Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Just another example of the MAGA Republican cult.

MAGA extremists are worshipping a golden Trump statue. These freaks are mentally ill.

[Rick Plant]

Nuclear docs at Mar-a-Lago 'hugely important for prosecution of Espionage Act': expert



Federal Bureau of Investigations agents recovered highly classified documents about a foreign country's nuclear capabilities, according to a bombshell new report published online by The Washington Post on Tuesday evening.

"A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property," the newspaper reported. "Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special-access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation."

The report came one day after Judge Aileen Cannon ruled she would be appointing a special master to review the documents seized in the search.

The newspaper reported the need-to-know information is beyond top-secret clearance.

Trump claimed "nuclear weapons issue is a hoax" and suggested the FBI may have planted evidence during an Aug. 12 post on his Trump Social website.

"Records that deal with such programs are kept under lock and key, almost always in a secure compartmented information facility, with a designated control officer to keep careful tabs on their location," The Post reported. "But such documents were stored at Mar-a-Lago, with uncertain security, more than 18 months after Trump left the White House."

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance warned of the damage that could've been done.

"Trump's damage to our national security includes relationship damage with friendly countries we work with & rely on the gather intelligence," Vance posted to Twitter. "If they believe it's no longer safe to work with us, we are in a much less secure position and why wouldn't think that with this?

"Compromising sources and methods of collection leads to long-term damage to our security, compliments of the guy who blathered about making America great again," Vance added.

National security lawyer Bradley Moss said, "I have no idea what the Special Master is supposed to do with a document like this other than clear it for use by the FBI."

Former Pentagon special counsel Ryan Goodman said, "Hugely important for prosecution of Espionage Act. Many people are behind bars for far, far less."

"The doc with nuclear intelligence information also means we need our country’s full FBI etc resources to investigate, including tracking chain of custody, damage assessment, remediation. But…Judge Cannon’s order and injunction has thrown wrench into that," Goodman added. "Deeply unnerving."

https://www.rawstory.com/mar-a-lago-search-2658154057/

[Rick Plant]

Lock Him Up!

Trump had top secret papers about foreign nation’s nuclear defences at Mar-a-Lago, report says

Presence of files would underscore national security implications of ex-president’s actions

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nuclear-secrets-mar-fbi-b2161376.html


Highly classified documents held at Mar-a-Lago contained foreign nuclear secrets that only a Cabinet-level official or higher could authorize others to know, report says: Some documents were so secret that just a few DOZEN people knew of their existence



- Donald Trump's home at the Mar-a-Lago country club was raided by FBI agents in August

- During their search, agents found documents on the nuclear capabilities of other nations that were so sensitive, that they were not allowed to view them

- The Washington Post reports that only a few dozen national security officials knew of the existence of the docs

Foreign nations' nuclear secrets were found by the FBI agents that raided Donald Trump's home at the Mar-a-Lago country club in August.

The documents recovered required such a high level of clearance, FBI agents and even senior members of President Joe Biden's administration were not allowed to view them, according to a new bombshell report from the Washington Post.

The Post report goes on to say that the documents were so sensitive, only a few dozen national security officials knew of their existence.

For his part, ex-President Donald Trump has maintained that the FBI raid was nothing more than a hoax, that the documents were due for placement at his presidential  and has even suggested on his Truth Social platform that law-enforcement agents planted evidence during the search.

The documents, according to the Post, described different nation's ability to attack with nuclear weapons and their ability defend against similar attacks. The country's in question are not mentioned in the report.

Trump has also stated that he declassified all of the documents that he took with him to Mar-a-Lago. 

The Post report cites sources close to the investigation. One source says that the documents go beyond top-level clearance but require special need-to-know clearances.

Such documents are commonly stored in secure facilities and are guarded by a 'designated control officer.'

It's not clear how well guarded the documents were at Trump's country club nor is it known where exactly in Mar-a-Lago these specific documents were found.

According to the Feds, documents were found in the former Apprentice host's office, his personal residence on the grounds and in a storage closet.

The Post went on to report that agents who retrieved the documents 'grew alarmed' as they pored through the docs  and realized that they themselves should not be reading them.

In August, the Washington Post reported that those leading the FBI's investigation were in search of documents relating to nuclear weapons.

The potential for Trump to have retained nuclear data was mentioned in a grand jury subpoena in May that mentioned 'S/FRD' documents. That classification stands for 'Formerly Restricted Data,'

In August it was reported that a 'filter team' of FBI agents poring over 15 boxes of material seized from Mar-a-Lago has already completed its review of material that may involve attorney client privilege, and told a judge they would provide a more fulsome review of the material they removed.

That material, however, will remain under seal, following a federal district judge's 'preliminary intent' to grant former President Donald Trump's request for a 'special master' to go through the documents.

In a Truth Social post on August 14, Trump insisted the FBI had no right to seize documents with privileged information and demanded their return.

'Oh great! It has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged “attorney-client” material, and also “executive” privileged material, which they knowingly should not have taken,' he wrote.

'By copy of this TRUTH, I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken. Thank you!' 

Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr blasted the decision to grant a special master and said the decision would likely be overturned if the government appealed.

'The opinion, I think was wrong, and I think the government should appeal,' he told Fox News.

'It is deeply flawed in a number of ways.'

In any case, he said, such was the weight of evidence, 'I don't see it fundamentally changing the trajectory.'

It comes after he last week said Trump had 'jerked around' investigators and had no legitimate reason to keep government documents at his Florida home.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11187407/Highly-classified-documents-held-Mar-Lago-contained-foreign-nuclear-secrets.html

[Rick Plant]

Down goes Steve Bannon!

Steve Bannon faces state indictment in N.Y., will surrender Thursday

People familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sealed indictment, suggested the state prosecution will likely mirror aspects of the federal case in which Bannon was pardoned.



NEW YORK - Steve Bannon is expected to surrender to state prosecutors on Thursday to face a new criminal indictment, people familiar with the matter said, weeks after he was convicted of contempt of Congress and nearly two years after he received a federal pardon from President Donald Trump in a federal fraud case.

The precise details of the state case could not be confirmed Tuesday evening. But people familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sealed indictment, suggested the prosecution will likely mirror aspects of the federal case in which Bannon was pardoned.

In that indictment, prosecutors alleged that Bannon and several others defrauded contributors to a private, $25 million fundraising effort, called "We Build the Wall," taking funds that donors were told would support construction of a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which handles state-level prosecutions, has been evaluating Bannon's alleged involvement in that scheme since shortly after Trump pardoned him, The Washington Post reported in February, 2021.

Presidential pardons only apply to federal charges and cannot prohibit state prosecutions.

Bannon, a former top strategist for Trump who was briefly a White House aide, pleaded not guilty to the federal charges in August 2020, after authorities pulled him off a luxury yacht and brought him to court. He was accused of pocketing $1 million in the scheme.

Months later, in the last hours of his presidency, Trump included Bannon on a sweeping clemency list of about 140 people.

Two other men, including disabled veteran Brian Kolfage, pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with the fundraising scheme. A trial involving a third alleged participant, Timothy Shea, ended in a mistrial in June when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

The new state indictment comes less than two months after Bannon, 68, was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the House committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The state case will be handled in New York State Supreme Court by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, D. A spokesperson for Bragg declined to comment when reached Tuesday evening.

But three people familiar with the matter confirmed Bannon is expected to turn himself in on Thursday.

When reached for comment, Bannon issued a statement through his spokesperson that described the indictment as "phony charges" and "nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system."

The state effort to investigate Bannon in the border-wall fraud scheme began under Bragg's predecessor, Cyrus Vance.

In addition to the Bannon investigation, Bragg's office also inherited a long-running investigation into Trump and his business practices. Last month, Trump's longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty in connection to a tax scheme. The Trump Organization is expected to face trial in the tax case in October.

Investigators from the New York State attorney general's office have teamed up with the district attorney's lawyers to assist in both the Trump business practices case and the Bannon case.

Bannon's conviction in July for contempt of Congress related to the Jan. 6 investigation made him the closest Trump confidant to be convicted criminally in the fallout of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The two-witness trial lasted just a week and established that Bannon ignored a congressional subpoena that he was legally obligated to answer.

https://www.startribune.com/steve-bannon-faces-state-indictment-in-n-y-will-surrender-thursday/600204450/

[Rick Plant]

Trump Intensifies Violent Rhetoric Amid Reports Of Nuclear Secrets At FL Estate

After new reporting of foreign nuclear secrets found at Mar-a-Lago, former Alabama Senator Doug Jones weighs in on the health of our national security.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

NBA player Jonathan Isaac to appear at Idaho conspiracy theory conference with MyPillow CEO: report



On Tuesday, the Orlando Weekly reported that Jonathan Isaac, an NBA player in for the Orlando Magic who has become a right-wing celebrity for his opposition to vaccines, will appear at a fundamentalist Christian conspiracy theory gathering alongside Mike Lindell, MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist.

"Alongside the CPAC undercard and OAN advertisers, Isaac is set to appear at the fundamentalist Christian conference on the border of Idaho and Washington state. Only 4,000 tickets will be sold to the so-called 'Great Reawakening vs. Great Reset' show," reported Alex Galbraith. "Isaac has become a D-list conservative cause célèbre since opting to avoid getting vaccinated for COVID-19."

"The first-round draft pick has not played in the NBA since suffering an injury in the last full season before the pandemic," the report noted. "He's appeared at other conferences put on by organizer Clay Clark, who has postulated that the COVID-19 vaccine will turn people into zombies."

Lindell, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, has been trying relentlessly since 2020 to prove that the election was stolen from Trump, making a variety of wild claims in the process.

Central to his claim is a baseless idea that voting machines are being used to cook elections at every level, around the country, and even other countries. He has held a number of public events promising to provide or aggregate evidence of this fraud, and repeatedly claimed that the Supreme Court was on the verge of reinstating Trump to office as a result of a half-baked "petition" he submitted to the justices.

Lindell's wild claims have taken a toll on his reputation and legal situation. He faces a lawsuit from a former employee of Dominion Voting Systems, whom he claimed had been a key architect of election fraud. His pillow business has also taken a hit; major retailers have pulled their orders for MyPillow, including Walmart, whom Mike Lindell compared to Nazi Germany for not stocking his products. And even Fox News, caught up in their own lawsuits for promoting election conspiracy theories, has stopped booking him on air, which he has repeatedly attacked them over on his online webcasts.

Read More Here:

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/orlando-magic-anti-vaxxer-jonathan-isaac-to-appear-at-conservative-conference-with-mypillow-guy/Slideshow/32407605/32407621



Republicans have a 'GOP problem' -- Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania: former lawmaker



Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Labor Day morning, former Rep. Dave Jolly (R-FL) said the Republicans' chances of taking control of the Senate are quickly slipping away because of terrible candidates in three key states as well as internal turmoil among the party's leadership over massive amounts of money that have been spent ineffectively by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

Speaking with host Jonathan Lemire, a bemused Jolly noted Scott has put the party behind the eight-ball which has his fellow senators furious with him.

Add to that, three of the candidates handpicked to be the nominees for Senate seats -- two currently being held by Republicans -- are floundering as the money runs out, he pointed out.

According to a report from the New York Times, "By the end of July, the committee [NRSC] had collected a record $181.5 million — but had already spent more than 95 percent of what it had brought in. The Republican group entered August with just $23.2 million on hand, less than half of what the Senate Democratic committee had ahead of the final intense phase of the midterm elections."

"Florida Senator Rick Scott greenlit massive spending on digital ads, not to promote candidates for Senate but to discover small contributors. While it initially brought in large amounts of donations," host Lemire explained. "It's since stopped and by the end of July, the committee collected a record amount of money but spent nearly all of it; entering August with $23 million on hand and they're raising less before the digital spending campaign. David, let me get your reaction to this. It's not going to help Republican candidates, many of whom already staring up at their Democratic opponents in the polls."

"It is a bit of a Washington parlor game," the former House member explained. "The head of the congressional committees or the senatorial committees for the parties can make or break a career. I'd much rather be [Rep] Sean Patrick Maloney leading the DCC than Rick Scott leading the NRSC."

"He is about to hit a brick wall in the senate," he continued. "Complete mismanagement there. I think what we're seeing nationally is, where Republicans thought November would be favorable, they realize now they are in a challenging environment with that Dobbs decision that stripped abortion rights. Donald Trump is back in the picture, which is not good for republicans."

"Then the Republican Senate Committee, in particular, has what I call a GOP problem: Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania," he quipped. "They have terrible candidates. Now, we're learning the top of the Senatorial committee, Rick Scott, terribly mismanaged the finances that should be there to support their candidates. A terrible, terrible moment for Rick Scott; somebody who is dying to find a lane to the presidency. That line, if it'd not already closed, let me tell you, it is closed for the next five to ten years now."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Trump judge's ruling in Mar-a-Lago case proves Biden was right



It had been little over a week since President Joe Biden called Donald Trump and his supporters "semi-fascist" when a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon of Florida, proved Biden's point. While most Americans were too busy enjoying Labor Day cookouts to pay much attention to the news, Cannon let loose with a decision breathtaking in its disregard for both the law and the judicial branch's legitimacy.

In one sense, it's not a surprise that Cannon, a judge who Trump selected precisely because he knew how corrupt she was, eagerly issued a ruling slowing down the Department of Justice's (DOJ) efforts to investigate Trump's theft of hundreds of classified documents from the U.S. government. But even though she had already taken the highly unusual action of signaling her intention to do her crony this favor, the most cynical observers of Trump's shady judicial appointees were surprised at how far she took it. Cannon not only threw a bunch of wrenches in the DOJ's ability to investigate a former president, undergirding her decision with the same logic of the Big Lie and the January 6 insurrection, but she extended a nearly unlimited right to Trump to break the law. As national security legal expert Bradley Moss noted on Twitter, this ruling "is meant for Trump and Trump alone," giving him special rights not enjoyed by any other person in the country, including the actual president. All of this, even though Trump is a private citizen and not the president at all.

At stake are boxes of classified documents that Trump stole from the government when he left the White House. For months, the DOJ has been trying to get these documents out of Trump's illegal possession, but Trump — for whatever no-doubt nefarious reason — has been resisting. Even after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago resort in an attempt to seize the stolen documents, they found that many of the folders marked "classified" were empty, suggesting Trump removed the documents and either hid them, sold them or gave them away.

In an attempt to delay the DOJ investigation into what is looking like an extensive amount of criminal behavior, Trump sued, demanding a "special master" go over the documents seized by the FBI to determine what the agency has a right to review. From the beginning, the lawsuit was frivolous nonsense, as a federal judge had already signed the warrant to seize the documents. But Cannon didn't just overrule the original judge in letting Trump have his "special master," she also put a halt to the investigation. Because, in a truly alarming move, the judge instructed the special master to consider the former president's supposed "executive privilege" in retaining the documents.

"It's a hell of a thing if the mere assertion of executive privilege by someone who no longer holds office can stop an existing officeholder from engaging in a core executive function."

The problem with this should be obvious: Trump is no longer the president and thus has no "executive privilege." Biden is the president. He and the FBI, which is part of the executive branch, do possess executive privilege over the documents. By issuing this ruling, Cannon is functionally saying that Trump has more presidential powers than the actual president. As Boston University law professor Robert Tsai noted on Twitter, "It's a hell of a thing if the mere assertion of executive privilege by someone who no longer holds office can stop an existing officeholder from engaging in a core executive function."

Call it the Big Lie decision.

Cannon's opinion rests on an unsubtle implication that Trump is somehow more president than the actual president. As a New York Times article explained, "a court has never held that a former president can invoke the privilege to keep records from his time in office away from the executive branch itself." As Slate's legal expert Mark Joseph Stern noted on Twitter, no legitimate judge would "take Trump's absurd filing seriously," but "Cannon is not a real judge, but a Trump judge, and one of the most corrupt of the bunch."

That Cannon was chosen for her corruption is not even in dispute. As investigative reporter Jose Pagliery of the Daily Beast wrote, Trump's lawyers avoided filing this lawsuit in any court close to Mar-a-Lago, instead picking "a satellite location that's 70 miles from Mar-a-Lago" because they wanted a judge he appointed, one that could be trusted to ignore the law and instead rule in Trump's favor. But what they got was likely beyond even their fondest hopes: A judge who would rule as if Trump's right to executive powers exceeds that of the actual president's.

For the past week, we've been subject to an endless stream of bellyaching from Republicans over Biden's speech calling MAGA Republicans "semi-fascist," followed by his Thursday speech in Philadelphia warning Trump's movement "threatens the very foundations of our republic." In response, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy whined that Biden should "apologize for slandering tens of millions of Americans as 'fascists.'"

Judge Cannon ruled that Trump's right to executive powers exceeds that of the actual president's.

All of this umbrage, of course, is totally fake. That Trump and his supporters subscribe to a fascist ideology was clear before January 6 and indisputable after Trump incited a riot in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. As historian of fascism Federico Finchelstein explained in the Washington Post, Trump "aspires to return to a form of fascism." Trump may have been unsuccessful at becoming a fascist dictator, but the January 6 riot was absolutely an effort to become one. And as Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., explained on "Face the Nation" this past Sunday, both the Big Lie and the embrace of political violence are "hallmarks of a fascist political party."

Cannon's ruling on Monday is just further proof that Trump is, ideologically, a fascist leader. By asserting that Trump enjoys all these powers that the duly elected president does not, Cannon is reinscribing the foundational — and utterly fascist — assumption of Trumpism: Trump's power should be absolute and not constrained by either rule of law or a lost election.

There's been, for good reason, a lot of interest in exactly what Trump wants all these classified documents for. Is it for selling them? Or perhaps exchanging them to hostile foreign leaders for political favors? It's hard to say, but even without knowing his purpose, it's alarming that Trump is going to such lengths to hang onto the documents, and that his supporters are going to such lengths to defend his illegal behavior. This is all about putting Trump above the law. By issuing this ruling, Cannon has blessed Trumpism's basic premise: Donald Trump has powers that not only above those of the elected president but powers that exceed those of the office itself. This ruling proves that Biden was right to warn Americans: Trump is a fascist and a threat to democracy.

https://www.salon.com/2022/09/06/judges-ruling-in-mar-a-lago-case-proves-biden-was-right-maga-is-fascism/

[Rick Plant]

Trump news – live: FBI found foreign nation’s nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago, report says

Rolling coverage of latest developments in legal battles of former president

FBI agents found a document describing a foreign government’s military defences, including its nuclear capabilities, when they searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday night.

The revelation could severely undercut Mr Trump’s defence that the documents are harmless or meant for a future presidential library or other projects.

Meanwhile, former attorney general Bill Barr believes Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling on having a special master review the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago was wrong, deeply flawed, and should be appealed by the government.

Elsewhere, former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon is expected to surrender to New York state prosecutors on Thursday to face a new criminal indictment, according to reports.

This comes just weeks after a federal jury convicted him of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for intentionally defying a subpoena related to the assault on the US Capitol last year.

And the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton told CBS News that she believes Mr Trump led and encouraged a criminal seditious conspiracy against the US, comparing Mr Trump’s reaction to losing in 2020 to her own measured response to losing the 2016 election.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-nuclear-codes-fbi-impeachment-steve-bannon-b2161452.html