We learned last week that Donald Trump is now under federal indictment for his many crimes in association with mishandling of classified documents and his large-scale theft of sensitive material after he left the White House. He violated the Espionage Act in like fifty different ways. Or rather 38 ways, since the indictment was unsealed on Friday, and Trump is looking at a 38-count indictment. Within the newly unsealed indictment, the Department of Justice also included visual aids of how they discovered some of Trump’s many stolen classified files – he had them packed up and he “stored” them in various Mar-a-Lago bathrooms. Did we know that MAL’s bathrooms have chandeliers? And cheap-looking shower curtains? And a sh-tload of documents about America’s nuclear weapons too.
Federal prosecutors laid out an evidence-packed case in an indictment unsealed on Friday that former President Donald J. Trump had put national security secrets at risk by mishandling classified documents he took from the White House and then schemed to block the government from reclaiming the material.
The 49-page, 38-count indictment said the documents held onto by Mr. Trump included some involving sensitive nuclear programs and others that detailed the country’s potential vulnerabilities to military attack. In some cases, prosecutors said, he displayed them to people without security clearances and stored them in a haphazard manner at Mar-a-Lago, even stacking a pile of boxes in a bathroom at his private club and residence in Florida.
The indictment included evidence vividly illustrating what prosecutors said was Mr. Trump’s willingness to hide the material from investigators.
In one of the most problematic pieces of evidence for the former president, the indictment recounted how at one point during the effort by the government to retrieve the documents, Mr. Trump, according to an account by one of his lawyers, made a “plucking motion” that implied, “Why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room, and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”
Jack Smith, the special counsel who is bringing the case for the Justice Department, cast the investigation during a brief statement in Washington as a defense of national security. He urged Americans read the indictment to understand the “scope and gravity” of the charges, which he said were necessary to preserve “bedrock” democratic principles.
“We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone,” he said. The investigation had been conducted with utmost integrity, he added, and, in an implicit nod to the election calendar — Mr. Trump remains the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — promised to seek a speedy trial.
If you’d like to see the NYT’s annotated copy of the indictment, go here. I trust the online lawyers, all of whom have been laugh-crying all weekend about how Trump is absolutely going to prison for this sh-t. The federal case is very, very strong, let’s say it that way. It’s bigly strong. Jack Smith took his time and put together a bulletproof case and Trump will absolutely be prosecuted.
Page Six had a story about Trump’s public and private bluster when he learned about the indictment. He had diners cleared out of Mar-a-Lago, and he’s been screaming at his lawyers (more on that in a moment) and telling everyone around him that it’s a “political witch hunt” and “he’ll fight it all the way to the Supreme Court.” Sources also claim that he “seemed shaken” and “rattled” away from the cameras. As for his lawyers… two of them quit shortly after the indictment was unsealed. James Trusty and John Rowley walked away from Trump. It’s more than likely Trump was lying to them too.
Vox and other outlets are running stories about the Republican freakout over the indictment, but from where I sit, President Biden is playing this correctly. Biden has barely said anything on the record about Trump’s stolen files, and Biden (a longtime politician, who understands the office of the presidency) isn’t the one calling the shots at DOJ.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House in Washington, DC headed for political rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota on Friday, October 30, 2020.,Image: 566480679, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: usage worldwide, Model Release: no
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during an event on Protecting Seniors with Diabetes in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. Credit: Oliver Contreras / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, November 20, 2019, as he departs for a day trip to Austin, Texas. Credit: Stefani Reynolds / CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House in Washington, DC on October 21, 2019. Credit: Yuri Gripas / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump gestures towards the threatening skies as he answers questions as he prepares to depart the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC to deliver remarks at a Make America Great Again rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Wednesday, July 17, 2019. The President will return to the White House later this evening. Credit: Ron Sachs / CNP | usage worldwide
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- United States President Donald J. Trump with US Vice President Mike Pence, make remarks as he meets with with industry executives on COVID-19 response in the Cabinet Room of the White House, April 27, 2020. Credit: Doug Mills / Pool via CNP | usage worldwide
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- (190110) — WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2019 () — U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before leaving the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 10, 2019. Donald Trump said Thursday he “would almost say definitely” that he would declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, a controversial option he has been publicly contemplating since last week. (/Ting Shen)
Many people were very upset a few months ago that Trump wasn’t being indicted. Some were even cursing Merrick Garland. This is vindication for handling Trump with patience and extreme care. Yeah, you can indict a ham sandwich but prosecuting Trump will be a real challenge.
There’s a reason the feds have like a 98% conviction rate when they indict someone. It’s part of the reason why he and the Repubs packed the Supreme and federal courts with as many incompetents as they could. It’s why he’s screeching he’ll take this and why other cases to the Ssupreme Court. Someone needs to explain the difference between state and federal laws…again.
With this federal many indictments, I don’t think he’s going to be the only one going down. His lawyers should be very worried. And lying to the FBI is definitely a crime. The DOJ can’t be the only governmental body concerned about the exposure of military and nuclear secrets and willing to prosecute to protect those secrets. So his lawyers will likely be the first ones he throws under the bus. His Repub lackeys in Congress should also be worried.
How many secrets will he reveal in an effort to save himself or as revenge? That’s also worrisome. And dangerous.
That statistic stunned me and I spent hours in a new rabbit hole on US federal prosecutors/prosecutions. Thanks
Walt Nauta is certainly going down if he doesn’t agree to a plea deal and turn on Trump. I think a lot more of Trump’s staff are going to give evidence against him, and with his top lawyers quitting or getting fired, no lawyer worth their salt will want to go anywhere near this toxic dumpster fire.
I suspect Walt’s time for a plea has passed.
I have faith in the competence and impartiality of the DOJ — but what I do not have faith in is the competence and impartiality of a Florida jury. Politico ran a very demoralizing article on how a jury comprised of Florida voters — largely very red — will undoubtedly introduce a few Trump cultists who believe the entire indictment is illegitimate. Good luck convincing them.
The nerve and gall he stores stuff near toilets and that is what comrade trump thinks of America. He is a vile piece of crap.
I betya NARA archivists are lying on couches with their feet elevated & cold compresses on their foreheads after seeing these photos. I’ve done research in a NARA facility, and you can’t even bring a water bottle into the room with federal records. Boxes stacked like this just below uncovered windows, next to a toilet, tub, & sink??? Unthinkable!
I always hoped he would go to jail but now I am actually starting to believe he is going to prison. He knows it too.
On another note, those bathrooms are exactly what I thought they would be, from the plastic garbage pail to the cheap gold fixtures and bedsheet curtains. Just tacky AF.
Georgia, you’re next baby!!!
And the boxes were next to the toilet. The contents need to be fumigated.
Right? Germaphobe my arse!!!
The cheapest and ugly stone floors and vanity tops do NOT complement the cheap vinyl shower curtains or the cheap chandelier. He needs to go down for crimes in interior design as well.
I can’t understand why the window is such a tiny, utilitarian thing, with no frame to make it more attractive. Like, if you’re going to have “opulence” everywhere else, why pick a window that makes it look like a basement?
Lol @HamsterJam he can’t help but inflict his tacky on everything he touches. @Genevieve I totally agree! Looks like a bathroom in the basement of a storage unit facility.
Marjorie Merriweather Post would be heartsick over what happened to Mar-a-lago. She’s probably spinning in her grave as we speak.
Someone on Twitter said that it was his equivalent of your parents keeping reader’s digest in the bathroom and I lol’d.
Can we talk about interior decoration? Why is the toilet so far away from the wall? Why is the marble on the floor, countertop, and shower stall, and gold plated fixtures and chandeliers, but there’s a cheap ass shower curtain across the stall, and a cheap looking window that’s half over the shower, like designing the bathroom was an afterthought.
Bathrooms in Florida can be humid, especially if water backs up through the drains, even if you don’t use that bathroom. Those boxes are going to be rank.
That chandelier is just killing me.
Can you imagine the germs coating that chandelier?
This has always been his style- what a poor person thinks looks rich. The toilet is so far from the wall so you don’t hit your head on the separate baby toilet chandelier when you finish!
THANK YOU! I have been asking for days why that toilet is nearly 3 feet away from the wall.
And who designs a bathroom so that the shower has a window?
And such a big chandelier in a tiny, low-ceiling room?
He really has taken one of America’s most notable historic homes, a symbol of its age and location, and an important landmark in terms of architecture, and turned it into a tacky-ass McMansion, hasn’t he? I mean, you can look at old photos and disagree with Marjorie Merriweather Post’s tastes, but at least she never executed her extravagant design ideas with the cheapest materials and labor available. As something of an architecture nerd myself, I think they need to slap on additional charges for Trump being too fucking cheap to restore and care for it properly.
Now I’m really hoping that Kate over at McMansion Hell does a special follow-up to the mini post she made about his Trump Tower penthouse back in 2016.
I just double-checked, and Mar-a-lago is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Were this historic property managed by a federal agency, any rehab would have to be consulted on with the State Historic Preservation Office. I’m not familiar with Florida’s state laws, so I’m not certain what, if any, consultation/approval process would be required prior to changing out the material types that the original structure had, for example. Or adding design features inconsistent with the original design. Not that trump ever paid attention to things like that. I seem to recall he ruined the character of the historic post office in DC that he bought & turned into a hotel, and that’s listed on the NRHP.
I think the dollar store shower curtain really pulls it all together.
I was assuming this was a bathroom in a pool house so it’s mostly utilitarian and he and his wife blinged it up with their super tacky selves. Neither has the least bit of style or taste.
There is a towel bar over the toilet.
That whole bathroom is bizarre. It doesn’t look like there is enough room behind the shower curtain for a tub or shower. 🤔
Was that room always a bathroom, oh, is this his refurbishment? It’s absolutely horrendous.
The curtain rod looks to be spring loaded plastic and the curtain is really flimsy. They bought it and set it up to hide boxes behind so not to show but there were too many so the overflow.
Yeah, on the right hand side at the very top above the curtain next to the window you can see what looks like more boxes that have been stacked to the ceiling.
That’s what I see, too. There’s boxes stacked in that bathtub.
The bathroom detail had me convinced that this former White House resident did not understand the definition of “white washing.”
Hope the coward is being watched very closely to keep him from fleeing the US.
There’s a video going around of Kid Rock saying Trump showed him documents and maps that he thought he wasn’t supposed to see. I hope DOJ subpoenas Kid Rock on just what he actually saw.
OMG they’re all just so stupid.
Despite EVERYTHING this man has done, I still found myself absolutely shocked as I read the indictment.
This was a DELIBERATE and CONCERTED effort to remove the most sensitive docs the country has, and KEEP them. We’re talking defense plans, military campaigns and nuclear capabilities. Documents CLEARLY marked CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, TOP SECRET and other designations that mean double-secret probation, pinky swears this be kept under wraps.
And he had them stored in…public bathrooms on his property. As someone on Twitter commented, JUST…..NAKED AND BARING ALL TO THE WORLD LIKE A NATIONAL SECURITY FULL MONTY!
I have no words for how frightened I am he was allowed or managed to take these documents with him. AND THERE WERE OVER 100 HE HAD IN HIS POSSESSION!
Who did he show to? He’s over $1 Billion in debt. I wouldn’t be shocked if it turns out he was selling the information to the highest bidder. This must be a bright spot in an otherwise abysmal time for Vladimir Putin.
I read all 49 pages and my mouth was hanging open the entire time. It is literally jaw dropping.
Kudos to Jack Smith and his team for their methodical work.
Literally any one else in the world would get life for this, let’s see if justice really is for everyone.
Desperate for a Trump guilty verdict. But it being held in Florida is quite worrisome.
But… but… but… This is all Joe Biden’s doing! 😂😂😂😂
God, I hope this one sticks! Throw away the key.
This is literally only the beginning of the federal indictments. This is the smallest, clearest, most open and shut cases.
These charges don’t even address the top secret and above material that he took and they found copies of on an interns computer.
These charges include nothing for January 6th, which will be charged in DC and include all of the dirt Meadows, who’s been singing like a canary for months, has. When that case is over, there’s probably 20+ republicans lawmakers who still have been charged.
These con men and women set the country on fire, sold us out to enemies and turned COVID into a scourge. And they have slightly more brain power than my dog, but just barely. They’re bringing water pistols to a napalm fight and it’s just getting started.
Love your comments. Well said.
Mar a Lago maintenance workers had pictures of Five Eyes files on North Korea that had fallen to the floor ON THEIR PHONES!!!
And that bathroom was accessible to everyone using the Business Center
I didn’t know that. I put that fear on my post below. I wouldn’t very surprised they, along with their attorneys, went to the Feds and told all in exchange for immunity. Their identities would remain secret because Trump’s ride or dies will come after them.
That bathroom looks tacky AF! Yuck. Money cannot buy style when it comes to the the orange dump. I hope he goes to prison but I’m not holding my breath.
I read somewhere that anyone who has a security clearance would probably break out in hives viewing these photos. Who knows who has seen what in all of those boxes. Good Christ!
I’m not outright panicking yet, but that Trump-loving judge, Aileen Cannon, is currently overseeing this case. The 11th circuit appellate court may reassign it, Cannon my recuse as she humiliated herself the last time with that Special Master business or … she may end up presiding over the full trial. Gah. I know Jack Smith must be prepared for this possibility, but good lord, my head is already spinning.
@LightPurple, maybe you have some legal insight on it?
There’s something distinctly fishy about the manner in which she was chosen. Normally Judges in most federal cases are assigned at random, but the choice of Cannon and Bruce Reinhart on the summons for Trump, even though she was slapped down for trying to stonewall the DOJ when the case was first heard last year, seems to be based solely on the fact that both have already played roles in the proceedings. I’m hoping the appellate court insists she recuse herself or reassign it because she’s overtly pro-Trump.
After the bs she pulled I hope Cannon has read the indictment word for word. Even with her being a supporter surely the lawyer in her is appalled at what the indictment revealed.
But then again…
I agree with Mrs. Smith about Aileen Cannon. I see big danger there.
I read some stuff last night that Cannon will recuse herself. There evidently is either a court rule or something else, but if she doesn’t recuse then Jack Smith will ask for her to be removed. She will not be presiding over the trial or anything else as far as I could tell. The district court has a Chief Judge and that person can easily reassign this case.
The 11th Circuit is not great, super conservative. They would not reassign, the district CT would, but the 11th will hear appeals of any reassignment or other decisions. Not holding my breath that the 11th will do the right thing.
He should be charged with Treason.
Why did no one on his household staff turn on him?
I look at this!
A call to the FBI/CIA.
Who moved all these boxes from the WH?
Can they be charged also?
I was picturing a few files not boxes and boxes of classified files.
This has got to be infuriating to every single person who has served in the military. Traitor!
Imagine the betrayal felt by every injured Veteran, and the family members of those lost.
As an American I am disgusted and embarrassed that this clown held office as the Chief Executive (aka POTUS) and for four years he virtually crapped on it. The thought he wants the job again (and may get it via ballot box) fills me with dread. There is no legal or constitutional mechanism in place that blocks Trump from serving as President while serving time. Trump think the attorney general and DOJ lawyers are suppose to serve as his personal legal counsel. They don’t and they are not suppose to do that. Foreign governments’ information was found at Mar-a-lago, including the Five Eyes intelligence. Five Eyes consists of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand sharing intelligence for each country. Don’t tell me the four countries that are part of the partnership are OK with this. Anyone who has access to Mar-a-lago for a social gathering (and there were thousands) could literally bring in a bolt cutter and they what they want, or use a cell phone camera to get the images, and sell it to the enemy. I’m bracing myself for US secrets to get uploaded on Wikileaks or TicTok. The threat assessment by US national security organizations are still ongoing. What better way to humiliate the US to announce to the world they got the Intel thanks to the 45th President of the United States. Jail to the (ex) Chief.
So in many states someone who committed a felony at 18 is barred from voting – presumably for ever – but the idea is being floated that trump could serve as president while behind bars? While it’s unlikely to occur very often – or ever again – there needs to be a law that excludes a convicted criminal from serving as president or vice president or leader of the house. Someone convicted of an offence involving data breaches should not be allowed to serve in any capacity. What a surreal situation.
The indictments are a really quick read and they contain more hilarity than we had any right to expect. Holding a classified warplan that he’d had Milley draw up, “This is secret. LOOK AT THIS!” Plus it’s on tape. Some of it sounded very “Tom and cousin Greg do military secrets.”
Comedy and crimes against aesthetics aside, that @$$ is planning a Hoax Rally right at the courthouse on Tuesday. And he’s getting the judge who already f-ked things up in his favor. Reversed on appeal but still.
This fully proves that: NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW! Take-A-💩 and his supporters THOUGHT that they were going to get off scot-free because of this wealth, popularity/notoriety, personality (so-called bravado) plus gender along with the racial background. Well, they all THOUGHT WRONG! IMPHO, this all should have happened a long time ago, but like the saying says: “No time like the present!”. 👍
The reflection in the window seems to show more boxes behind the shower curtain. I wish they would have a picture with the curtain drawn. The curtain is slightly translucent and I think there is boxes behind it. The blue stripe on the box can be seen. Or is that a reflection of the boxes infront of the curtain?
I just want to say that if it so happens that Trump suddenly has a medical emergency and keels over, I hope he goes to jail first. Then keels over again.
That Orange faced criminal must have nerves of steel.
How he hasn’t had a breakdown or stroke from all the garbage in his life is unreal to me.
He’s been committing crimes for decades, constantly sued or being sued or under investigation for years now, overweight, eats trash, his current wife does not even want to live in the same place as him – even when it is the White House. At yet, he keeps going. Like the cockroach he really is, I guess.
Or he is sub human, has no morals, no empathy, no ability to feel guilt.
I have no idea.
Why didn’t the Secret Service let anyone know that Trump had all of these documents–including classified and top secret documents? That should be one of the burning questions here, and the agents who didn’t report it should be fired.
The National Archives already knew Trump had the documents. Their initial request for the return of the docs back in early 2021 is what triggered all of this.
Also, several agents gave testimony during the investigation.
Oh God, the chandelier over 5he toilet just kills me! This is Saddam Hussein level in home decor!