Florida Hobbyist Charged Over Document Collection

An elderly Palm Beach County man has been charged over his collection of federal documents, some of them classified. In general, collections of stamps or baseball cards present lower risks of imprisonment.

A federal grand jury returned the indictment today. The senior citizen has been summoned to appear before a federal judge in Miami at 3 PM on Tuesday.

Updates:

“Trump charged over classified documents in 1st federal indictment of an ex-president,” Eric Tucker, and Michael Balsamo, Associated Press

“Trump expected to surrender to Miami authorities on Tuesday after indictment,” Joan E. Greve, The Guardian

“Why No Amount of Evidence Will Make Republicans Admit Trump’s Guilt,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, initially assigned to oversee his case: Sources,” Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, and Lucien Bruggeman, ABC News

“The charges mount, but Trump’s not worried. He’s just the guy to make jail great again,” Marina Hyde, The Guardian

“Even after an indictment on federal charges, ‘persecuted’ Donald Trump could win again,” Jeff MacLeod, The Conversation

More:

“Trump indicted on seven criminal counts in classified documents case,” Dan Mangan and Riya Bhattacharjee, CNBC

“Trump charged in Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation,” Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post

“Trump says he’s been indicted in classified documents probe,” Brett Samuels, The Hill

“Trump documents case: A timeline of the investigation and charges,” Jacqueline Thomsen, Reuters

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Trump Played Hide-the-Docs at Mar-a-Lago

Remember those cartons of federal documents that the defeated Donald Trump stole when he slunk out of the White House back in January 2021? Turns out he actively tried to hide them from the FBI.

It now appears two of  Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago employees moved document boxes the day before an early June visit by FBI agents and a prosecutor. Even before recieving a subpoena in May, they had a “dress rehearsal” for moving sensitive papers.

Legal experts think this can be seen as clear evidence of Donald Trump’s criminal intent to defraud the government and retain illegal possession of government documents. Ya Think?

More:

“Trump workers moved Mar-a-Lago boxes a day before FBI came for documents,” Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Spencer S. Hsu and Perry Stein, Washington Post

Update:

“Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House,” Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid and Kaitlan Collins, CNN

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FBI Seeks Trump’s Stolen Documents at Mar-a-Lago

Early this past Monday, FBI agents toured Donald Trump’s beautiful Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, executing a search warrant for classified documents he stole while vacating the White House after his failed 2021 coup attempt. At the time of the FBI raid, Mr. Trump was in New Jersey, recuperating after playing golf on his ex-wife’s grave with Saudi officials. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray is a Trump appointee, and the judge who approved the search warrant, Bruce Reinhart, was appointed in 2018, during the Trump administration. Before that, the judge was an attorney, and represented several employees of Donald Trump’s friend Jeffrey Epstein.

The former president fled Washington with 15 cartons of purloined pages, and some are still missing. Withholding or destroying the documents is a violation of the Presidential Records Act and provisions of the Federal Records Act, felonies punishable by up to three years in prison. Conviction might make him ineligible to hold public office in the future.

The FBI agents brought a safecracker to Mar-a-Lago to help search for the remaining stolen documents, which reportedly include a “love letter” from Kim Jong Un. Maybe the feds brought a forensic plumber, given Donald Trump’s habit of flushing documents down the toilet.

More:

“Trump says FBI searched estate in major escalation of probe,” Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, Associated Press

“FBI searches Trump’s Florida home as part of presidential records probe,” Brian Ellsworth and Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters

“Here’s what we know about the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago,” Brett Samuels, Rebecca Beitsch, and Emily Brooks, The Hill

“The consequences Trump could face for mishandling White House records,” Melissa Quinn, CBS News

Presidential Records (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22)

“Lara Trump incorrectly claims that Donald Trump had ‘every authority’ to take documents from White House,”
Stephen Proctor, Yahoo Entertainment

“Fox News Is Having a Nuclear Meltdown Over the Feds Raiding Mar-a-Lago,” Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone

“Republicans dust off familiar playbook to weaponise Mar-a-Lago FBI search,” David Smith, The Guardian

“Pelosi responds to GOP criticism of search at Trump’s estate: ‘No person is above the law,’” Anna Kaplan, NBC Today

“Feds Seizing Documents at Mar-a-Lago Unable to Find Trump’s Health-Care Plan,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

Updates:

“Mar-a-Lago search appears focused on whether Trump, aides withheld items,” Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Rosalind S. Helderman, Jacqueline Alemany and Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post

“‘Defund the FBI!’ Trump allies are not happy with Mar-a-Lago raid.” Peter Weber, The Week

“The FBI’s Search of Mar-a-Lago Is a Reminder That Trump Has Always Been a National Security Threat,” David Rothkopf, Daily Beast

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Louie Gohmert Demands His Right to Lie to the FBI

Rep Louie Gohmert on Navarro indictment: "If you're a Republican, you can't even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they're coming after you" pic.twitter.com/8eIkkycukd

— Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) June 3, 2022

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R, TX-1) told Newsmax it’s unfair that Republicans can’t lie to the FBI. The former Texas judge was speaking about former Trump aide Peter Navarro, indicted for criminal contempt of Congress, not for lying to anybody. Yet. Mr. Gohmert was miffed that a federal jury aquitted Democrat Michael Sussman of such an offense.

FYI: Nobody, Democrat or Republican, should lie to FBI agents, since it’s a felony. The best policy is to shut up, something beyond the ability of Louie Gohmert. He recently blamed wearing masks for his COVID diagnosis and asked the National Forest Service to alter the Moon’s orbit.

More:

“Louie Gohmert Whines That Republicans Aren’t Allowed to Lie to the FBI — Which Is a Felony,” William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone

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The FBI Wants the Public to ID Capitol Insurrectionists. Here’s One.

In a statement shared online, the FBI asks the public to help identify the domestic terrorists who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday:

“The FBI is seeking information that will assist in identifying individuals who are actively instigating violence in Washington, D.C. The FBI is accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting and violence in the U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.”

They can start with Derrick Evans, a newly-elected Republican member of West Virginia’s House of Delegates. He bragged about the deed, and there are videos.

Since most of the rioters wore no facemasks, it shouldn’t be hard to find other insurrectionists. On Thursday morning, former Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan suggested that questing G-Men should look in the breakfast bar of the Hyatt Regency, two blocks from FBI headquarters. Reporters had been interviewing the seditionists in the Hyatt lobby for days.

Updates:

“US Capitol Building Riot: Justice Dept. Pursues at Least 150 Suspects,” Katie Benner and Adam Goldman, New York Times

“Who were they? Records reveal Trump fans who stormed Capitol,” Michael Biesecker,
Michael Kunzelman, Gillian Flaccus, and Jim Mustian, Associated Press

“‘Trump said I could’: One possible legal defense for accused rioters,” Teri Kanefield and Mark Reichel, Washington Post

More:

“West Virginia delegate records himself storming U.S. Capitol,” Cuneyt Dil, Associated Press

“W.Va. delegate, just sworn in, was among the mob storming U.S. Capitol,” Brad McElhinny, W.Va. MetroNews

“Remove House of Delegates Member Derrick Evans for Terrorism,” Change.org petition

Related:

Online FBI Tip Form

“13 federal criminal laws that the pro-Trump mob may have violated, explained,” Ian Millhiser, Vox

“People at the US Capitol riot are being identified and losing their jobs,” AJ Willingham and Carma Hassan, CNN

Ill-Wind-Blows-Someone-Good Department:

“Trump Supporters Gave D.C. Hotel Business Shot In The Arm Before Capitol Insurrection,” Jon Banister, Bisnow

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Justice Department Stopped FBI From Examining Trump’s Russia Ties

“The Justice Department secretly took steps in 2017 to narrow the investigation into Russian election interference and any links to the Trump campaign, according to former law enforcement officials, keeping investigators from completing an examination of President Trump’s decades-long personal and business ties to Russia.”

” … law enforcement officials never fully investigated Mr. Trump’s own relationship with Russia, even though some career F.B.I. counterintelligence investigators thought his ties posed such a national security threat that they took the extraordinary step of opening an inquiry into them. Within days, the former deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein curtailed the investigation without telling the bureau, all but ensuring it would go nowhere.”

— “Justice Dept. Never Fully Examined Trump’s Ties to Russia, Ex-Officials Say,” Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times

Related:

“More evidence of Trump’s subservience to Putin — and we still don’t know why,: Max Boot, Washington Post

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2017: Have a Lethal Christmas!

Francis X. Clines in the New York Times:

“For the single-day binge of gun sales measured annually after Thanksgiving, the F.B.I. received 203,086 requests for background checks. This is the most ever in a single day, topping last year’s Black Friday high of 185,713 requests. (No immediate tweets from President Trump, the candidate of the National Rifle Association, that this is huge in making America great again.)

There were undoubtedly even more guns actually sold, since an F.B.I. request can cover a buyer’s multiple purchases. All seasonal evidence indicates that AR-15 assault rifles, the battlefield knockoffs familiar to so many Americans in the relentless tales of mass shootings, will be under many Christmas trees. ‘Bang for the buck!’ enthused the blog post of one seasonal shopper. ‘I picked up a Bushmaster carbine with rebate for around $400 … I couldn’t be happier.’”

More:

“Guns were Black Friday must-haves, going by the FBI’s record 203,086 background-check requests,” Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Washington Post

Related:

“Sandy Hook mom slams Trump for hosting NRA head on anniversary of shooting,” Jacqueline Thomsen, The Hill

“Americans Don’t Really Understand Gun Violence,” David Bernstein, The Atlantic

“America’s gun problem, explained,” German Lopez, Vox

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Comey Testifies

Former FBI director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee  at 10:00 AM Eastern Time today, Thursday, June 8th. The Intelligence Committee is investigating links between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. Mr. Trump told Lester Holt of NBC News that he fired Mr. Comey to end the FBI’s criminal investigation of the same matter

Yesterday the committee released Mr. Comey’s prepared introductory remarks (highlights here). Today’s Q & A will be streamed live on PBS and many other platforms.

More:

“The Back Story on the 15 Senators Questioning Comey,” David Hawkings, Roll Call

“West Wing aides fearful of directly attacking Comey,”  Matthew Nussbaum, Josh Dawsey, Darren Samuelsohn, and Tara Palmeri, Politico

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Comey Filed a Memo of Trump’s Obstruction Request

“President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.

‘I hope you can let this go,’ the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.

The existence of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.

Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation. An F.B.I. agent’s contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.

— “Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation,” Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times

More:

“Notes made by former FBI director Comey say Trump pressured him to end Flynn probe,” Devlin Barrett, Ellen Nakashima and Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post

“U.S. lawmakers want to see Comey memo on Trump meeting,” Bill Trott and Peter Cooney, Reuters

“Chaffetz demands Comey-Trump memos in letter to FBI,” Heather Caygle, Politico

“Senate Intel Committee Wants Comey Memos And Testimony,” Allegra Kirkland, TPM Livewire

“Law professor: ‘If the allegations are true, Trump has committed a serious federal crime,’” Dylan Matthews, Vox

“Another Bomb Drops: Initial Thoughts on Trump Asking Comey to Kill the Flynn Investigation,” Helen Klein Murillo, Jack Goldsmith, Susan Hennessey, et al., Lawfare

“Is Trump guilty of obstruction of justice? That depends …,” William Yeomans, The Hill

“What Is Obstruction of Justice? An Often-Murky Crime, Explained,” Charlie Savage, New York Times

“Legal analysts: Trump might have obstructed justice, if Comey’s allegation is true,” Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post

“A Short History of Presidential Obstruction of Justice,” Jon Schwarz, The Intercept

“Donald Trump has committed the exact offense that forced Richard Nixon to resign,”
Updated by Dylan Matthews, Vox

“Comey’s Memo Is the Smoking Gun of Donald Trump’s Watergate,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“GOP Rep. Justin Amash on Comey memo: if true, there are grounds for impeachment,” Tara Golshan, Vox

“‘I think we’re in impeachment territory,’ says David Gergen, former aide to Nixon and Clinton,” Derek Hawkins, Washington Post

“Is the Comey Memo the Beginning of the End for Trump?” David Remnick, The New Yorker

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El Caudillo Trump Demands Loyalty

President Donald Trump invited FBI Director James Comey to dinner in January and asked for his loyalty. Mr. Comey, a career law enforcement official, promised him honesty. Honesty clearly has no place in a Trump administration, so Comey was sacked, then threatened.

As former FBI agent Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, observes,  “Trump’s loyalty pledge tactic comes straight from the worst aspects of authoritarians and mob bosses who see their rule above the rule of law.”

More:

“Trump Asked Comey for Loyalty a Day After He Was Warned About Flynn: Report,”  Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine

“Trump said he was thinking of Russia controversy when he decided to fire Comey,” Devlin Barrett and Philip Rucker, Washington Post

“Trump Threatens Fired FBI Director Comey With ‘Tapes,'” John T. Bennett, Roll Call

“The Threat in President Trump’s Interview with Lester Holt,” Amy Davidson, The New Yorker

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