Treason is the Reason for the Seizin'

In response to the ex President’s request to appoint a Special Master to review the contents of the boxes seized by the FBI, the DOJ provided a detailed rejection for the judge to consider yesterday.

As the photo shows, many items were clearly marked, making the case that claims that anyone overlooked the docs would fail any credibility test.

You can read the full DOJ reply if you prefer to see every detail, here. My partial summary follows.

1) No claims of privileged attorney-client communications were made during the prior collection processes where Team Trump turned over documents requested on two occasions.

2) Likewise no claims were previously made that any declassification occurred to any of the docs.

3) Both claims only arose after the FBI’s search after a legal search warrant was obtained.

4) Any claim Team Trump made that the docs are his property are false, as the Presidential Records Act clearly states that the docs are the property of the US.

5) Evidence existed that some records were destroyed, some were unaccounted for, and that some were being deliberately held, in direct defiance of the law. Which constituted obstruction, also known as a crime. This evidence was strong enough for the first judge to grant the search warrant.

6) The DOJ response also mentions “the wide-ranging meritless accusations leveled against the government in the motion” made by Team Trump in its request for a special master. And stated “For those reasons and others, Plaintiff has shown no basis
for the Court to grant injunctive relief. Plaintiff is not likely to succeed on the merits; he will suffer no injury absent an injunction—let alone an irreparable injury; and the harms to the government and the public would far outweigh any benefit to Plaintiff.”

7) It states that national security could be harmed as a special master would impede a quick and thorough review and would also impede an ongoing criminal investigation.

8) At the first retrieval, documents were turned over on request. At the second retrieval, the National Archives obtained a Grand Jury subpoena to get those. And one of Trump’s lawyers signed off, indicating no additional docs remained at Mar-A-Lago. But evidence was obtained that that was not true. And TeamTrump already had delayed that second retrieval by several weeks.

9) Directly quoting, with my bolding added: “Through further investigation, the FBI uncovered multiple sources of evidence indicating that the response to the May 11 grand jury subpoena was incomplete and that classified documents remained at the Premises, notwithstanding the sworn certification made to the government on June 3. In particular, the government developed evidence that a search limited to the Storage Room would not have uncovered all the classified documents at the
Premises. 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.”

10) Quoting: “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.”

11) They said the plaintiff (Trump) lacks standing to gain any judicial oversight or related relief, is not entitled to the return of any property the government still possesses, nor to any injunctive relief, plus added legal references to make their case.

12) And refuting Trump’s counsel’s claims that all the docs were secure in the padlocked storage room, they pointed out that the FBI also found docs on the floor of a closet in Trump’s office.

Early Tuesday morning, Trump was tweeting up a storm, posting 60 tweets containing numerous false claims and crazy Q-Anon conspiracy blather. After all the deliberate disinfo, this tweet caught all his readers off-guard:

The guy with a history of assaulting women, advocating the deaths of Black men, demonizing Latin American immigrants and Muslims, expressing admiration for some of the world’s most violent leaders, who asked a military chief if he could shoot protesters in the legs, who made herky-jerky movements to make fun of a disabled reporter, who basks in the glow of his support from violent white nationalists, who illegally withheld Congressionally authorized aid to a country in a defensive war with Russia till a whistleblower outed him, who threatens to jail political opponents, who cheated on all his wives, many contractors and students at his unaccredited fake university, who has spent two years trying to steal the 2020 election, who encourages his supporters to fight regularly, inciting an insurrection that endangered the lives of police, Congress members and their staffs - and his own vice president - thinks other people are mean to him.

Which points to the obvious answer: He’s selling bullshit again. It’s always the right answer about a criminal of his magnitude. After all, the day before, he tweeted a demand that the 2020 election be repeated or that he be reinstated as president immediately.

The title of today’s newsletter is misleading as the DOJ is not claiming or suggesting that actual treason has occurred. But the big, BIG question remains: why has the ex-president fought so hard to hang on to these national security documents? What’s the motive?

It’s certainly possible that something that nefarious has occurred or was planned. Why would he obstruct the government effort to retrieve the docs and risk prosecution unless there was a motive?

Here’s a list of all the state, local and federal legal actions Trump currently faces.

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President Biden hit the campaign trail yesterday. Both he and the ex-President have multiple events planned in Pennsylvania this Labor Day weekend. In addition to trying to help candidates get elected, Biden’s also pushing hard for a ban on assault weapons, regaining the rights of women to make their own healthcare decisions and he’s specifically going after Republican lawmakers demanding that the FBI be defunded and/or claiming there’ll be riots if the DOJ decides to prosecute Trump for the crimes he’s committed. As an aside, since the FBI was created in 1908, every one of its directors has been a Republican.

His more aggressive tone is noteworthy as he accused Republican lawmakers of ‘semi-fascism’ for their refusal to condemn Trump’s violent supporters.

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Gallup’s been tracking support for labor unions since 1936. After hitting a low of 48% support in 2009 - the last time the national minimum wage was increased - support has grown to 71%, the highest support since 1965, 57 years ago.

To me that indicates that the wealth gap in America has grown so large that most ordinary workers are fed up with being underpaid. As unionization efforts escalate, it’d be nice if anti-trust efforts also begin, as tech giants - among others - now have too much influence over our government and contribute heavily to the underpaid workforce.

And retirees have to be worried as newly emboldened Republicans are bearing down on a goal they’ve been after since a populare program was launched by FDR in 1937. As unbelievable as it may seem, they’re coming to gut Social Security.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Or speak up and make it clear that you’ll vote in November against this fresh Republican menace. If the GOP wins back the House, we’ll all be treated to multiple investigations of Joe Biden, efforts to impeach him, and even though they won’t be able to convict him since he’s broken no laws, it’s a wasteful sideshow that will stall badly needed efforts on climate change and other serious national problems.

Vote like you mean it: this cannot stand.

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Some humor may help.