Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[fwc577]

Who is Weisselberg? I've got it on good authority that he never knew Trump and that Weisselberg was a low level covfefe bean counter. Trump has never heard of him! /s

[Breccia]

Once again, building up CNN points, FOX News interviews Kushner.

Trump's "fiercest critics really accuse him of breaking norms, but what we’re seeing here, and what we’ve seen constantly over time, is that they do that exact thing," he told host Mark Levin. "They break all the norms in order to try to get Trump."

In the wake of the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago, the same people are committing the same act "in the same way," Kushner noted, saying they are leaking information to the same sources and fabricating "fabulous claims" that are soon debunked.

In the FBI raid, Trump drove his enemies "so crazy" that they over-pursued him and made mistakes in their attempt to "get him," he said.

"And he looks at me and says, ‘You know, Jared… the being president part is easy; it’s dealing with all of the animals and the crazy investigations that, unfortunately, takes us away from so many of the things that we want to be getting done.’"

This is proof of what I posted earlier: Trump is paranoid and now suspects his own family sold him out. Kushner is desperate not to be painted as the FBI informant. Kushner's statements above are some of the most ego-feeding bootlicking I've ever seen from a carbon-based life form.

Sidenote: the FBI investigating a crime is not "breaking the norms". That's how criminal investigations work. You should know, asshole, your father was convicted tax crimes, witness tampering, and illegal campaign contributions -- sound familiar? And Trump didn't pardon him until Christmas 2020. That's how little he loves you.

- - - One step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break - - -

Literally one week ago:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2144865.html

We are here -

[ ] There were no documents at Mar-a-Lago

[ ] If there were documents at Mar-a-Lago, they were planted by the FBI

[ ] Ok, there were documents, but they don't matter, nothing classified

[ ] But Obama has documents too!

[X] Ok there were documents and we would like them back now, please

Today:

Mick Mulvaney said the classified documents recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago were 'serious' but may not have justified the raid

Mick Mulvaney said the classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago were "serious stuff."

However, he said it may not have been enough of an "emergency" to justify the August 8 raid.

Mulvaney said Trump wouldn't have taken the documents if he did not "perceive it to be in his own interest." (1)

Former chief of staff to Trump Mick Mulvaney said Friday that although Trump's retrieval and storage of Sensitive Compartmented Information from the White House "caught his attention," it may not have justified the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.

Mulvaney told CNN's Alisyn Camerota (7) that the sensitive documents were "serious stuff" not meant to be in the former president's home, but that there would need to be an "emergency" in order to justify the use of a search warrant to retrieve the documents.

"Well, a search warrant is really only warranted if it's an emergency, right? (2) If the evidence is that either someone is going to see it who shouldn't, or if the evidence is going to disappear or be destroyed or be moved," Mulvaney said. (3)

An application cover sheet for Trump's search warrant unsealed Thursday revealed the FBI is investigating if Trump violated federal laws related to the willful retention of national defense information, concealment or removal of government records, and obstruction of a federal investigation.

Mulvaney also said in the interview that Trump would not have taken the classified documents if he did not "perceive it to be in his own interest, a benefit to him," (1 again) but that it may have been an oversight. (4)

"They have to present evidence to the court to show probable cause," (5) Mulvaney told CNN, adding "the fact that they can fill out that affidavit tells me they think that they have something." (6)

(1) In what world is that a defense? "He only committed the crime because it benefitted him"? The fuck? Isn't that nearly every crime ever?

(2) I'll ask @cubby as always, but, I'm pretty sure there are multiple reasons people use search warrants, and "we asked him for the stuff he stole and he refused to give it back" fits perfectly here.

(3) Trump is someone who shouldn't have it, it did 'disappear' in the sense that Trump told the FBI he didn't have it when he really did, and it was moved. We've seen multiple reports that Trump has no respect for documents and had moved them multiple times since he stole them. This was a stupid thing to say.

(4) "Trump stole the SCI and top secret documents by accident" isn't a defense, either. It's admission of a crime.

(5) They did.

(6) They do.

What the hypothetical fuck was Mulvaney thinking? My posts are a stronger defense than this bullshit. He just said Trump took them (maybe by accident) because they served his self-interest, that the FBI thought they were going to vanish, and that the FBI had probable cause. Holy shit.

(7) And on CNN, too. Well, there goes one of my CNN points.

[gondrin]

Once again, building up CNN points, FOX News interviews Kushner.



This is proof of what I posted earlier: Trump is paranoid and now suspects his own family sold him out. Kushner is desperate not to be painted as the FBI informant. Kushner's statements above are some of the most ego-feeding bootlicking I've ever seen from a carbon-based life form.

Sidenote: the FBI investigating a crime is not "breaking the norms". That's how criminal investigations work. You should know, asshole, your father was convicted tax crimes, witness tampering, and illegal campaign contributions -- sound familiar? And Trump didn't pardon him until Christmas 2020. That's how little he loves you.

- - - One step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break - - -

Literally one week ago:



Today:

Mick Mulvaney said the classified documents recovered from Trump's Mar-a-Lago were 'serious' but may not have justified the raid



(1) In what world is that a defense? "He only committed the crime because it benefitted him"? The fuck? Isn't that nearly every crime ever?

(2) I'll ask @cubby as always, but, I'm pretty sure there are multiple reasons people use search warrants, and "we asked him for the stuff he stole and he refused to give it back" fits perfectly here.

(3) Trump is someone who shouldn't have it, it did 'disappear' in the sense that Trump told the FBI he didn't have it when he really did, and it was moved. We've seen multiple reports that Trump has no respect for documents and had moved them multiple times since he stole them. This was a stupid thing to say.

(4) "Trump stole the SCI and top secret documents by accident" isn't a defense, either. It's admission of a crime.

(5) They did.

(6) They do.

What the hypothetical fuck was Mulvaney thinking? My posts are a stronger defense than this bullshit. He just said Trump took them (maybe by accident) because they served his self-interest, that the FBI thought they were going to vanish, and that the FBI had probable cause. Holy shit.

(7) And on CNN, too. Well, there goes one of my CNN points.

I swear, by the time this is all done, Trump will pull a Scooby Doo villain meme and say, "If it weren't for you meddling kids, I'd have gotten away with it too."

The FBI should tell Trump and cohorts, since they all have the mindset of a 3 year old, that there is no takesies backsies.

- - - Updated - - -

Ahh yes, good ole treason. I really hope Trump threatens the DoJ with this. I really do. I'm pretty sure that will be the end of the MAGA movement really fast.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...62bcb92a56e425

Michael Cohen suggests Trump will blackmail the DOJ by threatening to reveal secrets to foreign powers

Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday morning, former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said he wouldn't put it past the former president to threaten to reveal secrets to foreign powers if the Department of Justice tries to indict him.

Speaking with fill-in host Michael Steele on "The Sunday Show," Cohen was asked why he thinks Trump hauled classified documents to Mar-a-Lago with him after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

"Based on everything you know about him, why do you think he wanted to keep those top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago," host s Steele asked.

"He's gonna use it as a get out of jail free card," Cohen immediately shot back. "It's a way to extort America turn around to say if you put me in jail, if you go after me -- he'll even say his children -- I will have my loyal supporters who you do not know who has copies of information that may have been, and again this is my conjecture, that i would take those documents, I will release them to Iran, to China, to North Korea, to Russia.

"You want to take me down, I'll take the whole country down," he added.

"Remember, and I've said this with you 1000 times, Mike, Donald Trump doesn't care about this country," he continued. "He doesn't care about anyone or anything other than himself."

[Gorsameth]

I swear, by the time this is all done, Trump will pull a Scooby Doo villain meme and say, "If it weren't for you meddling kids, I'd have gotten away with it too."

The FBI should tell Trump and cohorts, since they all have the mindset of a 3 year old, that there is no takesies backsies.

- - - Updated - - -

Ahh yes, good ole treason. I really hope Trump threatens the DoJ with this. I really do. I'm pretty sure that will be the end of the MAGA movement really fast.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...62bcb92a56e425

I legit wonder if anyone who Trump would have given this information is willing to spend the rest of their lives in a deep dark hole for actual espionage charges for him.

[gondrin]

So, the new excuse is presidential memoirs. Because nothing says a memoir of someone is to release confidential or outright secret information about something that has nothing to do with you.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ec7675207a8e86

Congressman Mike Turner Says Trump Needed Classified Docs at Mar-a-Lago Because It’s How Presidents ‘Write Their Memoirs’

Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) arrived at the idea that Donald Trump might have needed to keep classified documents at Mar-a-Lago so the former president could write his memoirs.

Turner, who admitted last week that he personally wouldn’t take classified documents home, spoke with CBS’s Ed O’Keefe about the potential release of the affidavit behind the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search warrant. The House Intelligence Committee Ranking Republican called for the affidavit’s release, dismissing the Justice Department’s argument that doing so could impede their ongoing criminal investigation.

"People want to make certain that if this is an imminent national security threat, that it’s pursued. But also, they want to make certain that you don’t have abuse of discretion here. And what our concern is, from our committee, is there’s an allegation of classified documents that falls within our jurisdiction, and show us what you found, because the affidavit is going to have them tell publicly now what they told the court they were going to go find. Show us what you found. It certainly won’t affect the investigation. We deal with classified documents and information all the time. Show us what it is that you went into the president’s residence, spent nine hours at former President Trump’s residence. What is it that was at an imminent national security threat that you didn’t just go to court and ask the court to order that the documents be delivered to them?"

Turner was responding to a poll indicating that a majority of Americans approve of the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search. O’Keefe followed up on Turner’s comments by asking “what use could a former president have for classified or top secret information once he’s left office? Why bring it home with him to Florida?”

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, you have to ask him,” Turner answered. “But certainly, we all know that every former president has access to their documents. It’s how they write their memoirs. They don’t have, you know, great recall of everything that’s occurred in their administration. And we don’t know that they were classified. We know, according to the FBI documents, they were identified as marked classified. You have, of course, the former president saying that he declassified them himself. But I think what’s important here about this abuse of discretion, we have evidence of the FBI abusing that discretion and of misconduct on behalf of the FBI.”

Trump tried defending himself by claiming Barack Obama also kept classified materials after his presidency, though the National Archives and Records Administration rejected that comparison over a week ago. Turner also touched on Trump’s claim of having a “standing order” to declassify the documents he took with him, but that explanation was also shot down by over a dozen ex-Trump officials.

Turner went on by reiterating his point that the FBI must be questioned about possible “abuses of discretion” regarding the Mar-a-Lago raid. One example he raised against the bureau was when FBI agents raided Project Veritas members months ago to investigate the theft of a diary stolen by President Joe Biden’s daughter.

[postman1782]

So, the new excuse is presidential memoirs. Because nothing says a memoir of someone is to release confidential or outright secret information about something that has nothing to do with you.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ec7675207a8e86

Someone needs to tell him no the fuck it isn't. Because their memoirs would be edited or classified if it did.

[Kaleredar]

So, the new excuse is presidential memoirs. Because nothing says a memoir of someone is to release confidential or outright secret information about something that has nothing to do with you.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ec7675207a8e86

And of course, giving an excuse for why someone broke the law doesn't mean they didn't break the law.

[Gorsameth]

What is it that was at an imminent national security threat that you didn’t just go to court and ask the court to order that the documents be delivered to them?

Didn't they literally do this months ago...
There were subpoenas for these documents, They either ignored them or lied and said they returned everything they stole.
And then they got raided.

If the FBI had gone strait for a raid we would be talking about this in February, not August.

[Breccia]

Didn't they literally do this months ago...
There were subpoenas for these documents, They either ignored them or lied and said they returned everything they stole.
And then they got raided.

The laundry list of deflection attempts is pretty extensive. I'll admit, I thought it would take them longer to get to "why didn't you do the thing you did?" in an attempt to, somehow, make it seem like they didn't.

I am waiting moderately eagerly for the lawyer who said "we gave everything back" to a federal agent to go to jail.

[Xyonai]

After countless hours of hunting down a lawyer that was both competent enough to defend Trump in the face of his many, serious allegations and would overlook the whole 'Trump doesn't like paying people who work for him' thing, the former President finally unveils the only person he could trust - and find - to take on such a monumental task.

Himself.

[Edge-]

After countless hours of hunting down a lawyer that was both competent enough to defend Trump in the face of his many, serious allegations and would overlook the whole 'Trump doesn't like paying people who work for him' thing, the former President finally unveils the only person he could trust - and find - to take on such a monumental task.

Himself.

Oh please let this be some televised "My Cousin Vinny" shit.

[Breccia]

Himself.

I regard with skepticism, screenshot or not. Let's see what happens over the next few days, see who else picks it up.

In the meantime, Trump lawyers seek halt of Mar-a-Lago document inquiry, want special master to oversee review

Trump's lawyers are seeking to halt the continued review of classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month until a special master or third party can be appointed to ensure that possibly privileged material is shielded from scrutiny, according to court documents filed Monday.

The lawsuit filed Monday by Trump's legal team cast the search in stark political terms and described the government's search warrant as overly broad because it authorized FBI agents to seize "boxes of documents merely because they are physically found together with other items purportedly within the scope of the warrant."

The former president's attorneys also accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of using the criminal justice system to alter the political landscape.

In their filing, Trump's lawyers also said Garland's recent statement acknowledging the search "clearly suggests that the decision to raid Mar-a-Lago, a mere 90 days before the 2022 midterm elections, involved political calculations aimed at diminishing the leading voice in the Republican party."

Just a reminder: Trump promised to hire a special prosecutor to go after Clinton during the debates, and one if his first acts was to fire Comey. He is fully aware of how to use the criminal justice system to alter the political landscape, and he doesn't get to cry foul now.

"But wouldn't it still be illegal?"

It took Team Trump days to finally find and use this defense. So, no, I don't think he can make this stick.

[postman1782]

After countless hours of hunting down a lawyer that was both competent enough to defend Trump in the face of his many, serious allegations and would overlook the whole 'Trump doesn't like paying people who work for him' thing, the former President finally unveils the only person he could trust - and find - to take on such a monumental task.

Himself.

OMFG. Did anyone see this reply to that post?



He is there, literally bragging about the rooms in Mar-A-Lago, and saying that he took those boxes on "accident" from what I am seeing. How do you manage to get ahold of Classified Above Top Secret materials and have it accidentally be mixed in with your own possessions? Especially with estimates of 30 or so boxes taken from him of archives and classified materials?

[Gorsameth]

Since Trump is not the defendant here, is it possible for a judge to actually deny Trump from representing himself? "Get a lawyer or the case will be dismissed" kind of deal.

[Kaleredar]

After countless hours of hunting down a lawyer that was both competent enough to defend Trump in the face of his many, serious allegations and would overlook the whole 'Trump doesn't like paying people who work for him' thing, the former President finally unveils the only person he could trust - and find - to take on such a monumental task.

Himself.

I mean, if true, it would be the most profoundly resounding endoresment of Abraham Lincoln's (potentially apocryphal) statement "A Man Who Is His Own Lawyer Has a Fool for a Client"

I suppose if Trump knows he's going to lose either way he might as well not waste money on a lawyer. Though I imagine the exchange would be very one-sided, here, with Trump refusing to testify in his roll as defendant and refusing to speak in his roll as... his own council?

Because the minute that dumb orange ass opens his mouth it'll be only lies, and lying to a court holds a bit more ramification than lying at a rally for your sycophant cultists, lying on Fox news, or lying on twitter, does.

[Breccia]

Since Trump is not the defendant here

He's the plaintiff.

- - - Underrated - - -

Colorado Senator Kevin Priola flips to Democrat over Trump's insurrection and claims of voter fraud.

Won't change how he votes, though. Just what letter/color is by his name.

[Edge-]

OMFG. Did anyone see this reply to that post?



He is there, literally bragging about the rooms in Mar-A-Lago, and saying that he took those boxes on "accident" from what I am seeing. How do you manage to get ahold of Classified Above Top Secret materials and have it accidentally be mixed in with your own possessions? Especially with estimates of 30 or so boxes taken from him of archives and classified materials?

Yeah...Trump definitely dictated at least half of this, with whatever lawyer writing it out doing their best to try to make it sounds remotely like legaleze.

[Paranoid Android]

Don't have time to add much comment but some news.

NEWS: Federal officials recovered more than 300 individual classified documents during 3 interactions at MAL in last eight months, more than 150 in the boxes that went to NARA in January. @jodikantor @adamgoldmanNYT Ben Protess me https://t.co/NWeN5PfTTM

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status...SrA-oy8UA&s=19

The Justice Department has also sought a second round of footage from surveillance cameras at Mar-a-Lago, spanning June 22, when the subpoena for the first round of footage went out, through Aug. 8, date of the search, per ppl familiar https://t.co/NWeN5PfTTM

Some of the documents retrieved in January related to the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI, across a number of national security matters, a person familiar with what was taken said. https://t.co/NWeN5PfTTM

I missed a couple of tweets but in the thread link.

[P for Pancetta]

Yeah...Trump definitely dictated at least half of this, with whatever lawyer writing it out doing their best to try to make it sounds remotely like legaleze.

It's luckily just another bad excuse. There was no reason for that information to be printed out on paper and be in boxes in the first place. Confidential information is shared on digital devices these days and only printed on request. It wasn't just laying around there.

[Breccia]

It's luckily just another bad excuse. There was no reason for that information to be printed out on paper and be in boxes in the first place. Confidential information is shared on digital devices these days and only printed on request. It wasn't just laying around there.

Yeah, at best, it was information that just happened to be on paper but he still wasn't allowed to take. At worst, it was information he printed out specifically to take with him -- which in turn negates "oh it was an accident" which they've already tried.

You know, I'd be willing to bet the WH printer log exists, and I'd be willing to bet a little less top secret printers timestamp everything they run off...