Over the weekend, “fourth” trended on Twitter for a while. This was because Donald Trump claimed, on his Nazi social media, that he was prepared to file a Fourth Amendment lawsuit against the FBI. Meaning, Trump is still trying to claim that the FBI executing a lawful search warrant on Mar-a-Lago was somehow an unreasonable search-and-seizure. After that claim, the New York Times spoke to (FBI/Justice) sources who confirmed a number of interesting pieces of information, like Trump took more than 300 pieces of classified intelligence, and Justice believes he still has more classified material which they haven’t even found yet.
The initial batch of documents retrieved by the National Archives from former President Donald J. Trump in January included more than 150 marked as classified, a number that ignited intense concern at the Justice Department and helped trigger the criminal investigation that led F.B.I. agents to swoop into Mar-a-Lago this month seeking to recover more, multiple people briefed on the matter said.
In total, the government has recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mr. Trump since he left office, the people said: that first batch of documents returned in January, another set provided by Mr. Trump’s aides to the Justice Department in June and the material seized by the F.B.I. in the search this month.
The extent to which such a large number of highly sensitive documents remained at Mar-a-Lago for months, even as the department sought the return of all material that should have been left in government custody when Mr. Trump left office, suggested to officials that the former president or his aides had been cavalier in handling it, not fully forthcoming with investigators, or both.
The specific nature of the sensitive material that Mr. Trump took from the White House remains unclear. But the 15 boxes Mr. Trump turned over to the archives in January, nearly a year after he left office, included documents from the C.I.A., the National Security Agency and the F.B.I. spanning a variety of topics of national security interest, a person briefed on the matter said.
The Justice Department investigation is continuing, suggesting that officials are not certain whether they have recovered all the presidential records that Mr. Trump took with him from the White House.
Even after the extraordinary decision by the F.B.I. to execute a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, investigators have sought additional surveillance footage from the club, people familiar with the matter said. It was the second such demand for the club’s security tapes, said the people familiar with the matter, and underscored that authorities are still scrutinizing how the classified documents were handled by Mr. Trump and his staff before the search.
The Times’ sources also say that after Trump turned over the first batch and the National Archives people got a good look at what Trump had taken, that’s when they referred the matter to Justice. Justice convened a grand jury within a few months. In June, Trump turned over 28 boxes (!!!) full of material “including 11 sets of material marked as classified, comprising scores of additional documents. One set had the highest level of classification, top secret/sensitive compartmented information.” And the fact that Justice still has an open investigation into who accessed the documents stored at MAL is shocking too. Let me guess… the MAL security tapes are missing?
John Bolton spoke to the AP about Trump’s cache of classified and top-secret documents, explaining that Trump “just thought some things were cool and he wanted them. Some days he liked to collect french fries. Some days he liked to collect documents. He just collected things.” I’m sorry??? He “collected” french fries???
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
Fries? Seems normal. Not.
I love how law enforcement and the media is milking this out for what it’s worth. I mean let’s not even think about how much danger Blob Orange has put our nation under, compromising not only our democracy but our national security. What will it take to get him arrested? In that vein, what will it take to get Kushner, Graham, Giuliani, Bannon, Kavanaugh, Gaetz, Flynn, and the rest of the MAGA traitors held accountable for their treasonous actions? Asking for millions of people who are not white, male, straight, and Christian.
There is no reason to have these documents other than this freakshow and his family of grifters are SELLING classified information for profit.
My thinking is that his arrest isn’t the priority. I think assessing and possibly remedying the that this has caused or nation is taking precedent.
Is there a statute of limitations on espionage?
Anyway if I’m wrong, I’m hoping what’s taking so long is them building a solid case so there are real consequences.
I also saw this morning that if this does go to court he’ll be representing himself. He’s neither as smart or as knowledgeable as he thinks he is so that’s going to be a sh*t show.
Arresting a former president and prosecuting him for potential espionage or violation of national protections is unprecedented in American history and is bound to set off a political firestorm. My guess is they’re playing their cards close to the chest before they make any big movies.
Even if he was to attempt fleeing, who would take him? Russia is an economic nightmare and currently at war. Most of Europe would turn him over immediately. Saudi Arabia would be cutting off their nose to spite their face since America loves oil. China and India wouln’t want to deal with the political fallout of keeping him. He thinks most African and South American nations are “shit holes,” so he’s not going there. He MIGHT find a friend in Bolsonaro, but that would still require him moving to Brazil. My guess is the government is making a calculated risk there knowing this.
This being said, if nothing at all happens to him, we’re definitely in trouble.
Steph and Veronica S. — thank you for your responses. I’m really impatient to see justice done. So sick and tired of him getting away with everything.
I do think Giuliani is going down sooner rather than later. Who the hell knows about the rest of them though.
Giuliani is a noisome lump of ambulatory excrement, and I’ll dance a jig if his pasty posterior ends up at Rikers Island, but I’ll bust out a bottle of bubbly if Jared goes down. That plastic-faced little slumlord always looks like a disdainful grandee trying to protect his dainty nostrils from the stench of poor folk. You’re smelling your own rotten morals, putz.
Your turn of phrase and imagination are truly awesome, Hoofrat. That was so much fun to read.
@Hoofrat – I thoroughly enjoyed your paragraph, read it a few times in relish. Accurate information, beautifully phrased!
Thing is, we need to remember; he is a clown but a very, very dangerous one. He is dangerous and scary.
Yep, I believe he is capable of selling intel to foreign agencies for the right price.
Trump DOES look like a guy who would eat fries that he dropped between the couch cushions 6 months ago.
hahahahaha absolutely
He can dip the fries in ketchup on the wall from his daily tantrums.
Jesus take the wheel. I think DOJ is building a case that Orange-zilla is selling national secrets. That’s espionage. That request for a special master is a stalling tactic and a means for a mole hunt, to find out who in Trump World is snitching to the feds. I hope the NYT story didn’t give away too much to have the Trump team figure out who it is.
That’s what I figured, it’s a stalling tactic. This is what he does & has done, over & over again. He needs lawyers, though, to file these suits & carry them forward, & I’ve read he’s having trouble obtaining lawyers because he neither pays them nor takes their advice. This whole thing makes me sick, I want to see real justice, I want us to be safe.
Collecting fries – LOL, as if we need more reason to think he’s totally unhinged and unfit for anything.
He’s a menace to national and international security and his access to ANYTHING else needs to stop – I know as a former President he still gets briefings, those have to stop.
He doesn’t still get briefings, Biden denied his access.
Yep, I think I read that’s one of the first things Biden did in office, stop sending those briefings to ‘the former president’ (to quote AG Merrick Garland).
I read speculation that since Trump essentially approached the presidency as though he was taking on a new business, he considered government documents to be part of his business that were his to do with as he pleased.
Bingo! The fact that he liked tearing up and flushing down the toilet those papers says a lot about his standard business practices.
This is man is a traitor. I can only imagine the eyes who have seen the secrets of our country.
Don’t worry, Kaiser, they won’t have scrubbed the tapes. Before he was collecting french fries (I’ll chalk that one up to a benzo day), he collected tapes. Every room of every one of his properties is being recorded at all times. It’s how he blackmailed people for years in business. Why did Jared Kushner’s dad spend time in prison? Because Trump handed the prosecutor (Chris Christie) a tape of Charles Kushner’s activities in a Trump Tower brothel.
Even at the risk of more Mar-a-Lago tapes going to the DOJ, Trump won’t be able to resist keeping them.
I think Kushner’s dad went to prison because HE arranged for sex workers to seduce his brother-in-law and taped it, then gave the tapes to his own sister, showing her that her husband was cheating on her. This was considered witness tampering, because Kushner’s brother-in-law was helping the government convict Kushner of illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion.
I don’t doubt that Trump uses video to blackmail, but in this case, it wasn’t him. It’s probably a trick Trump picked up from Epstein.
It was both. The trick is to have blackmail material on everyone. Charles Kushner went to prison rather than have his tape(s) shown to his family. Jared visited his dad every weekend in prison. He hasn’t forgotten who his father in law is.
And Epstein learned about taping every room from Trump. Trump was collecting blackmail tapes on people while Epstein was still creeping on students at Dalton.
He’s Veruca Salt. Where’s the incinerator?
Orange bitch has nefarious motives always. “Souvenirs” of highly classified American documents? Please. He’s on the make to sell to the highest bidder or trade or whatever. Surprised he didn’t steal every article of furniture that wasn’t nailed down in the White House. Because as president, everything belongs to him? No, asshole. You represent, protect and support the American people. He can never get past himself though. It is always and only about him. Traitorous president.
It’s interesting because he’s really just as stupid and lazy as he is nefarious.
Was he actually planning to sell nuclear secrets to the highest bidder? Probably.
Was he too stupid to know what all he actually had? Also probably.
Was he too lazy to oversee the proper return of it all? Also probably.
I still don’t think he’ll actually go down for anything, but he 1000% should.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter “why” he took the documents – whether as trophies or because he thought the information might be valuable. The statutes don’t ask for a motive. But for what it’s worth, I’ve never yet lost when betting on “Trump thought something would benefit his personal business interests”.
What I haven’t found a good explanation for yet was A. how all this stuff ended up printed out on paper, when the Obama wh had pretty much moved to digital only. Did Trump ask that certain things be printed out for him? and B. Did Trump seek out certain information or did someone tell him which info they wanted him to procure? Cuz frankly I don’t see the orange one having enough knowledge to see which pieces of intelligence would be valuable for blackmail purposes unless given a road map.
I was listening to Pod Save America & one of the guys was the former spokesperson for the NSA during President Obama’s administration. He said some documents–the ones referred to as compartmentalized–you actually read in a specific room & you weren’t allowed to bring in your phones, or pens & paper, anything, you just had to read it there. It sounded to me as though they actually printed this stuff out. So while yes, all federal agencies are supposed to be working toward a paperless environment (Paperwork Reduction Act, as amended) & NARA has told us all they won’t be accepting hard copy anything after the end of calendar year 2023, it seems the White House (and likely other specific agencies or departments) has separate rules, like the Presidential Records Act, for example.
Yeah, I remember Ben Rhodes saying that they used ipads that would erase after a time. But why a print out, as opposed to say, taking a photo of something he thought was cool? Or keeping a digital copy? Obviously I’m glad agent orange wasn’t able to do this. Also I love the ” he de-classified it with the power of his MIND” argument!
Remember when Trump tweeted a classified photo of an Iranian launch site? People objected to sharing classified photos and he claimed “he had the absolute right.” He just makes up his own rules, in his head everything during his presidency belongs to him. Except consequences.
He collected french fries and they still let him be president of the United States of America? America, leader of the free world had a president who collected french fries? Are they cooked or are taxpayer on the hoof for keeping them frozen? Will daughter-wife soon be posing in a mock up of the Oval Office with a bag of McCain’s curly fries? I usually only feel contempt for him, but hopeless ridicule has joined the party.
@Debbie Dunk
Hopeless ridicule indeed!!! Fucking french fries?? So that Orange Cheeto nightmare is essentially a hoarder – ONE more indication he is mentally deranged!
It is utterly frightening that he just “collected things” without any regard for their importance or National Security!! And yes, as we know he only has myopic and selfish motives for anything he does, so I have no doubt he would sell out that information to the highest bidder! Fucking traitor!