Classified Documents Returned To Trump's Bathroom For Safe Keeping

 

The boxes of classified documents the Malignant Fascist had illegally stored in his bathroom and other unsecured areas in Mar-a-Lardo are being returned to their rightful owner, the U.S. Government the Fat Führer:

The White House said on Friday that the FBI had given President Donald Trump boxes stemming from a search of his Florida property for classified documents that were taken after Trump left office during his first term.

It was not immediately clear whether the boxes included classified materials, but Trump celebrated obtaining them in a post on Truth Social on Friday night.

"The Department of Justice has just returned the boxes that Deranged Jack Smith made such a big deal about. They are being brought down to Florida and will someday be part of the Trump Presidential Library," Trump wrote. "Justice finally won out. I did absolutely nothing wrong. This was merely an attack on a political opponent that, obviously, did not work well. Justice in our Country will now be restored."  [Ed.: the preceding was a masterwork of lies, gaslighting, and Orwellian rhetoric.]

White House staffers were seen Friday loading roughly 15 boxes of documents onto the rear of Air Force One...

So, back into the bathroom and other places where they can be easily accessed by an extortionist or someone eager to provide top secret information to Russia, etc. (which happens to be the same person). It doesn't matter much now since he has access to any sensitive information he can put his grubby, small hands on.  For shits and giggles, you can read the Special Counsel's superseding indictment of the Malignant Fascist here (pdf), at least until the Department of Justice flushes it down the memory hole. What once might have been called our "national security" edifice is now a sieve leaking like the Titanic on its way to the bottom of the ocean.

Kudos to Merrick Garland, Judge Aileen "Loose" Cannon and Trump voters, and "sic transit gloria, America" to the rest of us.

(Photo:  Fat Führer's classified storage bathroom at Mar-a-Lardo, with chandelier/ Dept. of Justice)

Rebutting Trump's Trial Delaying Tactics

 

As you are likely aware, Special Counsel Jack Smith had a quick response yesterday to the Malignant Loser's request to the Republican Supreme Court for a stay in the January 6 coup trial while it decides whether to review the February 6 unanimous appeals court decision that "Citizen Trump" didn't have immunity from prosecution.  (Smith's blistering 39-page response is here.)

MSNBC's legal analyst Lisa Rubin highlights a few initial rebuttals Smith made to the Malignant Loser's attempts to delay, delay, delay:

 

BONUS:  The Malignant Loser's delaying tactics didn't hold water in his Manhattan hush- money- to- porn- stars 34- felony- count business fraud trial.  It's just been scheduled to begin March 25.

Special Counsel Seeks Quick SCOTUS Ruling On Trump Immunity Claim (UPDATED)

 

 

He's not playing games with the Malignant Loser:

Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to take up and rule quickly on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results.

A federal judge ruled the case could go forward, but the Republican former president signaled he would ask the federal appeals court in Washington to reverse that outcome.

Smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court. The request filed Monday for the Supreme Court to take up the matter directly reflects Smith’s desire to keep the trial, currently for March 4, on track and to prevent any delays that could push back the case until after next year’s presidential election.

“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin,” prosecutors wrote.

The earliest court would consider the appeal would be Jan. 5, the date of the justices’ next scheduled private conference.

Underscoring the urgency for prosecutors in securing a quick resolution that can push the case forward, they wrote: “It is of imperative public importance that respondent’s claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent’s trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected.”

At issue is a Dec. 1 ruling from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that rejected arguments by Trump’s lawyers that he was immune from federal prosecution. In her order, she wrote that said the office of the president “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.”

“Former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability,” Chutkan wrote. “Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.”

Trump faces charges accusing him of working to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden before the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Judge Chutkan isn't playing games with the dilatory dimwit, either.  She aims to start the trial in March in order for it to be resolved well before the election.  We'll reserve judgement on the prospective ruling by the Republican Supreme Court.  The basis for any hope is that enough of them have seen how the Malignant Loser views the judicial system and the rule of law and will use this opportunity to see that he gets his day in court as quickly as possible.

UPDATE:  SCOTUS has accepted the Special Counsel's petition and is asking the Malignant Loser to respond by December 20.

Meadows Given Immunity By Special Counsel Smith

The Malignant Loser's former chief of staff and co-conspirator in his efforts to overturn the 2020 elections Mark Meadows has been granted immunity by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Federal criminal case in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.  ABC News broke the report last night that Meadows told the Special Counsel that he warned the Malignant Loser that claims that the election was stolen and "rigged" were false. He reportedly told the prosecutors that the Malignant Loser was told repeatedly that claims of massive fraud on the part of Democratic candidate Joe Biden were false. Meadows also told Federal investigators that the Malignant Loser was being "dishonest" with the public when he claimed that he'd won the election before all of the votes were counted. Meadows' flipping is a critical blow to the Malignant Loser's defense in the election fraud case, as he was privy to discussions with the Malignant Loser after the 2020 election about his various schemes to undermine the election and transfer of power.

Many of the claims found in Meadows' book published after the Malignant Loser left office were knowingly false, and contradicted what he told to the Special Counsel. For example, contrary to what Meadows said in his book, he believed, along with other Government officials in law enforcement and homeland security, that the election was the most secure election in U.S. history.

Meadows is also one of the defendants in the Georgia election fraud racketeering trial, which has seen four defendants flip and plea bargain, including "lawyers" Sydney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis. It would seem logical that Meadows finally would be reaching out to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to plead guilty to a lighter charge in exchange for his cooperation before the trial begins. Stay tuned.

(photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images)

 

Trump Facing Consequences In Courts? (UPDATED)

 

It looks like some folks are getting tired of letting the Malignant Loser play games with the judicial system.

New York civil suit

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday requested that the state’s Supreme Court sanction Donald Trump and other defendants in her $250 million civil suit against him, accusing them of “frivolous conduct.”

James sued Trump, two of his children, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization last year over deploying deceptive business practices as part of a long-running alleged tax-dodging scheme. She also accused Donald Trump of inflating his net worth by $812 million to $2.2 billion each year from 2011 to 2021. 

The case is set to go to trial Oct. 2.

In Tuesday’s court filing, James is asking that all defendants and their lawyers pay a total of $20,000 for using “previously-rejected arguments” several times.

She said her request for sanctions is “based on frivolous conduct by Defendants and their counsel in asserting legal arguments in connection with the parties’ pending dispositive motions that were previously rejected by this Court and the First Department in this action.”

Specifically, James argued that Trump used three arguments, including that the attorney general has no standing to bring this case against him, in several motions despite the fact that those arguments already had been turned down by the court in November 2022.

The court rejected these arguments for a second time in January after the defendants filed motions to dismiss, noting that they “were borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them."...

It's too bad the sanctions wouldn't amount to much monetarily (the MAGAt cult would be covering the costs anyway, not the Malignant Loser).  The clear effort to delay the proceedings is classic Malignant Loser, but this time he's not likely to get away with it, either with the prosecutor or the judge.

Federal election interference criminal case

Special counsel Jack Smith said Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks against prosecutors and judges threatened to influence potential jurors in his 2020 election interference case.

Smith’s team filed documents in court saying Trump has made “daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury pool,” referencing the former president’s repeated statements on social media. Trump, who was indicted by a federal grand jury over his attempted coup to remain in office, has repeatedly called Smith “deranged” and attacked the judge assigned to the case, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, as “highly partisan” and “unfair.”

Chutkan warned Trump and his attorneys last month against making any “inflammatory” comments about his prosecution, adding that doing so would only add to the “urgency … that we proceed to a trial quickly.”

“I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements about this case,” the judge told his lawyer in August. “I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.”

But Trump has continued his attacks. On Tuesday, the former president posted on his Truth Social platform an attack on the special counsel for an “unchecked and insane aggression” against him.

Chutkan recently set a trial date for March 4, 2024, six months away, saying the public had the right to a swift case. Trump’s legal team had argued any prosecution should be pushed back for years, beyond any bid for office or reelection to the White House.

“I want to note here that setting a trial date does not depend and should not depend on the defendant’s personal or professional obligations,” the judge said last week.

Expect the Malignant Loser and his allies to continue their attacks, of course.  The judge should make good on her warning that she would move the trial date up if the Malignant Loser continued to make inflammatory statements, because that's exactly what he has done and continues to do.

UPDATE:  Then there's this development in the E. Jean Carroll civil lawsuit --

A federal judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump is liable for making defamatory statements against writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019, after she went public with claims that he raped her decades earlier.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Wednesday that a jury in the trial for Carroll’s civil lawsuit will next consider how much Trump should pay her in monetary damages.

The ruling comes four months after a jury found that Trump is liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll in a separate civil lawsuit she filed against him. The panel in the case rejected Caroll’s claim that she was raped but determined she was sexually abused and Trump should pay her $5 million in damages.

This second lawsuit focuses on Carroll’s claims that Trump defamed her when he dismissed her rape allegations, suggested that she made up the attack to promote her book, and said she wasn’t his “type.”

Kaplan based his decision to move the case to a jury for damages on the May verdict, with him reasoning that the previous judgment “is binding in this case and precludes Mr. Trump from contesting the falsity of his 2019 statements."...

Good, let's get to the damage phase.

Most Americans: Trump Guilty In Federal Election Subversion Case

 

From the latest Politico/ Ipsos poll (click to enlarge):

If the evidence that will be publicly presented in the case is nearly as compelling as the information in Special Counsel Smith's indictment (spoiler alert:  it will be), the "guilty" numbers will rise.  Of course, it only takes one person on a jury to overturn the best investigative and legal work.  But four Grand Juries in four very different jurisdictions made up of a cross- section of citizens have already seen evidence pointing to the Malignant Loser's probable guilt, and have issued indictments, so... 

Now, let's have that early trial date that most Americans also want!

More Special Counsel Charging Decisions Near?

 

Special Counsel Jack Smith is nearing charging decisions involving the efforts to overturn the 2020 election and related fraudulent MAGAt grifting, according to multiple sources.  From CNN:

Former Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been interviewed by federal investigators as part of the special counsel’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN.

The meeting between Giuliani, his attorney Robert Costello, and investigators took place in recent weeks. The sources declined to say what investigators’ questions focused on during the meeting, which has not been previously reported.

Special counsel Jack Smith has not announced any charges stemming from his investigation into efforts to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election, but prosecutors appear to be nearing charging decisions, sources familiar with the case have said.

The interview with Giuliani comes amid a flurry of activity in the probe, which is examining a plan from Trump and his allies to put forth fake electors as well as potential financial crimes related to post-election fundraising. Investigators have called a steady stream of witnesses before a federal grand jury in recent weeks and have pressed attorneys to quickly bring in other witnesses for interviews, sources told CNN. 

Sources say that some of the grand jury questioning has centered on the actions of top lawyers around Trump, including Giuliani, with investigators seeking information about their baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.  [snip]

The special counsel’s office has long shown interest in several members of Trump’s post-election legal team, including Giuliani, Sidney Powell and John Eastman, as well as former Justice Department appointee Jeffrey Clark, who tried to help Trump’s push to use the department to overturn the election.

Several rounds of federal subpoenas have sought the communications of more than a dozen attorneys – including Giuliani, Powell, Eastman and Clark – because of how central some lawyers were to Trump’s post-election response. [snip]

CNN previously reported that Giuliani was subpoenaed late last year to turn over records to a federal grand jury as part of an investigation into the former president’s fundraising following the 2020 election.

The subpoena requested documents from Giuliani about payments he received around the 2020 election, when Giuliani filed numerous lawsuits on Trump’s behalf contesting the election results, a source told CNN...  (our emphasis)

Today, the Special Counsel will be interviewing Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who's also been interviewed by Fulton County DA Fani Willis over the Malignant Loser's attempt to get Raffensperger to "find" him 11,780 votes and related efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

It goes without saying that everyone involved in this seditious conspiracy needs to be held accountable, all the way up to the Malignant Loser.  Given the impressive granularity of the Special Counsel's classified documents indictment, we're looking forward to a broad net of indictments being cast with similarly impressive evidence backing them up.  They, unlike the classified documents case, will be filed in a less- Malignant- Loser- friendly venue than Florida.  

BONUS:

 

Interesting: conservative judge J. Michael Luttig says Special Counsel Jack Smith would have needed to wait for the SCOTUS decision on the independent state legislature theory today before deciding whether to proceed with charges against Trump and/or his allies related to Jan. 6 pic.twitter.com/4Iw5zFHLPX

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) June 28, 2023

 

(Photo:  Special Counsel Smith / Charles Dharapak/AP, FILE)

 

Trump On Tape Admitting To Felonies

 

Last night, we got a chance to hear the Malignant Loser in his own words admitting he had classified documents that he shouldn't have in his possession:

In the 2-minute audio clip, Trump can be heard describing a document compiled by Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when Trump was president, on the potential attacks against Iran. The discussion of the file was recorded during a 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, with people working on Milley’s memoir.  

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says of Milley in the audio clip as the sound is heard of that appears to be shuffling papers. “I have a big pile of papers. This thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this ― this is off the record, but ― they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

“All sorts of stuff, pages long. Let’s see here,” the former president continues. “Isn’t that amazing. This totally wins my case, you know, except that it is like highly confidential, secret, this is secret information.”

Trump went on to say the papers he was showing his guest were classified.

“See, as president I could have declassified it,” Trump said in the clip. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”  [snip]

The recording is reportedly a key piece of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s case into Trump’s handling of classified files after his presidency.

Federal prosecutors indicted Trump on 37 criminal counts this month, accusing the former president of repeatedly risking national security and undermining the government’s efforts to see the return of boxes of documents from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The indictment cites the conversation obtained by CNN.

Trump has rejected the claims and pleaded not guilty to all counts. He has said he had the absolute right to take anything he wanted when he left the White House under the Presidential Records Act and that he had a standing order to declassify anything removed from the Oval Office during his presidency.

Prosecutors, however, appear to have homed in on Trump’s own words during their investigation. The indictment lays out at least two conversations — including the one in the CNN file — in which he acknowledged material in his possession was still classified...

Here's the clip: 

Wow CNN got the tape of Trump’s conversation about classified documents pic.twitter.com/0NVQYAEkor

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 27, 2023

 

That conversation (and others Special Counsel Jack Smith may have, plus sworn testimony) is enough to convict the Malignant Loser, according to legal experts and our own ears. To be clear, existence of this conversation has been known for about a month.  Hearing it in his own words, rather than reading a transcript, takes it to a different level.  This confession confirms that he had classified documents in his possession, knew they were classified, and proceeded to show the documents to others. That in itself covers the felony counts involving possession and knowledge of possession of classified documents and the Espionage Act (sharing classified documents).  The only thing that will keep this p.o.s. out of jail is a MAGAt judge and/or a MAGAt jury member.  Otherwise, the case is, unlike the OceanGate Titan, airtight.

It's hard to believe that someone so ignorant, reckless and deranged was ever President, and that there's a large cohort of knuckle- draggers in this country who would entrust our national security to this moron again.

(Image: Always a crime scene/  Rebecca Zisser/Axios)

"Fake Electors Scheme" Grand Jury Moving Ahead

 

The other grand jury Special Counsel Jack Smith is overseeing is looking into the Malignant Loser's attempted coup on January 6, 2021, including his "fake electors" scheme.  That activity is moving ahead with all deliberate speed:

With Donald Trump set to appear in Miami for one set of federal charges, back in Washington, another grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Trump’s efforts to stay in office is also moving ahead in full force. 

Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, a close Trump political ally, as well as Jim DeGraffenreid, the state party’s vice chair, were spotted by NBC News entering the area where the Jan. 6 jury is meeting at the Washington federal courthouse Tuesday.

When asked about having to appear the same day as Trump’s court date, McDonald joked to an NBC News reporter: “Not on my bucket list.” McDonald had previously confirmed to NBC News that federal authorities seized his cellphone as part of the investigation. 

The appearance comes a week after former Trump White House official Steve Bannon was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Washington in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Jan. 6. The Bannon subpoena, for documents and testimony, was sent out late last month, the sources said.

In addition, at least one former Trump White House aide testified on June 1 before the grand jury, hearing evidence about the former president in its ongoing investigation surrounding the election, according to a source familiar with the appearance. The testimony focused on Trump's firing of Christopher Krebs in 2020. At the time, Krebs led the federal government’s election cybersecurity efforts and debunked false claims of election fraud and hacking.  [snip]

McDonald has a close personal friendship with Trump, and in recent months, he had visited Mar-a-Lago as part of a Nevada delegation Trump was courting for endorsements. McDonald had testified before the Jan. 6 Select Committee, where he invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 200 times.

Both McDonald and DeGraffenreid served as so-called fake electors, slates of electors who in most cases signed certification documents purporting that Trump had won in their states even though he had lost. 

With the rogues gallery of Malignant Loser coup plotters involved (Bannon, Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Ginni Thomas, etc.), this investigation has an even more crazy town vibe to it than the classified documents investigation and indictment.  Because the scheme also involved MAGAts like McDonald and DeGraffenreid in seven closely contested states, the Special Counsel will be looking to get as many plotters as possible to cooperate in order to provide a clear evidentiary trail leading directly to the Malignant Loser and the rest of the coup cabal.  Without doubt, this is going to be a complex, difficult case to bring to trial, but we have faith in the grand jury, the Special Counsel and his team to get the job done.

(Image:  via AmericanOversight.org)

Panic Time At Mar-A-Largo

 

Hahahahahaha...

"We represent Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, in the investigation currently being conducted by the Special Counsel's Office.  Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter, and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly. No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion.

"We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors."

That's a letter, probably dictated by the Malignant Loser himself, sent by the Malignant Loser's consiglieres to Attorney General Merrick Garland yesterday.  Clearly, the indicted felon is hearing the rumblings that Special Counsel Jack Smith is going to indict him in the classified documents case for obstruction of justice, and possibly more.  This type of meeting is usually requested as a last- ditch effort by a target's attorneys to fend off charges.  

The Trumpian bluster of the letter -- the whataboutism, the industrial- strength victimhood, the lies, the whining, the projection -- is a preview of the howling that will go up as soon as the charges are made.  We look forward to it with relish.

BONUS: The Malignant Loser may be especially worried about Jack Smith's look into his foreign business dealings with 7 countries, including China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in relation to his mishandling of highly classified documents. Follow the money.