Month: August 2022

Categories
Crime Donald Trump January 6

Search Warrant For Trump Was About January 6, Not Classified Documents: Report

While multiple news outlets have reported that the search warrant served by the FBI at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida was as a result of his handling of classified documents he took from the White House, there is now a dissenting opinion regarding why the Justice Department authorized the move.

Writing in National Review, Andrew McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, says the real purpose of the search warrant was to obtain information about Trump’s role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And he also makes clear this was not a “raid” as Trump and his defenders are calling it:

This was not a raid, in the sense of a lawless break-in. The FBI conducted a court-authorized search. For the FBI to have a search warrant, a federal prosecutor first had to write a search-warrant application, sworn to by an FBI agent, which convinced a federal judge that (a) one or more crimes probably occurred and (b) it was probable that evidence of those crimes would be found in the place the Justice Department was asking to search.

Does Trump have classified documents? McCarthy suspects he does, noting:

From the DOJ’s perspective, there was a probability that the classified documents Trump returned had for months been kept in an unauthorized place. Moreover, because Trump did not return to the National Archives everything that was shipped to Mar-a-Lago in January 2021, he likely still has classified documents it may be unlawful for him to possess.

But is the Justice Department really that interested in documents that might have been classified?

As a prosecutable crime, I am betting the Biden Justice Department is not very interested in this. The DOJ is very interested, however, in the Capitol riot, and it is under intense pressure from the Democratic base to charge Trump with crimes arising out of it.

McCarthy concludes that Justice is most interested in Trump and Jan. 6:

The Justice Department is trying to make a Capitol riot case, but Garland is not sure at this point that he has one he’s comfortable bringing. And since it would be explosive to signal that Trump is the subject of a Capitol riot investigation, the DOJ is trying to investigate him as such without saying so.

Which is a bigger crime: Hoarding classified documents or trying to carry out a coup? The answer to that question seems clear, and it probably did to the attorney general as well.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Eric Trump WTF?!

WATCH: Eric Trump Appears On The Verge Of Tears As He Tells Hannity About The FBI Raid On Mar-a-Lago

Just hours after the FBI served a search warrant on former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida, Eric Trump showed up on Sean Hannity’s show to whine, appearing on the verge of tears as he spoke to the Fox News host.

The Daily Beast notes that Hannity let Eric go uninterrupted as he bemoaned the fact that justice had finally caught up with his daddy:

“Sean, this didn’t come from the little local FBI field office in Palm Beach, Florida. You know who this came from. This came from one place and one building, and that is the White House in Washington, D.C.”

Actually, it came from a federal judge and the Justice Department as part of an ongoing investigation of top secret documents the ex-president removed from the White House and took with him to Florida in direct violation of federal law.

Eric continued:

“To have 30 FBI agents—actually more than that—descend on Mar-a-Lago, give absolutely no notice, go through the gates, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet… they broke into a safe. He didn’t even have anything in the safe. I mean, give me a break. And this is coming from, what, the National Archives?”

If Donald didn’t have anything in the safe, then he has nothing to worry about. But as we’ve learned when it comes to the Trump family, what they say is almost always the opposite of what actually happened.

As you’d expect, Eric also tried to deflect by using the name of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son:

“And yet Hunter Biden, he did firearms crimes, prostitution, illegal drugs, you know, shady deals with everybody around the world. And by the way, it’s all in his laptop for the whole world to see. Where are these FBI agents? Where is everybody? Why is it that the arrows only fly at Donald Trump and his family? Why is it that the political persecution only goes one way in this country?

“When do you give up? When do you say enough is enough? When do you give a human being who fought so hard for this country—when do you give them the benefit of the doubt?”

Fought so hard for this country? Donald Trump claimed to have “bone spurs” when he was called to serve in Vietnam. He has never done anything for anyone other than himself because he’s a grifter, a liar, a traitor, and a coward.

Cry some more, Eric. Your tears are delicious.

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

Why Did The FBI Raid Mar-a-Lago? Legal Experts Weigh In

The FBI raided and served a search warrant on failed, one-term former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club, which currently serves as his residence.

We know the raid took place because Trump confirmed it, belching out an angry harangue he released to the media which read in part:

“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home … is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” said Trump. “Nothing like this has happened to a President of the United States before … They even broke into my safe! What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat [sic] National Committee? Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the United States.

“The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt must be exposed and stopped. I will continue to fight for the Great American People!”

What was the FBI looking for? Most legal experts believe the raid was due to revelations that the ex-president took classified documents with him when he left office and allegedly destroyed them, with Axios reporting:

Maggie Haberman’s forthcoming book about former President Trump will report that White House residence staff periodically found wads of paper clogging a toilet — and believed the former president, a notorious destroyer of Oval Office documents, was the flusher.

Why it matters: Destroying records that should be preserved is potentially illegal.

That led to these remarks from several legal eagles and top-notch reporters:

https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1556778286549651457?s=20&t=EZrqyq4EDwO3K_8vRKOCOg

Categories
GOP Religion

Christian Minister Slams ‘Unholy Force’ Marjorie Taylor Greene For Her ‘Bastardization’ Of Religion

As she continues to try and cloak her calls for “nationalism” in terms of Christianity, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is drawing disgust and disdain from actual Christians, who say her actions don’t match her rhetoric.

Over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Greene defended her call for “Christian nationalism,” in the United States, remarking:

“But when I said that I’m a Christian nationalist, I have nothing to be ashamed of, because that’s what most Americans are.

“We’re proud of our faith and we love our country. And that will make America great again. When we lean into biblical principles, you know, is there anything wrong with loving God and loving others? No.

“So, I don’t back down from those comments, but I denounce the lying media for what they’ve said.”

But as Episcopal Rev. Nathan Empsall notes in a column he wrote for The Daily Beast, people like Congresswoman Greene are “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

It’s not the first time she has embraced the label. And it’s a dangerous turn of events that requires active, loud opposition from all of us, especially from American Christians, for whom Greene and her allies claim to speak. As a pastor, if there’s one thing I understand, it’s that Christian nationalism is unchristian and unpatriotic. Academic researchers define the authoritarian ideology as a political worldview—not a religion—that unconstitutionally and unbiblically merges Christian and American identities, declaring that democracy does not matter because America is a ‘Christian nation’ where only conservative Christians count as true Americans.

Empsall illustrates his case with this explanation of “Christian nationalists” and what they long to see happen in the U.S.:

“The clear goal of Christian nationalism is to seize power only for its mostly white evangelical and conservative Catholic followers, no matter who else gets hurt or how many elections have to be overturned. This is the unholy force that incited the failed coup of Jan. 6, 2021, brought us the recent spate of theocratic Supreme Court opinions, and has inspired multiple wave upon wave of dangerous misinformation about elections, climate change, and COVID-19—all in direct contrast to Jesus’ teachings of love, truth, and the common good.”

Just consider the lie that Greene preaches when she speaks in such terms, Empsall notes:

Greene would have you believe that all of her critics “hate America [and] hate God,” but this ignores the fact that most Christians are appalled at the way she hijacks the Gospel to justify attending white nationalist rallies and spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. They don’t speak for American Christians. And it’s up to us to finally deflate their claims of a monopoly and thus their hold on power, reclaim our religion and its prophetic voice for the Gospel’s true values of love, dignity, equality, and social justice.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene and others like her are a cancer on this country. They need to be marginalized, and, in the case of Greene, who appears to have played a role in Jan. 6, they need to be charged, prosecuted, and sent to prison as the traitorous fake Christians they truly are.

Categories
Elections Right Wing Morons WTF?!

Alex Jones Tells Steve Bannon To Expect A Terrorist Attack By ‘Obama And His People’ Before The Midterms

Even though he was handed a bill of almost $50 million last week for defamatory comments he made about parents of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is now spreading a new lie to eager right wingers: Former President Barack Obama is probably going to launch a terrorist attack inside the United States right before the midterm elections in November.

Appearing on Steve Bannon’s “War Room: Pandemic” podcast, Jones was asked by the host:

“Are you concerned about the Nov. 8 elections? Are you seeing things out there that are concerning you as to whether we’ll have a free and fair election?”

Jones replied:

“I’m worried that the Biden controllers, the third administration of Obama — I’m worried that Obama and his people may provocateur some type of big terror attack. They might launch a cyber attack and blame it on the Russians. They might start a major war.”

Jones then added:

“I mean, they’re going to have an October surprise or a group of October surprises. You can bet your bottom dollar on it.”

The exchange between Bannon and Jones tells us two things:

  • Republicans are worried they’re going to lose in November, despite their long-predicted “red wave” on Election Day.
  • Conservatives and right-wing nutjobs are already laying down the predicate for what they’ll claim if Democrats keep control of the House and Senate.

It’s also interesting to hear Jones and his ilk talk about terrorism when it was their shock troops who carried out the most recent domestic terror attack in this country on January 6, 2021.

If there is any terror attack before votes are cast on Nov. 8, the first person to be questioned should be Alex Jones.