A One-Minute Summary of Trump's Indictment in the Classified Documents Probe

Here is a one-minute read summarizing the 49-page full indictment in Jack Smith's classified documents probe.  If you'd like to read the entire, unedited indictment, it is here.

Trump stored scores of boxes at Mar a Lago despite having no authorization to do so.  He stored them in a shower, bathroom, ballroom, office, and a storage room.  

When the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the unlawful retention of the documents, a grand jury issued a subpoena ordering him to turn over all documents with classified markings.  Trump endeavored to obstruct the FBI and grand jury's subpoena by suggesting his lawyer simply state he didn't have any; having assistant Waltine Nauta move and hide cases of documents; providing just some of the documents to the FBI and claiming that was it; having his lawyer sign a certification claiming that all documents called for had been produced.

After stalling for a year, he turned over 38 more classified documents.

On Aug 8, 2022, with a court-ordered search warrant, the FBI recovered another 102 classified documents.

After his presidential term ended, the Secret Service provided security for Trump at Mar a Lago, but was not responsible for the boxes or their contents.  Trump did not inform the Secret Service he had classified documents at the premises.  After his term ended, he was no longer authorized to possess or retain classified materials.

A storage room containing multiple boxes of documents could be reached by multiple outside entrances including the pool area and a doorway that was usually kept open.

In May of 2021 multiple boxes containing government documents and classified documents were taken to Trump's Bedminster NJ golf resort, which also was a non-authorized location. 

In July of 2021, Trump sat for an interview with a writer, publisher, and two of his aides at his Bedminster Club, and proceeded to show off some military documents describing a plan of attack against "Country A." Trump admitted at this time that "this is secret information... See, as president I could have declassified it.  Now I can't you know, but this is still a secret."  At this time, the writer, publisher, and his two assistants did not have security clearances.

In May of 2022, Trump was told by two of his then-attorneys that they needed to search through the boxes and return all classified documents.  Trump responded by saying, "I don't want anybody looking through my boxes.  What happens if we don't respond at all?  Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?  Well look, isn't it better if there are no documents?"

In June of 2022, another Trump attorney signed a certification that all classified documents had been returned.  This was blatantly false; the signing attorney had not even reviewed the demands of the subpoena, nor the boxes or folders containing documents.

In July of 2022, the FBI and grand jury reviewed surveillance video and saw dozens of boxes being moved from one location to another.

In summary, Trump, his assistants and attorneys lied to the FBI, claiming they did not have the documents requested; multiple boxes were moved and hidden; he returned just some documents while claiming he was fully cooperating; he made false, misleading statements, and provided a false certification that all classified documents had been returned.

Trump's Buried in Legal Troubles Now

Thursday night, Donald Trump was indicted on 7 counts in the Special Counsel's  classified documents probe, including violations of the Espionage Act and Conspiracy to Obstruct. His aide at the White House and at Mara Lago, Walt Nauta, was also indicted on Friday.

But as bad as that was for him, matters got even worse.

There's audio tape of him admitting he took classified documents of secret military plans to attack Iran after leaving the White House, and admitting he knows he cannot declassify them any longer.  This destroys his prior claims that anything he takes is magically, automatically declassified, and he knows it.  

Then on Friday morning, two more of his lawyers, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, quit in disgust. 

This, just four days before Donald is scheduled to appear in a Miami courtroom to be formally charged.

All this while even more criminal charges are pending. Special Counsel Jack Smith still is readying indictments regarding Trump's inciting of the January 6th riots at the Capitol. And in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating and will soon indict Trump on his attempts to force Georgia officials to overturn the will of that state's voters by concocting 11,780 non-existent votes for himself.

His indictment in Georgia will probably happen during late July or early August. 

Republican Jackass of the Week

For so many reasons, it's Jim Jordan (more commonly known as Gym Jordan because of all the sexual abuse violations he ignored when he was an Ohio State wrestling coach).

But he wins our Jackass Award this week because as chairman of his inappropriately named* Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, his star witnesses who claimed to be "whistleblowers" within the FBI, turned out to have taken money from a Trump operative.

That's right, they weren't whistleblowers at all. Just paid stooges to say what Trump and Jordan wanted to hear.

Both suspended FBI special agents Garret O’Boyle and Steve Friend admitted they’d taken money from Kash Patel, a former advisor to Donald Trump. Worse, their security credentials were revoked for participating in the January 6th Capitol riots incited by Trump.

In addition, Jordan made the bizarre claim that he didn't have to turn over so-called evidence provided by these paid shills to Democrats on the committee because it came from a whistleblower.

That's not a thing.

Democratic Representative Linda Sanchez of California taught him, “That’s not how committees work.” Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) stated that Jordan was violating committee rules by refusing to turn over evidence. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) gave Jordan the actual rules and instructed Jordan that neither he nor the alleged whistleblowers get to invent their own rules.

(*This subcommittee was formed to demonstrate how the federal government has alleged biases in law enforcement agencies, and is unfairly persecuting poor Republicans, as if investigating Trump for his long list of crimes is "persecution."  Seems like they're doing the persecuting on federal and state levels when they ban books, fire teachers, ban abortions, criminalize women who travel to free states to seek abortions, etc.)

Durham Probe Final Results: Big Fat Nothing Burger

Bill Barr's "special counsel" John Durham revealed the final results of his expensive four-year "probe" into the FBI's investigation into the Trump-Russia connection, and it came up with a big goose egg. Nothing. No alleged crimes, no convictions.

"We're going to investigate the investigators." Yeah. And you came up with nothing.

The conclusion: "Senior FBI personal displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received." That's a bunch of gibberish. Analytical rigor is not a crime.  But to people who don't know any better, like Fox's audience, it sure sounds official.

Durham's meaningless conclusion contradicts the Trump Justice Department's own review stating, "while the FBI made a series of mistakes, the decision to open the Trump Russia probe was justified as a matter of law and policy — and untainted by any evidence of political bias." And while no official conspiracy between Trump and Russia was found, they did find a series of contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians, and a campaign that was willing and eager to accept help from Moscow. 

Junior, Kushner, and Manafort all met with Russians.

Trump even begged Russia, on camera, to help in his election ("Russia if you're listening..."). And millions of posts from Russian troll farms containing outright lies and disinformation about Joe Biden showed up on every social media platform.

So did Trump and Putin criminally conspire? No, but Trump's campaign sure was excited about all the help they got from Putin.

The FBI stated that their own corrective actions have been in place for several years.

This is the second Durham probe that rightwingers and conspiracy crackpots have been salivating for, yet failed to produce a single crime.

Republican Jackass of the Week

 

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

What did this dolt say this time, you're wondering?

He defended having white nationalists and white supremacists in the U.S. military.

Earlier in the week Tuberville was interviewed by an NPR affiliate in Birmingham, and was asked about his blocking of military appointments. From the interview:

“We are losing in the military so fast. Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why? I’ll tell you why, because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda.”

WBHM’s Richard Banks asked, "Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?” Tuberville responded, “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.”

Not long after he clearly appeared to support extremists, white supremacists, and white nationalists in the military as "just regular Americans," his office tried to put a positive spin on it by stating, "he was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military."

But that's not what he said. Nope.

To make matters worse, he dug in a little deeper, and went on to say, “Democrats portray all Trump people as white nationalists. That’s what I was saying."

No, that's not what he was saying. And no one said all Trumpers are white nationalists. He clearly defended keeping those radicals in the military. The White House National Security Council said it was “abhorrent that Senator Tuberville would argue that white nationalists should be allowed to serve in the military, while he also threatens our national security by holding all pending DOD military and civilian nominations. Extremist behavior has no place in our military. None.”

For defending white supremacists and white nationalists, Tommy Tuberville is our Republican Jackass of the Week.

Why the CNN/Trump "Town Hall" was a Disaster

First, it wasn't a town hall, it was a Trump rally: filled with lies, grievances, and whining.  CNN chose former Daily Caller writer, Kaitlan Collins, to "moderate" it.  (The Daily Caller is a far rightwing blog founded by Tucker Carlson.)  

Second, the audience was not a mix of potential voters, but a couple hundred Trump supporters who previously voted for him or leaned in his direction.  They laughed at his mocking of rape victims, and cheered all his tired lies.

Third, for the entire 75 minutes, Donald Trump steamrolled over Kaitlan, refusing to answer most questions, refusing to acknowledge simple facts, spewing the same tired and disproved lies, and yakking over her repeatedly.

We could fill 20 pages listing and debunking all his lies.  We will not dignify him.  But a few of his biggest whoppers included actually claiming that January 6, 2021, was "a beautiful day" at the U.S. Capitol. He stated that if re-elected he'd pardon most of his rioters. He mocked E. Jean Carroll, calling her a "whack job" and claiming he'd never met her before, despite admitting posing for a picture with her. This, just two days after being successfully sued by her for sexual assault and defamation. He stuck to the lie that the 2020 election was rigged and he actually won.  He claimed he "finished the wall" at the Mexican border, despite Kaitlan managing to squeeze in the fact that only 50 miles of wall were completed. 

A savvy moderator would've asked, "if you finished the entire wall, how can there possibly be an immigration crisis going on right now?"

Trump moved on to claim that if re-elected, he could "end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours." He was never forced to explain how.

There are plenty of articles that will list and fact check every single lie.  We're not going to do that here.

Let's just remind you that Donald Trump is now a convicted sexual predator.  He called the thousand convicted violent insurrectionists "patriots" and promised to pardon most.  He was impeached twice for extorting Ukraine and inciting the violent riots on 1/6.  He stole multiple boxes of classified intel and ignored subpoenas demanding him to return them.  He demanded Georgia officials magically find 11,780 votes for him that didn't exist.  He's at least partially responsible for over a million American deaths by doing nothing to stop Covid during the height of its rampage through the country, instead making staggeringly stupid suggestions like shoving UV lightbulbs, taking malaria drugs, swallowing horse de-worming pills, or injecting disinfectant.

He went on to claim he had an absolute right to take classified documents, he "gave the order to deploy National Guard troops" on and before Jan 6 (he did not), and the U.S. military "has no ammunition left."  All false claims.

Trump lied, smirked, mocked, and lied some more during this whiny grievance-fest. He's proven he has zero ability to change or grow.  He simply cannot admit that he lost.  He is still wholly unqualified to be returned to the White House.

Trump's Latest Insane Meltdown and Most Racist Tweet

 

Where do we begin with this latest peek into the delusional, paranoid, deranged mind of Donald Trump?

This was posted on Friday, Sept 30 to his fake Twitter website (because he was kicked off both Facebook and Twitter almost two years ago). The website, which he once mispronounced as "Troath Senshal" is actually called Truth Social, and is in deep financial and legal troubles as you would expect.

One never knows what will set off this guy or when another meltdown will occur, but these episodes seem to be happening more often as Donald's legal troubles and federal investigations mount.

Okay, back to the fake Tweet.

He posted this bit of insanity in response to President Biden's signing of an emergency funding bill to keep the government running until December 16 to avoid a shutdown.

There's a lot to unpack. Does this guy think the House, Senate, President and all their legal advisors are really working around the clock just to piss him off? Who cares if he's "strongly opposed" to bills that send aid to Hurricane Ian victims in Florida and South Carolina, give medical assistance to US troops who suffered from the fallout of burn-pits, lower seniors' prescription prices, or improve infrastructure?

Yeah, pal, all 535 members of Congress and President Biden are passing bills just to spite you. Right.

Read on. Notice he misspelled "advice." And then the icing on the cake: his ultra-racist attack of Mitch McConnell's Asian American wife Elaine Chao -- calling her Coco Chow.

Seems like the only one who needs to "immediately seek help" is Donald.