Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Mueller prosecutor: There are more crimes Trump could be charged with

The former counsel for the FBI and prosecutor on Robert Mueller's team noted that there are quite a few more crimes that Donald Trump could be charged with after stealing documents from the government.

According to legal expert Andrew Weissmann, the Justice Department affidavit cited three crimes, but he's got several more that could be added.

18 USC section 402 is a contempt charge that can be levied when someone disobeys a lawful order. In Trump's case, this means his refusal to comply with the subpoena he was issued in the spring. Staff at the National Archives told the Washington Post over the weekend that they believe Trump still has documents at Mar-a-Lago, even after the search warrant, the subpoena, and several other attempts to get them back.

Another possible charge, according to Weissmann is 18 USC section 641, deals with Trump actually stealing the documents. Like stealing a painting from the White House, Trump stole government property, which is illegal.

The third is 18 USC section 1001, which is lying to the government. Trump's lawyer took that a step further and even lied to the court in an official statement, which is going to cause her a lot of problems.

18 USC section 2 and 371 are about aiding and abetting and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

"Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal," section 2 says.

Section 371 suggests, "each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

Read more here: https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1564415876530667520



Former intel chief: Trump has created serious 'issues' by hoarding documents at Mar-a-Lago

On Monday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper outlined the severity of the problem former President Donald Trump has created for the intelligence agencies by stashing boxes of highly classified information at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.

One of the biggest issues, Clapper noted, is that the intelligence community has little way of knowing who has seen the documents, and what has been compromised.

"How challenging is it for the intelligence community to conduct a damage assessment of all these documents, which were clearly improperly stored and shuffled around a beach resort for more than a year?" asked anchor Pamela Brown

"Well, it's going to be a challenge. There's no question about it," said Clapper. "One of the things that concerns me is the chain of custody from the time the documents were in the White House and who had access to them, who packed them, how were they protected when they were transported, who had access to them at Mar-a-Lago, which that in itself, I think, is going to be a difficult challenge to sort out."

One of their only options, Clapper argued, is to assume everything was compromised.

"The intelligence community, I think, will have to approach this with a worst-case assumption, meaning that the documents, assume the documents were exposed to a sophisticated adversary, a foreign intelligence service," said Clapper. "What is it they could glean from an examination and study, scrutiny of these documents? And doing it, of course, in such a way, particularly when the results of the assessment are promulgated that it not jeopardize the conduct of the investigation. So this is a tricky proposition, no question about it."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Lock Him Up!

'We are losing America!' Trump promotes multiple inflammatory memes while ratcheting up attacks on FBI

Former President Donald Trump spent early Tuesday morning whipping up violent anger toward his political enemies.

The former president amplified numerous posts from supportive accounts on his social media website, including one from the user "God & Country" that showed an extreme closeup of Trump's glowering face urging followers to possibly give up their lives -- an apparent copy of a Nike ad featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick that uses the same slogan and similar graphics.

"Believe in something," the post reads. "Even if it means sacrificing everything."

Trump helped end Kaepernick's career by whipping up anger against his silent protests of police brutality, but he gave his stamp of approval to that supportive post possibly targeting law enforcement for violence in response to the FBI search of Mar-A-Lago.

"We have no other choice," Trump posted. "We are losing America!"

The FBI has reported numerous threats against its agents and offices since a search warrant was executed at Trump's home, including an Ohio man shot and killed after attempting to attack a field office, and some Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), have suggested an indictment would set off street violence.

Trump also shared another post demonizing President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other top Democrats as enemies to the nation.

"Your enemy is not in Russia," the meme said.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-truth-social-2657965050/

[Rick Plant]

MAGA Republicans are the party of "Debt relief for me, not for thee."

[Rick Plant]

Republicans face 'enormous frustration' as shoes keep dropping in Trump FBI investigation: report
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2022-midterms-2657965076/

[Rick Plant]

Trump Is Having a Meltdown on Truth Social: False Claims, Angry Memes and ‘4chan and Q Messages
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/08/trump-is-having-a-meltdown-on-truth-social-false-claims-angry-memes-and-4chan-and-q-messages/

[Rick Plant]

DOJ tells judge Trump is not 'entitled’ to Mar-a-Lago special master — and reveals key picture



The Justice Department filed its response to former President Donald Trump's request to appoint a court-appointed representative to sift through the documents taken from his golf course in Palm Beach to ensure there is no "privileged" information.

In the 36-page filing, the DOJ argued Trump's case should not be heard but that he would lose even if it were allowed. The filing included 18-pages of exhibits.

DOJ argued. Trump's "filings present three issues: whether [Trump] is currently entitled to the return of any property, to injunctive relief, and to the appointment of a special master. Not only does [Trump] lack standing to raise these claims at this juncture, but even if his claims were properly raised, [Trump] would not be entitled to the relief he seeks."

DOJ included a picture showing documents seized with highly classified markings, Politico's Kyle Cheney reported.


DOJ picture of documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.

"And if you look closely, you can see the HCS marking for human source intelligence," Cheney noted.

DOJ strongly suggested they were also focused on obstruction of justice.

“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” DOJ argued. “That the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former President’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter."

The FBI used what is referred to as a "filter team," in which a group of staffers unaffiliated with the DOJ prosecution team can sift through the information and pull out anything that could violate attorney/client privilege. Trump has conflated attorney/client privilege with executive privilege, which he no longer enjoys as he isn't the executive.

According to the Justice Department, the filter team has already gone through everything and categorized the privileged information. Documents that were classified or top secret have already been taken to the appropriate agency.

The "Special Master" that Trump has requested would be for attorney/client privilege. There isn't any kind of case law surrounding the FBI sifting through "executive privilege," but lawsuits involving such privilege typically go through Washington, D.C. courts since that's where the Office of the Executive is located.

Several of the U.S. Circuit have made rulings about filter teams and whether they have the power to go through privileged documents. In Trump's case, however, he didn't file an injunction to stop the FBI from sifting through the documents. In fact, Trump didn't even file anything for over two weeks after the search warrant was executed. Once Trump's lawyers did file something it was so poorly done that they were ridiculed by lawyers across the country.

Months ago, Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that under his leadership the Justice Department will only speak through action and its court filings. So when the DOJ asked the court for an additional page count for their filing responding to the request for the court appointee.

The judge presiding over the case, Aileen Cannon, was appointed by Trump after he lost the election. Before the DOJ had an opportunity to pitch their case, Judge Cannon indicated that she'd be finding for Trump in the matter.

Already Trump's classified information is causing international problems for the United States and its relationship with France.

Read more here: https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1564817161528692737



Republican Party refusing to pay Trump's legal bills over Mar-a-Lago documents scandal: report



ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl wrote in his post-Donald Trump administration book that on Jan. 20, as Trump was flying from the White House for the final time, he spoke to the head of the Republican Party and threatened to start his own party. RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel reportedly told Trump that if he started a third party that the RNC would stop paying his legal bills, which were costing the party millions.

Politico reported Tuesday, however, that that decision has ended. According to the report, any legal fees having to do with Trump's retention of government documents is not being paid by the RNC.

The report explained that Trump hired Chris Kise, a former Florida solicitor general, to represent him in the FBI search case, it was announced on Tuesday. Thus far, Trump has suffered with a legal team that is moving quickly to appear on television but not in filing a legal defense for their client.

Christina Bobb may be under her own legal problems after signing court documents saying that Trump had already turned over all of the documents. That turned out to be false.

Thus far, the legal team has argued that Trump isn't bound by the laws about handling classified material or stealing government documents. Sources close to Trump revealed that on multiple occasions he shouted, "They're mine!" That's false. As with past presidents, the presidential library will be able to possess papers, but not until they go through the archiving process from the National Archives. The government agency manages the documents even if they're in a presidential library, they explained in a press release dispelling Trump's accusation that Barack Obama stole 30,000 documents.

Politico also reported that for his legal services, Kise will be paid by Trump, who regularly stiffs lawyers and business partners when it comes time to sign off on the bill.

"A person familiar with the matter confirmed that the Republican National Committee is not paying for Trump’s legal fees related to the FBI’s investigation and retrieval of documents at Mar-a-Lago," Politico reported. "That’s a departure of sorts from the past. The RNC has, for example, paid for Trump’s legal bills involving New York Attorney General Tish James’ investigation into the former president’s private businesses. The committee would stop paying Trump’s legal fees should he formally declare his candidacy for president in the 2024 election — a step he has hinted at but has yet to take."

Read the full report at Politico:

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/30/trump-florida-solicitor-general-mar-a-lago-probe-00054219

[Rick Plant]

Justice Department memo exonerating Donald Trump was a 'fundamental betrayal': former solicitor general



Since leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump hasn’t been shy about lambasting former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr— who he now despises for refusing to go along with the Big Lie and Trump’s false, totally debunked claim that widespread voter fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential election. Trump now views Barr as a Republican who, like former Vice President Mike Pence, didn’t have the courage to stick by him.

But before the election, Barr’s critics often slammed him for being a Trump loyalist who defended Trump vigorously after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his final report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Attorney Neal Katyal, in an op-ed published by the New York Times on August 30, offers some reasons why a recently released March 24, 2019 memo paints such a troubling picture of Barr and his relationship with then-President Trump.

The memo, released by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on August 21, details Barr’s justifications for the DOJ clearing Trump of obstruction charges. These days, Trump views Barr as a traitor to the MAGA cause. But in 2019, he praised Barr as someone who had the backbone to come through for him in a way that former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn’t.

“The memo released last week by the Justice Department closing the book on the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election is a frightening document,” explains Katyal, a former solicitor genreal who is often featured as a legal expert on MSNBC. “Critics have rightly focused on its substance, slipshod legal analysis and omission of damning facts. But the process by which that memo, sent in March 2019, came to be is just as worrisome.”

The attorney continues, “Delivered to the attorney general at the time, Bill Barr, the memo was written by two political appointees in the Justice Department. Mr. Barr used the memo to go around the special counsel regulations and to clear President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice. If left to fester, this decision will have pernicious consequences for investigations of future high-level wrongdoing."

Katyal goes on to offer some more reasons why he finds the March 24, 2019 memo so troubling. As Katyal sees it, the memo is an example of the United States’ system of checks and balances being undermined during the Trump years.

“The 2019 memo tendentiously argued that Mr. Trump committed no crimes — leaving the final decision on the matter to Republican-aligned appointees instead of to the independent special counsel,” Katyal notes. “The challenge in devising the regulations was to develop a framework for the prosecution of high-level executive branch officials — which is harder than it sounds, because the Constitution requires the executive branch to control prosecutions. So, we are left with one of the oldest philosophical problems: Who will guard the guardians?”

During Mueller’s investigation, many MAGA Republicans tried to paint him as a Democratic partisan — even though the former FBI director was a conservative and a lifelong Republican who had been on very friendly terms with the George W. Bush Administration. But during the Russian investigation, Mueller’s admirers often praised him for valuing country over party. When Democrats and Never Trump conservatives used the word “institutionalist” to describe Mueller in 2017 or 2018, it was meant as high praise.

A special counsel in a federal investigation, Katyal stresses, needs to be someone who is independent rather than partisan — which Special Counsel Mueller was. But Barr, Katyal laments, undermined Special Counsel Mueller’s work in the end.

“We created the role of special counsel to fill a void — to concentrate in one person responsibility and ultimate blame so that investigations would not be covered up from the get-go and to give that person independence from political pressure,” Katyal writes. “It is outrageous that Mr. Barr acted so brazenly in the face of this framework. The point of requiring a special counsel was to provide for an independent determination of any potential criminal wrongdoing by Mr. Trump. But the political appointees in his Justice Department took what was the most important part of that inquiry — the decision of whether he committed crimes — and grabbed it for themselves. This was a fundamental betrayal of the special counsel guidelines not for some principle, but because it protected their boss, Mr. Trump.”

Read more here: 

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/bill-barr-donald-trumpjustice-department-mueller-obstruction-memo



'Trump is one with the fringe and crazy': Nicolle Wallace unloads on latest Truth Social rants



Donald Trump's social media website has been authorizing QAnon fanatics, but now Trump insiders on the site have taken the next step to promoting the QAnon world of conspiracy theories.

Speaking about the shocking morning of memes that Trump reposted, MSNBC reporter Ben Collins explained that Trump shared a meme referring to "The Storm," a QAnon conspiracy that says the so-called "deep state," Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden will be "rounded up and executed in public."

"This is a very dark space for the ex-president to be headed," said Collins.

QAnon forums have been quiet lately, he said because they ran out of hope that Trump was secretly still running the country, or that he would somehow rise to power. Trump sharing their posts has fired them up again, said Collins. One of the posts from the former president said, “nuke them from orbit” a reference to Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton suggesting bombing them. Commenters begged for Trump to kill them in the comments.

"Your Twitter feed is the stuff of my nightmares," MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said of the screen captures Collins had posted. She said that she's been sending it around to political folks

She went on to cite a comment from Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), saying, "I just think everyone, including the mainstream press, needs to take seriously the growing culmination between Trump's operation, the extremist 4chan/Q crowd and the monarchist new right." She also played a clip of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump. Wray warned that there is a growing domestic terrorism movement from these groups.

Earlier Tuesday, it was revealed that the Google App store would not provide the Truth Social app to users because they don't have content moderation systems in place to ensure they could comply with the terms of service for Google's App store.

"There's such a -- I grapple with it myself — I did all day preparing for this hour," confessed Wallace. "There's such a temptation to say, 'it's the whack jobs,' 'it's the fringe,' 'it's not the mainstream.' But it feels like an urgent political mission -- and I think that's the point of Chris Murphy's tweet -- to explain that Donald Trump is one with the fringe and the crazy and the belief system that, again, is at the very intersection of ideology and domestic violent extremism."

Pollster Cornell Belcher explained that even if 5 percent of Americans buy into the QAnon conspiracies about assassinations, that's still 20 million Americans. Matthew Dowd noted that many of them are also armed, which the United States in a dangerous situation.

Watch: