Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

"The more we learn about the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, the sillier — and more sinister — the overcaffeinated Republican defenses of former president Donald Trump look.

A genius-level spinmeister, Trump set the tone with a Monday evening statement announcing: “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

That description allowed his followers to imagine a scene straight out of a Hollywood action picture, with agents in FBI jackets busting down the doors and holding the former president and first lady at gunpoint while they ransacked the premises. Although Trump’s team had a copy of the search warrant, he gave no hint of why the FBI might have been there, claiming, “It is … an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”

His followers — which means pretty much the whole of the Republican Party — took up the cry based on no more information than that. Fox News host Mark Levin called the search “the worst attack on this republic in modern history, period.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) called it “corrupt & an abuse of power.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) compared the FBI to “the Gestapo.” Not to be outdone, former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Whackadoodle) said the FBI was the “American Stasi,” and compared its agents to wolves “who want to eat you.” “Today is war,” declared Steven Crowder, a podcaster with a YouTube audience of 5.6 million people. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted “DEFUND THE FBI!” Former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon, among many others, suggested that the FBI and the Justice Department (“essentially lawless criminal organizations”) might have planted evidence.

Only now, as Paul Harvey used to say, are we hearing the rest of the story — and what has been reported so far bears no relation to the persecution fantasies of Trump and his cult followers. On Thursday evening, The Post reported that FBI agents were searching for highly classified documents relating to nuclear weapons and signals intelligence — two of the most sensitive areas in the entire U.S. government. Months ago, Trump received a
Garland has a political duty to explain the circus perpetrated at Mar-a-Lago
Trump at first claimed “Nuclear weapons is a h**x, just like Russia,” even though his 2016 campaign’s collusion with Russia was well-documented, and then all but admitted he had done it by alleging (falsely) that “President Barack Hussein Obama” took nuclear documents. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the FBI removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret.

Trump at first claimed “Nuclear weapons is a h**x, just like Russia,” even though his 2016 campaign’s collusion with Russia was well-documented, and then all but admitted he had done it by alleging (falsely) that “President Barack Hussein Obama” took nuclear documents. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the FBI removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret.

The New York Times, meanwhile, reported that the search was conducted by FBI agents “intentionally not wearing the blue wind breakers emblazoned with the agency’s logo usually worn during searches.” The club was closed, and Trump was not there. He was in New York, where he would plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination more than 400 times during a deposition with the New York attorney general. But according to Trump’s lawyer, Trump and his family were able to watch the entire search on Mar-a-Lago’s closed-circuit security cameras. So much for the crackpot claim that the FBI could have planted evidence!

This new information turns the Trump narrative — that he is being treated worse than anyone ever in all of U.S. history — on its head. Imagine what would have happened to a lower-level government employee who was suspected of taking highly classified documents without authorization. I very much doubt that the FBI would have dealt with such a person as gently as they dealt with Trump. Anyone else caught with top-secret documents — and suspected of obstructing justice and violating the Espionage Act — would probably be in federal custody by now. Reality Winner, a former National Security Agency contractor, was sentenced to more than five years in prison for leaking documents relating to Russian interference in the 2016 e******n a whole lot less sensitive than the ones Trump is suspected of taking.

The right now appears to be in disarray. The ex-president’s old story has been rendered “inoperative,” as Nixon press secretary Ron Ziegler used to say, and they need a new one.

But the damage has been done. The right’s hysterical, hyperbolic reaction has weaponized their unhinged followers. On Thursday, an armed man died in a standoff with police after trying to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office. The gunman was evidently a prolific contributor on Trump’s T***h Social site. After the FBI search, a user with his name wrote that this was a “call to arms” and “we must respond with force.”
This should be a gut check moment for responsible Republicans — if any are left — to step back and take a deep breath before more violence erupts. But sadly, most Republicans don’t seem to care what furies they have unleashed in their devotion to the principle that their supreme leader must remain above the law."

Max Boot

Triple G

They look i***tic because they are. Here are their thought leaders and role models.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

When there is doubt, say nothing. “There will be time before the taking of toast and tea”

Bazbo Loc: Lisboa, Portugal

Rachael Maddow--PhD, Rhodes Scholar

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Exactly what ever happened to Trump getting indicted for the J** *6 "i**********n"? Having you guys been talking about the J****** 6th committee investigation into Trump over the J****** 6th so called i**********n? Wh**ever happened to that? You guys aren't talking about that anymore. Oh yeah, you went on to the next conspiracy as you usually do.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

LOL.... Stupid post, all those people you list made much more of themselves than you could ever hope to.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Read.
The J****** 6 investigation is ongoing. They are still interviewing Trump’s inner circle—more Republicans are in line for depositions, including nine members of his cabinet, the same people who discussed invoking the 25 th amendment. More public hearings are planned in September.
The Georgia investigation is ongoing—that concerns Trump asking for Georgia’s to find 1180 v**es The civil trial is ongoing as well—that is the one where Trump invoked the 5th amendment 440 times last week.

In short, the fat lady is still singing.

Have to say, Trump stepped in it pretty good this time with trying to steal government classified documents. That does possibly fall in violation of the law concerning espionage. Trump has always played it loosely, and survived; but he has to be concerned. It’s no fun when the rabbit has a gun.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

It would have been stupid for Trump to not invoke the fifth since it has been made very clear that democrats just love them some perjury traps as their newly found political weapon.

Triple G

You really are getting desperate to be relevant.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I don’t disagree. He can’t be trusted not to lie. His lawyers know that. But it does fly in the face of Trump’s previous assertion that If one has nothing to hide.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

It would only be a perjury trap if Trump was forced to lie. Trump has never needed to be forced to lie.

Triple G

Yes, be had no choice. But, he got caught up in the legal wrangling anyway. Once the criminal charges are sidelined and civil court rules are enforce, taking the fifth can be seen as an indication of culpability,

“Once a witness in a civil suit has invoked his or her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, the trier of fact is entitled to draw an adverse inference from the witness’s refusal to testify.” Chaffee v. Keller Rohrback LLP, 200 Wash.App. 66, 83-84 (2017) (citing King v. Olympic Pipeline Co., 104 Wash.App. 338, 355-56 (2000) and Ikeda v. Curtis, 43 Wash.2d 449, 261 P.2d 684 (1953)).


“In a civil proceeding such an [adverse] inference is permissible, where appropriate, not as a sanction or remedy for any unfairness created by exercise of the privilege but simply because the inference is relevant and outside the scope of the privilege.” Diaz v. Washington State Migrant Council, 156 Wash.App. 59, 85-86 (2011).

“Fifth Amendment invocations by corporate employees or principals may also result in an adverse inference drawn against the corporation.” Id. (collecting cases). “Moreover, invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege may supply an avenue for investigation by prosecutors.” Chaffee, 200 Wash.App. at 84.

https://www.lanepowell.com/Our-Insights/221205/Taking-the-Fifth-in-a-Civil-Context

General consensus among attorneys is that trump’s comment after learning of Mueller’s appointment is very prophetic.

https://www.gq.com/story/trump-mueller-report-im-fucked

SuneBonobo Loc: Maryland

LOL. You're funny. Most on your list are too smart for high school or college and didn't need it. The proof is that they became multi millionaires

Racmanaz Loc: Sunny Tucson!

Went right over your head as usual. I was asking what ever happened about all the talk (postings) you Lefties couldn't stop taking about every single day? Why did all that J** *6 talk suddenly just cease from existing?

Bazbo Loc: Lisboa, Portugal

The best way to not fall into a perjury tra is to tell the t***h.