On Friday, the Justice Department released the redacted affidavit outlining the FBI’s probable cause for a search warrant. As in, this was the affidavit given to a Trump-appointed judge, who then signed the search warrant allowing the FBI to “raid” Mar-a-Lago this month. The affidavit, while heavily redacted, is extremely damning for Trump. All of the information that’s come out in the past two weeks has been extremely bad for Trump. Even if Trump had argued in good faith that there were some mix-ups with what his team took out of the White House, that doesn’t excuse the absolute clusterwhoops of lies and obstruction which has been unfolding for months now.
After Trump turned over 15 boxes to the FBI in January, the National Archives and intelligence agencies were like “nope, he has so much more.” So the FBI kept pressing Trump to turn over everything classified. In May, his lawyer wrote a letter to the DOJ claiming “hahaha you can’t do anything to an ex-president, we’re keeping everything!” In June, the FBI executed a subpoena to recover more classified material stored at Mar-a-Lago. After the FBI removed those boxes, Trump’s lawyers swore that was it, the FBI now had everything. Now we know that Trump had actually kept boxes and boxes full of classified, top-secret documents, including highly sensitive information about spies and intelligence assets. Not only that, after the June visit from the FBI (who arrived with a subpoena, mind you), Trump MOVED those top-secret documents to different little secret-squirrel locations around MAL.
Given that Trump’s lawyers lied in writing (!!) to Justice and given Trump lied to the FBI, and given that this was a year-long ordeal and no one knows who ELSE had access to the material, it’s looking more and more like the DOJ has an excellent case for obstruction of justice. The affidavit spelled it out: “The government has well-founded concerns that steps may be taken to frustrate or otherwise interfere with this investigation if facts in the affidavit were prematurely disclosed.” It’s not just that Trump stole all of these incredibly top-secret classified documents, it’s that he refused to give them back, he lied about having them, and the FBI is still trying to figure out who else saw the documents.
One more thing the affidavit revealed: the FBI has “multiple witnesses” and informants. This didn’t just happen on the testimony of some Mar-a-Lago tennis instructor. This isn’t just one dogged archivist with a grudge. There are several people within TrumpWorld speaking to the FBI and Justice. Not only that, the affidavit shows the DOJ is concerned about witness tampering, as in Trump has already been calling up people who have spoken to the FBI or Justice.
“Last year, a top-secret memo sent to every C.I.A. station around the world, warned about troubling numbers of informants being captured or killed”
Trump Inquiry Fueled in Part by Concern Over Human Intelligence Sources in Documents Trump Improperly Took https://t.co/rDD2qOOMvN
— 🇺🇦Paula Chertok🗽🇺🇦 (@PaulaChertok) August 27, 2022
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
-
- Washington, DC – United States Vice President Mike Pence, joined by United States President Donald J. Trump, members of the Coronavirus Task Force, and Industry Executives, speaks during a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S., on Friday, March 13, 2020. Trump announced that he will be declaring a national emergency in response to the Coronavirus. Pictured: President Donald J. Trump BACKGRID USA 13 MARCH 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the Coronavirus Pandemic from the Brady Press Briefing Room if the White House in Washington, DC. Standing behind the President, from left to Right: Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Robert Redfield; US Vice President Mike Pence; Pete Gaynor, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and US Surgeon General Vice Admiral (VADM) Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H. Pictured: Donald J. Trump BACKGRID USA 22 MARCH 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J. Trump arrives to the Rose Garden to sign an Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities at the White House in Washington. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 16 JUNE 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J. Trump arrives to the Rose Garden to sign an Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities at the White House in Washington. Pictured: Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 16 JUNE 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DC – US President Donald J. Trump, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, lays a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, USA, 25 June 2020. On 24 June, in the wake of anti-racism protests aimed at monuments around the country, the president activated the National Guard to provide unarmed security for monuments in the nation’s capital. Pictured: President Trump BACKGRID USA 25 JUNE 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DC – United States President Donald J. Trump holds a press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Pictured: President Donald J. Trump BACKGRID USA 13 AUGUST 2020 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Somebody posted a timeline with the dates of Trump meeting with Putin, then a few days later requesting a list of counterintelligence agents, and linked to the article about the unusual number of deaths, and when you spell it out like that it is absolutely horrifying. Whatever the DOJ is doing, it needs to do it fast now because A) he’ll obstruct and B) he’ll flee the US.
There is no doubt in my mind that the justice department has all the details starting from when Trump took office.
I 💯 believe he will flee. The only question is when. That’s why he’s holding off on announcing he’s running for president.
@ FC, absolutely he will flee. Cheetos-lini has no intention of serving prison time nor will he go “quietly”.
It was disheartening to hear that the FL judge will allow the search warrant to be publicly unsealed. That, in of it’s self, is detrimental to every single US citizen involvement with every branch of the US government.
They need to haul his Cheeto-lini ass to Federal Prison now and start the criminal proceedings.
I think a normal person would flee, but I don’t he will. He wouldn’t even stay in nice hotels on the campaign trail, there’s no way he’s packing up to parts unknown and sleeping undercover in some far flung place. He’s an old man who eats his American fast food in his own house and is too much of a curmudgeon to do anything else.
(He’s also a raging egomaniac who doesn’t think anything bad will ACTUALLY happen to him. History has proven him right thus far, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.)
I don’t think he’ll run. He has never been held accountable for anything in his life and I’m sure he believes he can cheat and scam his way out of this also. He will also happily watch and encourage his rabid supporters burn this country to the ground if it came to that.
I spent most of the morning reading the many, long, detailed threads on Twitter tying all these episodes together in a timeline that is absolutely horrifying, not that it’s evidence that can be used to indict or convict. Still, it’s full out espionage and murder/attempted murder. His criminality while POTUS is so far beyond the theft, fraud and grift he’s practiced for decades. Putin’s kompromat on Trump is truly epic. No WONDER Russia fucked up the 2016 election to get their creature in the White House!
Yes 💯 and that timeline was in the summer of 2019. July 31 he talked to Putin and Aug 3 he issued a request for a list of the top spies. On Aug 7 US Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman resigns. Top 2 intel chiefs also resign in this period.
Aug 10 Russian newspaper Kommersant published the name and biography of a man living under his own name with wife and kids near DC. Aug 12 there was a whistleblower complaint about a Trump’s “promise” to a foreign leader and congessional Dems were frustrated they couldn’t access the details. In Sept 2019 WaPo reports that Trump privately complained that spies undermine his relationships with foreign leaders.
Laurence Tribe, the Harvard constitutional law expert who has mentored/taught Garland, Obama, and others, is a good source to cut through the depth of the legal situation quickly. He’s called on a lot for interviews lately and brought up the 2019 timeline on his twitter.
Nothing is going to happen to him
America’s justice is only reserved for the poor and coloured folks
Not this case. Merrick Garland will make sure justice is served this time. Don’t get me wrong I too believe like you that powerful white man don’t get to pay for their crimes but not this time.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Trump has committed so many crimes over his lifetime and has NEVER been held accountable.
Lolo86lf, I agree with you. I believe that Merrick Garland is getting every scrap of evidence that can be found and then dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. When he indicts, he will have a case that he will win. You can’t do it haphazardly because of Trump being a FPOTUS. I expect it to happen.
What I was surprised about is that a redacted copy of the affidavit was released. Those affidavits aren’t usually released until indictment because it contains information regarding the ongoing affidavit. Then I read the released, redacted affidavit and realized that was done to prove that the major publicity formed around “you just had to ask” was just smoke screen. I don’t think Trump’s team expected that to be done. That’s why there is silence from many quarters. I think people are starting to realize the depth of this investigation.
I see that DOJ also got his passports. I have a feeling those won’t be returned to him.
Lively, I know you’re right. I wish for different but I can’t even hope anymore
@lively, that’s how I feel too. I just feel like he’s going to get away with it.
OMG how many crimes must this moron be caught committing before he will finally be arrested? Lock hom up!
TAKE-A-💩 acts as if he doesn’t understand the definition of the words: “TOP SECRET”, “SECRET”, and “CONFIDENTIAL”. He knew that these documents were CLASSIFIED and didn’t want to leave them at the WH. In fact, he was trying to do (and more than likely did) his own type of WATERGATE/OLLIE NORTH deletion of this paperwork: FLUSHING these down a bathroom toilet! Yup, this is his LOBOTIMIZED-style of getting rid of stuff! 🤷🏽♀️😖
@ phaedra7, it’s more than flushing the documents. It’s actually all fair game to sell to the highest bidder!! Don’t believe that he hasn’t already sold many of the details of these highly classified documents. Drumpf has not only committed crimes of the Espionage Act but also acts of Treason.
This isn’t looking good for him and every intelligence agency had better step up and start arresting everyone of the MAGATS in the US that will try to start a Civil War, as they will not hesitate.
LOCK HAM UP!!!
Good one LOL. Melania will probably have to bring hamburders and diet cokes to Trump during conjugal visits.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I needed that!!
I’d be surprised if Trump gets indicted. I don’t see any US administration ever arresting a former President. George W Bush committed war crimes he’s still free as a bird.
Amy Bee, this is very different from Bush. This is treason and I can’t believe that we’ll ever let that go. I think one of issues that have to be considered is that there are far more people who will not allow that to happen than there are MAGAs who will want him to go free. It’s always been a Repuglican blind spot that there are way more of us then there are of them. They really don’t want to go down that road. They are going to have to support indictment or explain it to the people who were born Republican, but haven’t drunk the koolaid.
If he gets charged can he still run for President?
I hope the HELL NOT! However:
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/can-donald-trump-run-for-president-if-charged-and-convicted-of-removing-official-records/
😡🤬
Unfortunately, he could even run for President from prison.
Yes, a felon can run for office. But there are certain crimes that carry with them a punishment that prohibits running for office. Concealment, removal, and mutilation of classified documents are such crimes.
I know Trump live tweeted his way through dozens and dozens of crimes with disgusting, revolting privilege but going after his treatment of classified documents is a headshot. Merrick Garland said not to expect prosecution before midterms, lest it interfere with elections but the coast is clear after that. Coinciding with rumors that Melania and Ivanka are pleading with Trump not to run.
Haha—so everyone was an informant. A name of interest I saw pop up since Friday’s affidavit reveal is Kash Patel. Trump tried install him at the top of 3 agencies (CIA, FBI and one other). He was ultimately installed to oversee the Biden transition to the WH (going from memory here). Anyway, this guy is a lawyer and had access to ALL that info and knew what to take. I had forgotten about Kash within the onslaught if insane Trump news pouring our daily, but yeah. He’s one watch.
Don’t forget Mike “Fifth!” Flynn and his brother as well. They’d know ALL about DoD secrets as well.
@ Jan90067, yes!!! And Slithering Stone has his fingerprints all over those materials as well!! Last but not least, Bamblimg O’Bannon as well!!
While a part of me does believe he won’t be held accountable – what changes this entire landscape is that people are putting together timelines of informants who were killed and when Trump had the papers. THAT is not good AT ALL for him. And even if it’s not true – it shows that people are digging and will continue to dig. And when you dig looking for shit – you will find it. This is going to get messier I believe. The tone on Fox has begun to change too. Murdoch has realized time to ditch Trump and anoint a new acolyte.
And that acolyte will probably be Ron DeSantis. DeSantis is being groomed to be the next tyrannical fascist Republican president.
Correct and the scary part is DeSantis is astute, calculating and maniacal. A very dangerous combination. There are are others beginning to campaign as well, probably for VP.
Even if he is convicted and jailed, a Republican president will pardon him after he wins in 2024 of course. Someone like Ron Desantis would pardon him in a heartbeat if he becomes president of course.
This is why I hope Georgia nails his orange rind ass to the wall! They have him dead to rights, and Lady G (Graham) as well.
Eh…IDK about that. If Trump becomes toxic enough to the GOP brand, they might just let him rot. Trump isn’t really liked. They may be glad to get rid of him.
Also, they’re looking to get him for treason/espionage, imo. That’s where this is headed. Pardoning treason looks a lot different than pardoning obstruction of justice. The GOP will think about that.
I’m not sure a pardon is a lock.
Rapunzel, the GOP has demonstrated many times over the years that their definition of toxic is corrupt and perverse.
If they had any standards, they would have marked TFG as toxic years ago. His, at best, complicity in the coup attempt and targeting his own VP could have done it
Mr. Jaded and I were talking about this very thing this morning — that Trump is now becoming a pariah to the GOP, and many former Trump-humpers are now distancing themselves from his toxicity. His worshipful base are no more than a collection of white trash, conspiracy theorists, gun nuts and christo-fascists — not a good look.
Buh, bye Donald
The thing I am hoping for, regardless of tRump’s prosecution, is for some of his followers to start to see the light.
JanetDR, that’s what I’m hoping for, too. Not everyone who supports Trump would countenance treason and/or espionage. I think it could be a real turning point for a percentage of them.
@Saucy&Sassy 🤞🤞🤞
I wish they would see the light but I’m not seeing any evidence of it so far; most of the Trumpers I know are digging deeper into conspiracy theories. He was framed, the FBI planted the files, etc.
Everyone together now:
I heard it is going to be the biggest indictment ever. Huge. People will say they have never seen an indictment like it.
Ain’t that the truth!
I strongly believe tht the DOJ & all the other insitutions of govt in the USA sit on a ticking time bomb of epic proportions, regarding the future of the US state if this blatant criminal isnt charged, convicted & gjven a life sentence (at least!) for treason or obstruction of justice or any one or more of the many crimes against the state tht he has committed in broad daylight while sitting in the WH & beyond.
Because how do u maintain law & order in the population if this man is allowed to slither away from all this? Every little petty criminal and all the way up the ladder of crime will feel (justifiably) emboldened and become even more brazen.
It will be death by a thousand “broken windows” for the US state.
It will be the end of this experiment called: “govt of, by & for the people” and the implications for the rest of the world wd be devastating.
Hopey, I agree with you, and I believe this is why Trump will be charged with treason and/or espionage. If we are to remain a democracy, that will have to be done. I don’t think the people will accept anything less.
treason is a capital offense. they could hang him.
just sayin’
my question is, do we have to keep seeing PHOTOS of this dude?! we all know who he is and how bad he looks! and I want to read these posts, but omg my EYES! even cartoons would be better. or photos where he’s tiny and far away. it’s just so triggering! I’m begging for mercy!
I sure felt that. I don’t want to see him either – ever. And please don’t make us hear his self-righteous voice. Just tell us the facts without him, please.
If they can tie together his possession of the papers, meetings with Putin, and the deaths of people named in the papers….that’s treason. That’s espionage. He’s a double agent, and he should get the Rosenberg treatment for his actions.
@ Rapunzel, you are spot on!!! Knowing Garlands history I don’t believe he will leave any stone unturned. This will be epic and Garland, along with the support of Biden, will pursue charges and any SC, either state of government, would be willing to sacrifice their entire careers to allow him to walk away free from prosecution.
Both sides- “would be willing to sacrifice”? Did you mean would not? Cause I’m thinking would not.
Every word of this comment is spot on. He has blood on his hands. I truly believed nothing would happen to this idiot also, but now think the Jan6 hearings were an effort to prepare the country for the fact that an ex president was going to be charged as a criminal (among other things). They were the opening statement of Trump’s trial.
And remember how he wouldn’t allow any American, including interpreters, into his meetings with Putin?
And when he came out of that meeting with Putin, he looked like he’d just been dogwalked.
Truthiness, I remember that well. The orange one is totally a Russian asset.
Merrick Garland was the prosecutor for the Oklahoma bomber and he got the death penalty on that one.
I know the pace seems too slow (!) but DOJ has already brought more than 850 cases to trial for Jan 6 and Garland gave interviews in July explaining the delay. Prosecuting after midterms lest it influences an election. Personally I’d trade Trump to get Griner back.
Truthiness, I think Trump knows too much that he can still sell. Other than that, I would be all for doing that to get Griner back. Heck, we could include in the trade some of the others (Stone Bannon, etc.) to sweeten the deal!!!!
I truly believe that he has committed espionage. There was a report this weekend that he not only took Top Secret paper to MAR, but he took them on various foreign trips! There is no reason for that except that the treasonous bastard wanted to show them off to his overseas buddies. He specifically wanted lists of our agents around the world….why?
I believe they have him on the backend. Meaning they know what he sold, to whom and the subpoena and subsequent search warrant was to show chain of custody of what was sold. The whole world knows they went to his house and retrieved sensitive top secret damning to the US documents. Now they will be able to show that the documents in question were in his possession. I said a while back that the search warrant was Brought to us by the letter E (for Espionage) and the number 25 to life. If I am right he is actually guilty of treason but they will never charge him with that. I imagine there isn’t a dry diaper in all of Palm Beach these days.
Trump has narcissistic personality disorder—everything he accuses others of doing is precisely what he’s doing himself. It’s that simple. He’s been accusing people of treason for years—he has ABSOLUTELY committed treason.
A long time ago I vowed that I would not click on any article about Trump anywhere online unless it contained the word “indicted”
Well, here I am!
(I haven’t kept to that 100%, but pretty close. And though this is a potential indictment post that’s good enough.
I’m applying the same rule to Kushner. He can take his memoirs and shove them up his skeevy greedy traitorous … paper cuts included.)
You’re better than me! I vowed I’d never read anything Trump related unless it had the word, Dead, in it. So I was elated a month ago, and then immediately disappointed.
Now unleash Mueller and let him do his job for real this time without interference from a Trump-protecting DOJ. Ditto the rape investigation of Kavanagh.
Mueller is a Republican, most of his staff leaned Republican, and he’s going through cognitive decline. Garland has to oversee this because it’s prosecuting an ex-president, you can’t sub this out.
Christopher Wray’s feet at the FBI are being held to the fire right now, I would love to see him replaced for a lot of reasons but also he is a member of the Federalist Society. The position is supposed to be non-partisan or he would already be gone.
Headline: Just like it sounded like he was gonna lose the election… He’s gonna get ‘saved’ one way, or another. ‘They’ always get ‘saved’.
I read that since the FBI seizure of highly sensitive federal documents, Trump’s approval rating has gone up with Republicans and DeSantis’s has gone down. He’s a VICTIM, y’all. I kid you not.
Don’t underestimate Merrick Garland. Garland was involved in the prosecutions of the Oklahoma City Bomber and the Unabomber. The Unabomber got eight life sentences (and still in prison). Timothy McVeigh, the OK City Bomber, was executed. Trump will go through some things.
I will believe it when I see it…but I can say IF it happens I will be thrilled. I absolutely loathe this orange sack of crap and would LOVE to see him pay. Of course, I don’t imagine any punishment will make up for the damage he has done to the US. He is an oozing sore that never heals, and he has nearly destroyed the country, in my opinion.