published details about the archivist’s letter because it puts the lie to the Biden White House’s implausible claim that the incumbent president has had no involvement in the Justice Department’s investigation of his predecessor, which resulted in the August 8 Mar-a-Lago search. This will prove embarrassing for Biden, but only because it is a foolish lie. As I’ve noted, given that national-security concerns about classified intelligence were a prime mover here, and that the search of a former president’s home by the FBI was historically unprecedented, there would have been something profoundly wrong if the incumbent president was not involved. Moreover, as we shall see, Biden’s involvement was statutorily required under the circumstances.

Clearly, the purport of Solomon’s news report was to bolster the Trump narrative that Biden is using the Justice Department as a political weapon in hopes of eliminating Trump as his potential 2024 opponent. Okay . . . but the problem is that Archivist Wall’s letter shreds Trump’s claim — most recently proclaimed in a lawsuit filed with great fanfare on Monday morning — that he has been completely cooperative and transparent in dealing with the FBI and the Justice Department, and therefore that the forcible search of his Florida estate was an unnecessary, inexplicable abuse of power.

The letter, to the contrary, details Trump’s stubborn determination to block the FBI from examining boxes of records containing documents marked as highly classified, which Trump had grudgingly returned to NARA in January 2022. Further, Trump triggered Biden’s necessary involvement (under the PRA) by dubiously invoking executive privilege. That is, Trump’s self-absorbed priority was to frustrate the FBI’s examination, rather than to support the government’s patent need to assess the possible damage caused by his mishandling of top-secret intelligence.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I get the "Get Trump" thing. I do. He exposed the left and is a threat to their existence. They will stop at nothing to destroy the man.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump’s attempt to assert privilege, yet again, necessitated Biden’s involvement in the controversy. Under the PRA (the specific provision is section 2208(c) of Title 44, U.S. Code), if a prior president lodges a claim of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure of presidential records, the archivist must “consult with the incumbent President . . . to determine whether the incumbent President will uphold the claim asserted by the former President.”

Naturally, Biden realizes that Trump will portray any appearance of Biden’s involvement in a criminal investigation of Trump — even if it is required by law — as a sinister politicization of the Justice Department to help the incumbent president sideline his once and likely future Republican opponent. Thus, as Trump dragged his feet, trying to delay the FBI’s examination of the records by failing to articulate a concrete privilege claim, Biden schemed to thwart him by countermanding the vague privilege invocation — just as Biden had previously done, with the approval of the courts, in connection with the House January 6 committee’s probe. But this time, Biden is pretending to have had nothing to do with this countermand — i.e., to have delegated to other officials a decision about executive privilege that, constitutionally and statutorily, only Biden had the authority to make.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I get the "Get Trump" thing. I do. He exposed the left and is a threat to their existence. They will stop at nothing to destroy the man.

You know, if you won't even entertain the possibility that Trump did anything wrong or that any of this is his own fault, then maybe stop getting offended when froot or CGVT calls you a Trumper.

[Dr. Strangelove]

In the meantime, the evidence was totally planted and President Donald J. Trump demands it be returned IMMEDIATELY!

[AlabamAlum]

There is no doubt that Trump should have never taken those cases. It was beyond a dumbass move. And when asked about them, he should have returned them all.

That said, search warrants and the like served on a former president are a bit chilling.

[Hannibal]

Haven't heard the cry from Liz for hearings on this yet. Hmmmmm.

No shit -- it's almost as if Liz Cheney doesn't actually have principles.

[Hannibal]

The real coup is what they did to Laura Loomer. I urge everyone here to listen to her and not vote for any Republicans in ANY elections, it's all rigged.

Good point there.