Tag: Trump crimes

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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

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

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Crime Donald Trump Elections

Trump May Be Forced To Testify Before Georgia Grand Jury Investigating 2020 Election Crimes: Report

Already facing legal jeopardy that requires him to testify under oath in New York, failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump is now looking at possibly receiving yet another subpoena for testimony, this one from a DA in the state of Georgia.

According to USA Today, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has a grand jury currently seated and may well demand that the failed ex-president appear:

“Last year, Willis disclosed that local prosecutors had launched a wide-ranging investigation of possible election fraud, false statements, conspiracy, oath of office violations, racketeering and violence associated with threats to the election process,” said the report. “A major focus of the inquiry has been Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, telephone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the former president urged the state official to tilt the 2020 statewide vote in his favor.”

The AP confirmed the USA Today report, adding:

Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Willis, told The Associated Press that Willis is considering subpoenaing Trump to testify before a special grand jury. Such a demand would almost certainly trigger an immediate court fight, including potentially over Trump’s constitutional protections against self-incrimination. Yahoo News had reported earlier Friday that Willis is considering requesting Trump’s testimony.

There’s almost nothing Donald Trump fears more than having to testify under oath because he’s a walking talking perjury machine who lies more often than he breathes. But if he were to do so before a grand jury, he could then be charged with a felony even if no other criminal activity is determined by the grand jury.

This latest news comes as Trump remains under scrutiny from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and could also face federal indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has requested transcripts of depositions and witness interviews from the committee.

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr. Ivanka Trump WTF?!

Trump Says He And His Kids Will Give Depositions – If The New York AG Grants Them ‘Immunity’

Proving yet again that failed, one-term former President Donald Trump fears one thing — testifying under oath — above all others, an appeal filed on his behalf and that of his two oldest children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, demands that the Trumps be given “immunity” if they agree to obey a legal subpoena and to give sworn depositions.

Yes, you read that correctly: He wants immunity because he knows he’s committed numerous crimes and is terrified of being charged with them.

According to CNN, the legal reasoning behind the appeal is nothing short of absurd:

In their appeal filed Monday, Trump and his children Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. argued that if New York Attorney General Letitia James wants their testimony, she should bring them before a state grand jury investigating the Trump Organization, where witnesses receive transactional immunity for their testimony in New York.

The Trumps’ attorneys wrote that if the attorney general’s office is allowed to depose their clients, the state’s constitutional and statutory protections can easily be “eviscerated if the same agency involved in the criminal investigation simply opens up a ‘civil’ investigation into the very same matters.”

“The question is whether the (Office of the Attorney General) can use the office subpoenas to avoid the grand jury process and compel testimony from those whom it does not wish to grant immunity,” the appeal states.

A judge has previously ruled that if the Trumps want to avoid legal liability for giving depositions, they can always invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. However, such a move could come back to haunt the Trump family and their company, the Trump Organization because the number of times they cite the Fifth can be introduced as evidence against them in a civil ruling such as the one New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking. A ruling against the Trump Organization could also lead to the company being shut down and its assets seized by the state of New York.

Eric Trump, who serves as Executive Vice President of Trump Org., gave a deposition in October of 2020 in response to to a deposition from AG James.

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Crime Donald Trump

Former Federal Prosecutor: Trump Has Reached ‘The End Of His Rope’ And Is Going Down

When the history books are written decades from now, it may well be said that this was the week when everything that could possibly go wrong collapsed right on top of failed, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump.

Consider what has transpired over the past five days for Trump:

  • His accounting firm cut all ties to him and announced that financial statements provided to them by the Trump Organization contain “material discrepancies.”
  • A New York judge ruled that the ex-president, along with Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, must sit for depositions within the next three weeks.
  • The National Archives and Records Administration confirmed that Trump did indeed take classified documents out of the White House and transport them to Mar-a-Lago. They then referred the matter to the Justice Department for further investigation and possible criminal charges.

In other words, Trump is facing financial collapse, civil and criminal indictment, and watching as both he and his three oldest children are put on trial for a plethora of felony charges.

What’s next? According to former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, Trump has reached “the end of his rope” and there’s more bad yet to come.

Kirschner was a guest on MSNBC, where he was asked by Jonathan Capehart if he thought Trump would “face any consequences.”

Kirschner responded:

“How could he not, Jonathan? You just went through the trifecta of really crushing legal stories for Donald Trump. And it’s not that he’s just losing these cases, but what some of the judges are saying.”

Quoting from a judge’s ruling that Trump seems to be complicit in the January 6 Capitol attack, Kirschner then added:

“Those are the words of federal crimes. Things are getting really bad as the investigative circle is tightening around Donald Trump.”

Later in the discussion, Kirschner noted:

“Donald Trump may be reaching the end of his rope. I predict, once the first brave prosecutor who has the evidence to indict Donald Trump brings that indictment, everybody is going to want to be the second prosecutor to indict Donald Trump.”

Who will be the first prosecutor to indict Donald Trump? That remains to be seen, but as Kirschner predicts, it’s likely to have a domino effect that will leave the former president trying to defend himself on multiple fronts as his finances are being squeezed.

It couldn’t happen to a more deserving asshole.