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Crime Donald Trump Espionage

Jack Smith Will Have No Choice But To Charge Trump With Espionage: Legal Expert

Based on recent reporting that failed former president Donald Trump may have shown classified documents people who visited him at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Special Counsel Jack Smith will be charging the ex-president with espionage as well as obstruction of justice, a state attorney said Wednesday.

On April 2, The Washington Post reported that Trump may have shared classified information with others.

As investigators piece together what happened in May and June of last year, they have been asking witnesses if Trump showed classified documents, including maps, to political donors, people familiar with those conversations said.

That, according to Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, would constitute a direct violation of the Espionage Statute found in federal law.

During an appearance on “Deadline: White House” Wednesday, Aronberg noted:

“I think the reason that they asked about the map is another statute, 18 USC 719 (e), ‘The Espionage Statute,’ says that someone who is unauthorized to have possession of a map and then shows it to someone who can’t see it violates that statute,” Aronberg explained. “So, they’re not just going after him for obstruction, but also espionage, which is punishable by up to ten years in prison. That’s why there’s a lot of trouble ahead. That’s why Bill Barr is saying, hey, this is the tough one. It’s not New York that will do in the former president in. I think it’s the Mar-a-Lago documents because there’s a direct tie between the former president and the alleged criminality there.”

Keep in mind that’s ten years for each count of violating the Espionage Statute. And Trump could be charged for every single time he took the documents out and showed them to others who didn’t have a valid security clearance. Two people would be 20 years. If he showed them to 10 people, he’d be facing a century in federal prison.

Things are about to get much worse for Donald Trump. The only question that remains is when Smith will hand down the indictments against the former president and exactly what crimes the former president will be charged with.

 

Categories
Congress GOP History

Lauren Boebert Tries To Quote The Declaration Of Independence And It Doesn’t Go Well

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is the dumbest member of Congress. After all, she had to take the GED high school equivalency exam multiple times before she finally managed to pass it.

On Tuesday, Boebert once again proved her stupidity during a discussion with right-wing agitator Charlie Kirk on his podcast.

The topic was guns and the Second Amendment, which led Kirk to comment, “So Lauren, we’re seeing the gun grabbers going into full gear. Let’s just play a couple pieces of tape here. Um, let’s go to, I haven’t even heard this one yet, Joe Scarborough.”

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough:

“They talk about a freedom that they’ve made up in their own twisted heads because they’ve been, they’ve been whipped into a paranoid frenzy by the NRA for 25 years. You know, now they’re claiming the Second Amendment protects things it just doesn’t protect.”

That led Kirk to ask the Colorado Republican, “Lauren, did we just invent this out of thin air because of a quote, ‘paranoid frenzy?’ Your response.”

Boebert replied:

“Right. This made-up freedom. Uh, I don’t think that defending, uh, one’s life is a made-up freedom. Um, it, it’s right there, um, in the preamble, we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, um, or personal property, whichever rendition or whatever version you want to, uh, go by. Um, but also this is an assault on cops are, are you kidding me?”

The right to personal property? That’s nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, which it seems Boebert was attempting (and failing) to quote.

Here are the “inalienable rights” cited in the preamble to the Declaration:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Twitter users gave Boebert an “F” for her version of the preamble.

Categories
Congress Crime Donald Trump GOP

Jim Jordan Hit With Lawsuit That’s Bad News For Him And Donald Trump

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made it clear Tuesday that he’s sick and tired of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attempting to interfere with his prosecution of failed, one-term former president Donald Trump.

Bragg has filed a lawsuit against Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and is requesting that a court block Jordan’s congressional investigation until the Trump case is completed.

NBC News reports:

Calling it an “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack” of an ongoing investigation, Bragg in the suit filed Tuesday said allowing Jordan’s demands, including subpoenaing former assistant DA employee Mark Pomerantz, would cause “imminent irreparable harm if the secret and privileged material is compelled to be disclosed.”

Bragg’s suit asks the court to block a subpoena issued by Jordan to Pomerantz. Jordan, R-Ohio, wants Pomerantz to sit for a deposition as part of the Judiciary panel’s investigation into the indictment of Trump. The former president pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his alleged role in hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Bragg released a statement shortly after the suit was filed.

“Chairman Jordan’s subpoena is an unconstitutional attempt to undermine an ongoing New York felony criminal prosecution and investigation. As our complaint details, this is an unprecedented, illegitimate interference by Congress that lacks any legal merit and defies basic principles of federalism.”

On Monday, Jordan announced that the Judiciary Committee would be holding a “field hearing” in New York next week to discuss the issue of crime in Manhattan. However, that hearing may be placed on hold if a judge blocks the Ohio Republican from interfering in an ongoing criminal matter.

Since Trump was indicted in March, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly tried to interfere in Bragg’s case against the disgraced ex-president. Some have even suggested that all federal funding to New York should be cut off if the Manhattan DA doesn’t drop the charges against Trump.

 

Categories
GOP Gun Crime Gun Nuts WTF?!

Matt Gaetz: There Were No Mass Shootings When Automatic Weapons And ‘Cannons’ Were Legal

As the country reels from yet another mass shooting — this time in Louisville, Kentucky on Monday — Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is suggesting that fully automatic weapons and “cannons” should be declared legal because when they were, mass shootings were nonexistent.

On his Firebrand podcast, Gaetz began with the right-wing’s favorite bullshit tactic whenever there’s mass deaths from gun violence: Thoughts and prayers.

“This morning, we were made aware yet again of another shooting, this time at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky. We, of course want to take time to mourn the loss of innocent life, but we should not wait in acting to prevent these frequent aggressive acts from happening in the future.”

From there, the Florida Republican asserted that gun control is actually the problem, not the solution.

“Your grandparents used to be able to order mail-order automatic weapons, and when the Second Amendment was written, the American people, such as they were, could own cannons. No mass shootings back then.”

That’s simply not true, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Gaetz doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

The National Firearms Act, which outlawed automatic weapons, was enacted in 1934. Why? To stop mass shootings by gangs involved in bootlegging and organized crime, as NPR has reported:

In the 1920s and ’30s, the U.S. was dealing with a different kind of gun violence epidemic: a massive increase in organized crime, fueled by Prohibition.

Gangsters, like Al Capone, were making big money trafficking illegal alcohol. And a key weapon in their arsenal was the machine gun.

“Those criminals from the mob took advantage of the rise of the portable machine gun, capable of firing multiple rounds of ammunition with the single pull of a trigger,” says Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA’s school of law and author of Gunfight: The Battle Over The Right to Bear Arms in America.

Categories
GOP WTF?!

Injured Man Says Lauren Boebert Tried To Cover Up Her Son’s Car Accident That Nearly Killed Him

Noble D’Amato is a 19-year-old resident of Colorado who suffered multiple concussions and badly lacerated hand during a car accident in September of last year. His hand was so badly cut that he can no longer hope to be a welder because of the injury.

“I still have problems with my hand,” D’Amato says. “My thumb almost got cut off. It prevented me from getting a welding job, because I can’t hold a TIG torch anymore. I’m a personal-care provider now.”

Who was driving when D’Amato was injured? Tyler Boebert, the son of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and now the congresswoman is accused of trying to cover-up her son’s faulty driving, according to a disturbing report from Denver news site Westword.com.

What happened to Tyler Boebert? Next to nothing. He was charged with “defective vehicle for headlights” and ordered to attend a court-ordered driving school.

D’Amato, it should be noted, was also charged with drug offenses as a result of the accident when police found police found unprescribed Xanax pills and a marijuana grinder at the scene of the accident.

Was Tyler Boebert charged with those same crimes? No. And yet the vehicle was his.

If you think this entire matter stinks to high heaven, you aren’t the only one.

Yet despite all of what’s happened to Noble D’Amato, he says the Boebert family has yet to say a word to him or take responsibility for the accident.

But according to D’Amato, the Boebert family has yet to take any real responsibility for the accident, with the congresswoman’s office issuing a statement which reads:

“The injury reported was superficial at best and was addressed by medical professionals out of caution. The incident involved two minors.”

D’Amato calls the statement “bullshit” and is accusing the congresswoman of trying to cover up the entire matter.

“She’s never liked me,” D’Amato says. “But that doesn’t give them the right to try and hide the fact that I was injured. They just don’t give a fuck. It’s the entire family.”

D’Amato says he doesn’t plan to take legal action against the Boebert’s, but does recall the terror of the accident, and he blames reckless driving on Tyler Boebert’s part.

Boebert was “stone cold sober” but “was driving so f–king fast.”

“I remember waking up with blood pouring out of my hand,” he recalled. “I had put my hands up in the air to protect myself and got messed up really bad by the window or something. I was just glad to be alive.”

“Harm was definitely done. But like I said, if it were up to [Tyler] fully — and he didn’t have his mom affecting his mind so aggressively — he’d take responsibility and not act like it wasn’t a big deal. But he’s the son of Lauren Boebert. If I did what he did, I’d still be in jail.”