Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[gondrin]

It's an easy fix, but it's a problem that's never actually been a problem and needed a fix before. Republican grifting and lust for power is requiring we place more and more explicit guardrails to prevent behaviors that we've never had to worry about.

That is with a lot of things that you wouldn't expect to be problems but become problems because of people like Trump who absolutely will take advantage of others every chance they get. That is why I hate some of the Literalists on the Supreme Court.

[Breccia]

I was going to quote this Salon article but...you know, there's nothing in here we didn't already know.

Basically, it boils down to "Trump has no claim to privilege over the seized items". Therefore, his rights cannot be damaged by them being returned.

Now I will say, I get the idea of looking for items caught up in the search that aren't WH property. But the FBI already has a taint team for that. And I believe we've seen that things like his medical reports have already been returned.

Meanwhile the last ruling has allowed the DOJ to continue to review the documents they have anyhow, so, slamming on the brakes now seems ineffective.

Plus, yet again, Trump has made no move in any way to say the he asserted privilege, or declassified anything, under oath. His lawyers have only hinted he might have. It is possible he did, but neither side has anything to demonstrate that, and quite frankly, I think the DOJ is the only side that looked. Garland is being exceptionally cautious, after all.

Cannon lacked the authority to rule the way she did -- as almost everyone called out at the time, and is calling out more emphatically now. In fact, the only new information I got was this:

For example, if any records comingled with the records bearing classification markings post-date Plaintiff's term of office, that could establish that these materials continued to be accessed after Plaintiff left the White House

That's the DOJ laying the case for the Espionage Act. Now, I don't know how Trump would have gotten a classified document Jan 21st or later. But the fact that the DOJ is saying, in public, under oath, that this is something they have to consider, is pretty big.

Especially when paired with this:

Walt Nauta – who served as a White House culinary employee from 2012-2021, according to his service record – told investigators that Trump directed him to move the boxes to a different location as the federal investigation was underway, an individual familiar with the investigation says.

Nauta, a native of Guam, is now a witness in the Justice Department's probe – which escalated after the execution of a search warrant on Trump's Florida residence in August – and has appeared before a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., CBS News has learned. Investigators are interested in Nauta's firsthand knowledge of what he told investigators was Trump's directive to move the containers of records, the source said.

According to his service record, Nauta was a culinary specialist who enlisted in the Navy in July 2001, worked on aircraft carriers and naval bases and earned a number of medals and honors over the course of his career. His service record indicates his last post was in Washington, D.C., before leaving the military in September 2021.

So, yeah, Trump had a cook move classified info and lie to the feds. That Sept 2021 thing, if Trump did have any classified documents past the point where he fairly and legally lost the election, this cook could be how.

Meanwhile, this article talks about the Jan 6th panel and its subpoena ability. It brings up a good point: why issue the subpoena, if it's not going to be enforced? Maybe they'll grant Trump his live audience -- I hope they do, him lying on the stand in public would be great -- maybe not, but they have to know by now that Trump allies have defied subpoenas many times already -- Bannon is facing jail time for it right now. They have to commit. Issuing the subpoena should be taken as a sign they've got the DOJ on speed dial to say "well he refused, now it's your job to enforce it".

[Edge-]

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1582406928512483328

Bob Woodward has a new audiobook coming out. Anyways, here's CNN with an audio clip of Woodward speaking to Trump after his presidency, and Trump handing Woodward the letters from Kim Jong Un that he stole from the White House.

And don't say I gave them to you, okay? But I think it's okay. Normally I wouldn't - I wasn't going to give them to Bob, you know.

Also, he makes reference of a photostat...which according to what little research I've just done on it hasn't been a think since at least the early 1960's. Trump is an expert on technology and all things cyber.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trum...er-2658468729/

Reuters correspondent Sarah Lynch reported that Dearie complained that the former president had not provided proof of his privilege claims over many documents.

"Saying it so doesn't make it so," Dearie remarked.

Lynch said the judge became "frustrated" because attorneys were spending time on documents that were not in dispute.

"I have no patience for either one of you," the judge told attorneys for both sides. "I don't want to be dealing with nonsense objections, nonsense assertions."

He pointed out that Trump has made "numerous assertions" that he owns many of the government records.

"It's a little perplexing as I go through the log," Dearie added. "Where's the beef?"

Dearie has ordered the attorneys to make a joint submission of disputed documents by Nov. 12.

Man, it's almost like what everyone has been saying all thread long and what a few people have been incredibly dishonest about: That Trump does not have privilege, has not asserted privilege, and is reliant on wild innuendo in his attempts to prove that he owns government records and that the DoJ can not review classified government materials stolen by Donald Trump and stored in his closet at his golf club.

[Breccia]

Also, he makes reference of a photostat...which according to what little research I've just done on it hasn't been a think since at least the early 1960's.

Oh, you poor sweet child to not be old enough to know where "ditto" came from.

I'm glad Dearie is getting frustrated. Not that I wish him any ill will, poor guy was basically dragged into it, But it was Trump's idea, and anything that makes the job uglier is worse and worse for Trump.

But yes, for the XXXth time, Dearie could have looked at literally every single item for all I care. Trump has no valid claim on anything -- or to put it another way, anything in there that Trump actually does own, isn't an issue for the DOJ because it's not evidence of a crime anyhow.

- - - Updated - - -

So Trump praised Ye for all those nice things Ye said on the 30 seconds of his interview slightly too racist for FOX News to air.

No, really, just slightly.

Fox News executives are “full-on freaked out” about the leak of never-aired clips of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Kanye West, Confider has learned, and the network is closing in on the “mole” who was the source of the embarrassing breach.

A few weeks ago Carlson interviewed West, who now goes by the mononym Ye, and touted him as a brave truth-teller dismissed by liberal elites for his increasingly far-right beliefs and stunts like wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt to Paris Fashion Week.

Despite the Fox News celebration of West’s supposed intellectual heft, unaired snippets leaked to Vice’s Motherboard showed the rapper and fashion mogul peddling openly antisemitic tropes and bizarre claims about “fake children” being used to manipulate his kids. These more embarrassing, newsworthy remarks never made into the final broadcast of Carlson’s chat with the rapper. (The interview was also before Ye threatened online to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” before being banned from multiple platforms.)

Fox may be closing in on the leaker, but it’s now almost a week since Vice published the videos. This is a notable detail because in 2012, the last time the network dealt with a major video breach, it found and escorted the leaker—Bill O’Reilly’s then-associate producer Joe Muto—out of the building in less than 24 hours.

“This new leaker learned from my mistakes,” Muto told Confider. “The main reason I got caught is that I wasn’t covering my digital trail particularly well. They’re obviously doing a better job than I did if they haven’t been found yet.”

Following Muto’s leaks to Gawker, the network instituted stricter security protocols for accessing video, making it more difficult to access sensitive outtakes like the Ye ones. “It seems this leaker has found a way around that,” Muto remarked.

"Okay, but that's not what you said."

Yes, it is. FOX News doesn't care that Ye said those things Ye said in the interview. They didn't cut the interview off, didn't throw him out, and neither voiced an objection at the time nor later. They care that people know all of that.

And then, after all of that, Trump praised the very fine Yeople on both sides.

[Edge-]

https://www.12news.com/article/news/...2-7351c5c283cd

A Republican candidate for the Maricopa County Community College Governing Board was arrested on Oct. 4 on a charge of public sexual indecency.

Editor's note: The following story contains graphic details and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Randy Kaufman was seen masturbating in his pickup truck in the parking lot of a college building in Surprise, according to a police report by the Maricopa County Community College Police.

"(Kaufman) appeared to be looking at a cell phone in one hand. I immediately became alarmed as I saw (he) had his pants down mid-thigh and was exposed showing his fully erect penis," the police report says. "(He) was manipulating his genitals in a masturbatory manner."

The officer says he saw someone bicycling just eight feet away and preschool children playing outdoors at a nearby childcare center.

Kaufman told the arresting officer: "I f---ed up. I'm really stressed."

Why are all Republicans seemingly sex pests? And sex pests around children? I know they love the, "THINK OF THE CHILDREN" line, but I don't think this is what folks thought they meant by it.

Kaufman, a former corrections officer with the Arizona Department of Corrections, was endorsed by the union of the police agency that arrested him, the Maricopa County Colleges Police Officers Association

Fuckin lol.

Kaufman is a first-time candidate and Trump supporter who, on his Facebook page, promotes the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

And how utterly predictable.

[Breccia]

"I f---ed up. I'm really stressed."

There's a "tired of winning" joke in here, but I'm not sure I can jerk it off. Pull! Pull it off. Shit!

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...nate-majority/

Former President Trump’s Monday assault against Joe O’Dea, the GOP’s Senate nominee in Colorado, is angering Republicans while leaving them wondering if he cares about the party winning back the majority in the upper chamber.

O’Dea, a pro-abortion rights moderate whom Democrats spent $4 million against in the primary, was already in an uphill fight against Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).

Now Republicans worry any chance he has of pulling off an upset are being extinguished by Trump, prompting frustration and exasperation with the ex-president.

“It certainly is not [helpful],” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a Trump ally, told The Hill. “I would hate to see O’Dea lose to Sen. Bennet by a few votes just because Donald Trump urged Republicans not to vote and we came up short of the majority by one senator.”

“If [Sen.] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] opposed every Republican nominee who criticized him publicly, we wouldn’t stand a chance,” Cramer continued, referring to the Senate minority leader. “The nation has to be more important than individual personal offenses.”

In which Trump, in his impossible to restrain need to attack anyone not sufficiently subservient to him, may actually be helping Democrats win/flip Senate seats.

For once, I fully agree with the sentiment of, "Go Trump!"

What prompted this attack?

The barb came in response to O’Dea saying that he would not support the former president if he ran again in 2024 and that he would actively campaign against him.

The most sensitive, think-skinned snowflake alive, quite possibly.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-in...ar-a-lago-case

When Donald Trump’s legal team filed their court paperwork protesting the Mar-a-Lago raid, a lawyer took the rare step of actually filing the paperwork in person. At a courthouse 44 miles from Mar-a-Lago. And they got a judge to oversee the case that was outside both West Palm Beach—where the raid took place—and the district where they filed.

Those incredible coincidences have led lawyers and legal experts to suggest that something may not be above board with how Trump’s team filed their lawsuit, which serendipitously ended up in the MAGA-friendly hands of Judge Aileen Cannon.

For one, Trump’s team blamed a “technical issue” with the court’s computer system. But The Daily Beast has discovered that the system was working just fine for dozens of other lawyers making hundreds of filings that day.

For another, lawyers typically file lawsuits at the district where an issue took place. Trump’s lawyers filed at a courthouse in a neighboring division.

And third, lawyers will mark a case as “related” when it deals with a similar matter. Trump’s legal team did not—despite the fact that another magistrate judge at the right courthouse had approved the FBI’s search warrant to recover those classified government documents from Mar-a-Lago.

Daily Beast has a fairly good investigative report about all the convenient coincidences that were required for this case to land in Cannon's lap.

There are sure a lot of them!

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/polit...ial/index.html

Y'all remember the DURHAM SPECIAL INVESTIGATION THAT WAS TOTALLY GONNA GET THE LIBS?

Igor Danchenko, the primary source for the infamous Trump-Russia dossier, was acquitted Tuesday of four counts of lying to the FBI in an embarrassing defeat for special counsel John Durham.

Durham has taken two cases to trial, and both have ended in acquittals. After more than three years looking for misconduct in the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe, Durham has only secured one conviction: the guilty plea of a low-level FBI lawyer, who got probation.

...

In many ways, the verdict is a direct blow to Durham, who personally handled most of the arguments and witness questioning. The proceedings were rocky at times for the special counsel, who lashed out at some of his own witnesses after they ended up providing testimony that helped Danchenko’s defense.

Republicans continuing to own themselves in their desperate pursuit to own the libs.

Durham sure did end up being a nothingberder.

[Paranoid Android]

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1582406928512483328

Bob Woodward has a new audiobook coming out. Anyways, here's CNN with an audio clip of Woodward speaking to Trump after his presidency, and Trump handing Woodward the letters from Kim Jong Un that he stole from the White House.



Also, he makes reference of a photostat...which according to what little research I've just done on it hasn't been a think since at least the early 1960's. Trump is an expert on technology and all things cyber.

This person is the most simple minded human ever. I'm still 50/50 on that he wanted this shit for memorabilia. Obviously the Kim Jong letters, but even some top secret documents just to show people to impress them.

[Poopymonster]

This person is the most simple minded human ever. I'm still 50/50 on that he wanted this shit for memorabilia. Obviously the Kim Jong letters, but even some top secret documents just to show people to impress them.

That's a pretty funny way of saying "Stealing classified documents to sell cuz he's financially fucked."

[Edge-]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34g...e-jean-carroll

Former President Donald Trump’s recent online tirade against E. Jean Carroll might have been a really bad idea.

That’s because the move appears to have blown a new hole in Trump’s best defense against the magazine columnist’s lawsuit, in which Carroll accuses Trump of defamation by denying her accusation that he raped her in a New York department store over two decades ago.

Trump’s lawyers have argued for months that he can’t be held personally responsible in the suit because his denial took place during his presidency, and therefore fell under his official duties as president. But by repeating his denial last week in an online tirade posted on his social media site, Truth Social, and blasted out in an emailed statement, Trump essentially re-upped the activity at the heart of the lawsuit—at a moment when he’s not the president anymore.

In other words, Trump may have just kicked the legs out from under one of his strongest legal defenses, according to Barbara McQuade, who previously served as Detroit’s top federal prosecutor.

“She [Carroll] should amend her complaint to include an additional count based on the new statement,” McQuade told VICE News. “Because Trump is no longer president, this statement was most certainly not made in the scope of his federal employment.”

Trump's inability to stop himself once again puts him in legal jeopardy. How delightful.

[Breccia]

Gov. Hey Abbott will miss a Trump rally to attend a DeSantis fundraiser.

"Whoa whoa whoa! This article just says fundraising trip. It doesn't say DeSantis."

It does say Florida. And it says fundraising. So, is Abbott getting a bunch of Floridians to donate to his Texas election?

"I mean...maybe?"

Or, is Abbott using his clout to draw donors to a Florida slate, which would very likely include DeSantis?

"Then why not say DeSantis?"

Because Trump would throw a hissy-fit and bad-mouth him during the rally. Can you legit think of a reason Trump would go to Texas to stump for Abbott, and Abbott would say "Oh, I just remembered, I have to do something in a state in which I'm not running" and it's just a buch of local Florida elections? It's DeSantis, directly or indirectly. Abbott still needs the rabid fanbase to be elected, so he's just not saying the part about backing Trump's successor on screen.

"But that all assumes Trump doesn't figure that out. Do you really think Trump is that stupid?"

(points at @Edge- 's last post) Yes. So does everyone else. In the last 24 hours alone, he's about to have his "special master" thrown out by a judge he possibly bribed; has three GOP players now publicly distancing themselves; intentionally backed a proud anti-Semite; got caught fleecing the US goverment by overcharging at his own hotels; got caught bragging about the WH documents he stole; had the last scrap of "Russia Hoax" shoved back up his ass where it belongs; and just for fun I'll add the part of his Wall literally made out of shipping containers is illegal and has to be removed. Yes, he's that dumb, all he does is make stupid decisions that cause him to lose.

[Edge-]

and just for fun I'll add the part of his Wall literally made out of shipping containers is illegal and has to be removed. Yes, he's that dumb, all he does is make stupid decisions that cause him to lose.

Are...they DICE developers? Because DICE has recently discovered that shipping containers are the perfect, "You need cover in wide open maps?" solution for BF 2042's pretty garbage tier launch maps, even if the placement of those containers doesn't make a lick out sense outside of "videogame stuff for videogames".

Why do Republican governors keep violating federal law? Also, looking at those shipping containers...do they think that's not super easily scalable or something? A ladder to get up and down, and a front porch matt or piece of carpeting to drape over the razor wire to prevent injuries (or just some cheap wire cutters).

States can largely do what they want on state property. Problem is borders remain federal property, so anything they want to do needs the express approval of the federal government.

[Shadowferal]

[url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/greg-abbott-to-skip-donald-trumps-rally-in-texas-for-out-of-state-fundraiser]Gov. Hey Abbott will miss a Trump rally to attend a DeSantis fundraiser

. [/img]

[gondrin]

Gov. Hey Abbott will miss a Trump rally to attend a DeSantis fundraiser.

[Edge-]

Let's just enjoy the dunks on the anticlimactic conclusion to the Durham probe, which Republicans talked up as being the one to take out the corrupt deep state democrats for years -

https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/stat...69258839457793

I remember distinctly being told over and over how the Durham probe was going to indict half the Beltway and send all kinds of evil Trump haters to jail.

Durham couldn't convict a ham sandwich.

https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/stat...74485482934272

Poor John Durham.

Leads investigation into CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes. Brings no charges.

Leads investigation into CIA enhanced interrogation techniques. Brings no charges.

Leads the "make Trump feel better" investigation. Gets laughed out of court twice.

https://twitter.com/JeffreyToobin/st...76970243547138

The John Durham investigation is a disgrace and a fiasco. Two acquittals at trial in a system where the feds win 95% of their cases. Trump and Barr said Durham would prove the Russia investigation unjustified. He's proven the opposite.

https://twitter.com/Crimealytics/sta...15902200745984

John Durham is gonna finish with a worse record than the Nationals had this season and they were the worst team in baseball.

https://twitter.com/neal_katyal/stat...77967766466560

Durham wins about as much as every other Trump lawyer.

Plus, Keith Olbermann (is he still relevant? What does he even do anymore?) bringing up the question I'm sure many of us have - https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/s...89519969816576

Now it's time to see if John Durham's "investigation" was legally conducted, if he behaved ethically, and if he and others remaining from Trump's DOJ should be prosecuted.

[postman1782]

Today in stupid Trump supporter news, a dumbass Trump supporting couple tried to exchange Trump Bucks at a bank for real money. And no, I am not kidding.

https://www.unilad.com/news/bank-tel...ender-20221019

These morons claimed it was real gold and legal tender they got from Trump himself.



Yes, these inbred hicks from Georgia actually thought that these 5000 "gold" bills were real. What is really funny, is that the website to buy the shitty fake money, you can only buy them in lots of 10, 30, 50, and 100. Ranging in price from $90 to $500 for fake money. Fucking lol. The grift is real, and his stupid followers believe the shit is real.

[Skulltaker]

Today in stupid Trump supporter news, a dumbass Trump supporting couple tried to exchange Trump Bucks at a bank for real money. And no, I am not kidding.

https://www.unilad.com/news/bank-tel...ender-20221019

These morons claimed it was real gold and legal tender they got from Trump himself.



Yes, these inbred hicks from Georgia actually thought that these 5000 "gold" bills were real. What is really funny, is that the website to buy the shitty fake money, you can only buy them in lots of 10, 30, 50, and 100. Ranging in price from $90 to $500 for fake money. Fucking lol. The grift is real, and his stupid followers believe the shit is real.

I love everything about this. Idiots getting scammed out of their money, dumbasses not understanding how fineness of gold works... And in all fairness, the store tells you these are 'commemarative' in nature and don't posess any monetary value. The store page goes out of their way clarifying that these only hold sentimental value.

[Kaleredar]

I love everything about this. Idiots getting scammed out of their money, dumbasses not understanding how fineness of gold works... And in all fairness, the store tells you these are 'commemarative' in nature and don't posess any monetary value. The store page goes out of their way clarifying that these only hold sentimental value.

A quick google search seemed to indicate that fake money still needs to say "not legal tender" or some such on it; prop money used for films and TV shows does.

I'm sure the company could argue "nobody would be dumb enough to think this is real money," and that they weren't trying to replicate any real denomination, but... well, here we are.

[Skulltaker]

A quick google search seemed to indicate that fake money still needs to say "not legal tender" or some such on it; prop money used for films and TV shows does.

I'm sure the company could argue "nobody would be dumb enough to think this is real money," and that they weren't trying to replicate any real denomination, but... well, here we are.

I get that that's the case for money that actually looks like real money, but this is basically what you'd find in Monopoly... maybe on the back?

[postman1782]

So, Deutsche Bank, Trump's main creditor, after Russia of course, the place where Justice Kennedy's son worked and who got Kavanaugh installed as a SC Justice, was raided by 100 agents and at least 10 homes of executives raided.

https://www.reuters.com/business/ger...be-2022-10-18/

Possible international investigation of Trump now?