AG Garland raids Trump residence
Never in the history of America has an incumbent administration raided the home of an opposition political figure in an effort to find evidence of criminal activities. That is usually the actions we associate with authoritarian nations and third-world banana republics.
The question that needs to be resolved is whether the raid was part of a necessary investigation into legitimate criminal charges – or at least the prospect of criminal charges – or political action.
For such a search warrant to be authorized by a federal court, there are a few bridges to be crossed. The request for such a warrant must convince a judge that there is a “probability” that a crime has been committed. That is a lower standard than “beyond a reasonable doubt” (as required in criminal cases) or even a “preponderance of evidence” (as required in civil cases).
The request for the warrant must state that the materials sought are likely to be found at the location to be searched. And finally, requesting the evidence – or even using a subpoena – will not result in the surrender of the materials sought.
That is how the process works in accordance with the law and the Constitution. But that is not always how the process works in reality. The lingering question is whether the investigations and legal actions taken against Trump are based on an impartial imposition of justice – or motivated by partisan political considerations.
The problem is that from the public view, there are good arguments for both cases. The issue teeters on the point of “prosecutorial discretion.” While we often say that “no man is above the law,” prosecutors are because they can arbitrarily decline prosecution or pursue it with undue and unwarranted aggressiveness.
According to the news reports, the raid on Mar-a-Lago was based on accusations that Trump took classified documents from the White House – documents that are supposed to be stored and preserved by the National Archives. Based on an earlier request from the National Archives, Trump provided 15 boxes of documents. Apparently, his lawyers were in the midst of discussions regarding the question of additional documents.
Taking government documents home – and outside the wall of security – is a crime, but not a class-A felony. In most cases, it is resolved by turning over the documents. In a few cases, people have been charged and convicted. It can result in a fine or a relatively short jail term.
But this case has a nuance that raises questions about the motivation of the Department of justice. According to the law, a person convicted of such a crime may never hold any office again. Convicting Trump of a relatively minor crime (yes, I know the left is hyperbolically elevating it to mass murder) and you prevent him from seeking a second term in the White House.
Now even that is not clear. Constitutional scholars believe that the law would be declared unconstitutional if challenged in the federal courts. That is because the Constitution – and only the Constitution — establishes the eligibility for running for and holding the Office of President.
The action has set off political hysteria on both sides of the partisan divide. There are too many nuances and facets to this – and the broader Trump story – to handle in one commentary. Those issues will be more specifically handled in upcoming commentaries.
The raid on Trump’s home raises more questions than it answers. It will take weeks and months to get a clearer picture. But in the meantime, you can rest assured that the Trump critics will be making the most extreme judgments on their favorite media outlets.
So, there ‘tis.
Larry whines: “Never in the history of America has an incumbent administration raided the home of an opposition political figure in an effort to find evidence of criminal activities.” Yes, another Trumpian first, a record for sure. But Larry —- isn’t it literally impossible NOT TO BE “an incumbent administration?” And isn’t Trump the inventor of using inappropriate government resources to against “opposition political figure(s)?” I mean, really, against the Trump history of offenses, is this really a bridge too far? Then you go full Tucker and say: “That is usually the actions we associate with authoritarian nations and third-world banana republics.” First of all, the US created banana republics, we own that legacy. Second, really — this legal seizure of government documents, owned by the people — is authoritarian? I think Putin would consider this a pretty pussy of a move. He generally poisons or incarcerates for life — fuck, 9 years for a hash oil smear. You think this is on that level? Not.
Let’s just jump-shift through the rest of your whining to the short straw: Donald J. Trump has a full inventory list of all documents seized which he can release, fully legal, any time he wants. If it’s a nothing burger, he has the proof, he just needs the balls to step up and show us all that you allege.
that comunist is totaly useless, that ( sob ) dont know nothing ! HE is just a pawn a democraps use to destroy the laws of this country! Him and that pos wray belong in prison for false naratives against american and lieing to the american people !look at some of these mass shottings they knew about these criminal before and let it happen ! they dont do their jobs just follow narative the the high paying democraps tell them !!!! they are not americans they are comunist that belong in prison permanately for the damage they have caused to american laws!
they allow criminal groups too destroy good people , blm antifa !!! they allow these destructive groups to flurish , dont pat taxes and destroy people who know what they are all about! non tax paying bastards !
And how much has Trump, Inc paid in taxes?
More than you
doubtful
Not your business
H … MY, my, my. He’s baaaaaack. In the spirit of full disclosure, readers should know you are the sibling of the owner of the site (separated at birth, I assume.) carrying out a lifelong bitter sibling rivalry with obsessive childish insults to the owner, the writers and the sites themselves. H … when you had stopped your insipid, uninformed and obsessive commenting for several months, I had hope you were on meds or had gotten some counselling. From your sudden outburst of vapid ad hominin responses seem solely motivated to attack your brother, I assume your hateful jealousy still dominates. I pity anyone who carries that kind of baggage. It will not serve you well.
And as usual, rather than address the issues at hand, you attack your readers.
I stopped writing way back because one of your crazies kept appropriating my name with his posts. Your editor apparently didn’t see anything wrong with that. I figured a single character name that changes with every article wouldn’t have that problem (the impersonator is either gone or too slow on the uptake). Plus, life was just too busy.
I stepped back in because I wanted to see if reality had crept into PBP articles, but it’s the same as ever.
And since you brought it up… your article starts out with dishonesty. You put a picture of a muscle-bound jack-booted member of the Secret Service when it was really the FBI that carried out the raids. There are pictures around of the FBI at Mar-a-Lago – middle-aged schlubs in windbreakers. But no, you go with the red-meat to rile up your MAGA readers.
In your first paragraph, you state that “the incumbent administration” raided the home of the political opposition. They did no such thing. The DOJ investigated, found evidence that a crime occured, and went to a judge with enough evidence for the raid. The Biden administration had nothing to do with it. Biden appointed a prosecutor, and lets him do his job. Unlike Trump, who regularly communicated with Barr and Rosenburg and ensured that they carried out his orders.
And then you lament that the standard of proof is lower for gathering evidence. Of course it is! They are apples and oranges. Gathering evidence of crimes is not convicting someone, or issuing a civil judgement. It’s just gathering evidence. If the evidence doesn’t support the charges, then there is no conviction (and that usually results in a stern lecture from the judges.)
You seem to conflate the National archives requesting return of documents with the contents of this warrant. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, because it’s been a couple of days… but Trump is accused of taking Secret and Top Secret douments and hiding them in a non-secured location. And apparently they found 10 classified documents, up to Top Secret classification. That’s more than a class-A felony, that’s treason. The current raid may have resulted from something the National Archives found, or it may have come from a tip from someone, or it could have come from another investigation. See my comments below about that.
My brother has told me you’re usually a nice guy in real life. I don’t know why you’re such a dick to your readers. It was a cheap shot.
Bad day when they have to go to a activist judge to sign off on a warrant that has gone money all the Dems that ran for pesident even pedofile china Biden anyone that likes this country in the shape it is in right now is nuts this whole administration is communists to the core
aka H … a few quick comments. I outed you as Joe’s brother because if speaks to your credibility and a sibling rivalry may explain your constant — and too often inaccurate — criticism of him and his work.
Any criticism of your comments is NOT an attack on my readers. I see it as arrogance on your part to assume so — the same absolutist arrogance I see in a lot of your postings. On occasion, I do respond in kind to ad hominin attacks from readers, but I try not to make that my calling card.
Youi criticized my use of “incumbent administration” in addressing the raid on Mar a Lago. I cannot believe that you are unaware that the Attorney General is part of an “administration,” The Executive Branch is more than the White House. An administration is defined as the President and his appointees.
And as far as the photo. Sorry … no cigar. That pic was widely published and taken during the raid on Mar a Lago. You are also dead wrong on the constitutional issue regarding presidents and declassification. I am doing a commentary on that subject … so stay tuned and learn.
Very colorful, but not factually correct John. Got proof? Evidence? Cuz I got lots of blm snd antifa arrested and convicted. Trumplicants like you too, who cowardly disguise themselves so they can cause trouble, look like they’re blm or antifa, and maybe start a race war which, they say, is their warped sense of progress.
Larry, I’ve surprised the agency wanted to enter the state of Florida. You guys seem to be in a Covid swamp. Doesn’t seem to be a county there that isn’t high risk and it’s been that way for months.
Do you hear anything about the Covid situation in Florida and why that state is the worst in the nation, unfortunately followed by my home state of New Jersey? For some reason, who is of our states went to high risk status, my state after months of starting to come out, but you seem to be continuing at fullbore. What’s up with that?
Larry, Once upon a time, the Republican Party was known as “The Party of Law and Order”. The rules have obviously been rewritten in the age of Trump-it is now the “Party of laws we want enforced and order that does not involve fellow conservatives”. Pundits such as yourself attempt to downplay what Trump did-whether it be removing documents (classified documents at that) or encouraging his “people” to riot at the Capitol. My question to all of this is not “was the FBI descending on Mar A Lago politically motivated”, but the real question is “why would you or any conservative want to protect someone (much less vote for them) who knowingly broke the laws of the United States?” It is obvious that Trump knew about the law, and still removed classified documents and took them to an unsecured location, feeling that he was above the law. Rather than taking an aggressive approach to this matter, Garland has handled it with kid gloves. I assure you that if I, as a government employee, had removed documents that were marked “Top Secret” and left them in a box at my house, I would be sitting in jail awaiting trial…. So there tis!
Has charges been filed? So who’s been proven guilty of anything? This too shall pass. It’s all about destroying trump because the demonrats are afraid of him
If this is a nothing burger, and the documents are totally inconsequential, Trump has the entire inventory that he was given at the moment they were taken from Mara Loser. He can release that list anytime that he wants, totally legal.
Why won’t Donald J Trump release the inventory list to prove he’s being harassed? It’s not like it’s his taxes. Why did he plead tge fifth today? Is he that scared of having to tell the truth? No, Captain Bonespur won’t testify. He’s just not manly enough to get in the box against a prosecutor he says is weak. Got to go hide in Bedminster behind his oversized flag, our fake patriotic pussy.
You should focus on captain retard and his idiot son. So quit licking your chops and see how this bullshit falls apart. And be sure to support AOC in 2024. We need her to finish off America.
Poor Sam the victim. Like I said, if it’s a nothing burger, Trump can just release the inventory list. He has it, it’s legal to release. Until then, STFU.
We know the judge felt there was a crime, there was an urgent need to protect the evidence, and he issued the search warrant. Sure, the FBI could be corrupt. The DOJ could be corrupt. The judge could be corrupt. The agents could be corrupt. Maybe only Trumplicants like yourself are not corrupt. “All I need is 11,780 votes.” “I would like you to do us a favor, though.” “: I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it if that’s possible.” “The other thing, There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me.”
He was impeached for the second one. I dunno, it sure seems to me that you Trumplciants hold the patent on bullshit. He has lied to you for decades. When will you quit lying to yourselves? He is guilty as sin of breaking the Presidential Documentation Act, he just took the fifth on his civil suit over rigging the value game on his assets to fake-get some loans and tax breaks, and the walls on his 1/6 activities are closing in as his legal team begs to meet with DOJ lawyers to figure out what shoe will fall next.
His white supremacy militia army is charged with seditious conspiracy, some already pleading guilty, and going to jail for years. Many others caught up in the day will join them. He’s selling off his crown-jewel hotels, starting with the Trump sign coming off the DC showpiece. No Presidency, no boarders. He cut the price of his St. Martin place by 50%, down $15M. He can’t close the deal on his social member bullshit site.
Only the faithful giving their hard earned money to this grifter are keeping him afloat.
He’s slippery devil, has survived a lot, so far, but the fishhook on this one is deeply imbedded, and everyone prosecuting him is very, very serious about going for the win. You can be sure there’s a good reason Trump won’t ever release the inventory list from the Mara Loser raid. It’s bad. Very bad.
No, not AOC, it’s Gavin Newsom as the hot rock right now. Might change tomorrow though.. He is very glib and very could off-the-cuff. Trump unfortunately will not be able to run which he secretly will say is a blessing. Better a persecuted victim than a twice-impeached, two-times loser Presidential candidate who had the greatest economy ever, the love of millions, and still lost to Grandpa “Hey, Man.” Even Hillary liked that one.
Larry, Didn’t expect that you would have any comments about the sorry state that the Republican Party is in these days….
Hey Ben. There’s many more of us that’s still running loose. So watch out.
Why the threats Sam. Against free speech or what?
But you win. I do not feel safe here anymore.
So leave asshole. Nobody is going to harm you. You ain’t worth it
Hell, Trump signed the law that he’s accused of violating… (or at least one of the laws, since he’s got a half-dozen active investigations against him).
Trump was and will be the best president in several years. So you STFU dick breath.
And Sam can tell a dick breath. He’s experienced. Incarnate.
Go storm the Capitol Sam, take one for the grifter.
If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment, the mob takes the Fifth,” Trump said of Hillary Clinton in 2016. Hillary never plead anything, including the fifth.
After stating his true name, Don took the fifth close to 450 times. He even thought the size of his residence would cause his guilt in the crime. Some strongman. He blames the government as targeting him as a political opponent when he’s not running for anything except donations which have been pouring in lately. The more he plays the victim, the more money he makes. He’s a victim of his own victim-success.
Now he says the FBI planted evidence. Don has the inventory list, he can identify the planted evidence on the list. He has demurred. Some strongman.
There’s a mole in Mara Loser that turned him i for the documents. Maybe it was the Don himself looking to play victim to make more money. Some strongman.
He says it’s a nothing burger. He has the inventory list, show us the nothing. Show us the list. Prove the FBI planted evidence. Prove it’s a nothing burger. Some strongman.
No folks, he’s a liar, you know that. He’s a grifter, you should feel that. He’s a thief. He stole the people’s papers, a whistleblower informant turned him in. I’m going with Ivanka since after her 1/6 testimony, the Don gave her prized Mara Loser suite to Don Jr. And Eric got to move out of the basement into Don Jr’s old room. But, because the Don destroys the people’s documents and flushes them, it was imperative to get the documents out before he shredded them out. And he won’t release the inventory list, there must be fire in all that smoke.
The Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol will resume in September. Any 1/6 pertinent documents from the Mara Loser raid can be turned over to the committee as “in plane sight” seizures. At that point we will be on top of the mid-terms and the thought of McConnell/McCarthy ending this with an impeachment will soon pass. We will be on the road for indictment then, in Georgia, by the Federal Government, and for business shenanigans, in New York State. I don’t think any of these folks will be waiting this one out, they are picking up speed now.
Trump was asked “politely” to return the papers he stole. Then the National Archives just came and got what they could. Somehow, (either by informant or just by comparing lists) they found out he has more, including classified documents. Trump is an idiot – first of all he could have returned ALL of the documents, and the whole thing would have gone away. Secondly, when he was President, he could have legitimately declassified papers, by following the correct process. But he didn’t.
Sooner or later, Trump’s past is going to catch up with him. One option for him is to flee to a “friendly” (to him) country, like Russia, Saudi Arabia, or North Korea. His only currency to trade for safe passage will then be whatever classified documents he still has in his possesion, and what they will be worth to his benefactors. His entire net worth is already in hock to the Russians, and the few baubles left in Trump, Inc. will be taken away for his tax fraud.
The DOJ was right to seize classified documents while they still can. And apparently, a federal judge took it seriously enough to sign off on the raid. Let’s hope the Coast Guard can catch him on his way out of the country (probably carrying bags of cash, even more classified documents, and minus one wife).
All of that is in your head. If Trump has “classified” documents, then they are approved to be at his house, because he, as President, is the one who makes those decisions.
The National Archives has no “authority” over the President of the United States. The opposite is true.
Not sure why you have this fantasy about Trump leaving the country. He will likely be the next President.
Trump is not President, he is an ordinary citizen. There is a process to declassify documents, the President doesn’t just wave a magic wand and they’re declassified. And if he has them after his term ended, then by definition he stole them.
The National Archives enforce the law for presidential papers. The law was written to prevent the President, or anyone else, from removing papers from the public record.
However, this is not what Trump was raided for – he, an ordinary citizen, was raided because he had classified information in his presence, that he was not entitled to. Before Jan 20th, maybe… but a year and a half later, not a chance. If it turns out that he has Top Secret papers in his possession, then he deserves to go to prison for a very long time. It’s not like he works with nuclear weapons, or has a reason to know where US spies are located – the only reason he would have those is to sell them for profit, in other words, to betray his own country.
One of the last things Trump did was to declassify certain documents on certain matters. I personally do not know which they were. But if the National Archives does not accept his declassification doesn’t matter. During his time in office, he can declassify anything he wants.
TRUMP IS COMING! – MEET TRUMP!
Garland stepped in shit and don’t know how to clean his shoe
Well, exciting times! The shit is hitting the fan. Trump released his copy of the warrant to Breitbart, I suppose thinking that Breitbart would edit or black out the really bad stuff… but it looks like they dropped the ball. Of course, the DOJ released it as well, so it wouldn’t have helped.
The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, NBC, Fox, Politico, and others said the warrant showed agents cited three criminal statutes in order to conduct the search: 18 U.S.C. § § 793, 2071, and 1519.
18 U.S.C. 793 is the Espionage Act. Specifically, it references the willful or grossly negligent removal of information related to the national defense. 18 U.S.C. 2071 is related to the concealment, removal, or mutilation of documents, and 18 U.S.C. 1519 is related to the destruction, alteration, or falsification of documents that are part of a federal investigation.
This would make Trump the first former president, or president period, under investigation for espionage by the United States Justice Department. Let’s just hope they got the documents before the bastard sold them off, or Natasha who works in the kitchen got into Trump’s apartment. Pray that an informer ratted Trump out, and not that he got caught sending them to Russia.
The Wall Street Journal has also reported that at least 10 sets of classified documents were recovered – three that were Classified, three that were Secret, three that were Top Secret and one that was Sensitive Compartmented Information.
And again, NO, TRUMP DID NOT DECLASSIFY THESE DOCUMENTS, otherwise the copies would not have still been marked as classified. They would have been marked “declassified”.
That’s some DEEP SHIT that Trump has stepped into. This will surely spill over to his evil spawn, since Trump gave them security clearances over the objections of the DoD, and Jared received some $2 BILLION in payments from the Saudis while he was still part of Trump’s administration. That’s some mighty big bribe money.
Joe, you’ve worked with top government security clearances before. I am SO looking forward for your next article defending Trump! Let’s not keep it buried at the end of of one of Horist’s articles – you’re the chief cook and bottle washer. So far, PBP has been relatively silent about this… Afraid you’ll have to eat your words in, say, a week (if it takes that long) when they haul Trump away in cuffs and leg irons? Because, if they found what has been claimed, they’re not going to give Trump much leeway.
Tell us your thoughts about traitors and what you think the penalty for treason of this magnitude should be. I know you’ve taken a hard line on Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning because they leaked information about programs they thought were unconstitutionally spying on US citizens. This is MUCH WORSE. Granted, a jury may find Trump not guilty. I’m more interested in your thoughts if they actually find him GUILTY AS CHARGED. Please.
The sad part is that anyone who is not part of Trump’s MAGA cult saw this coming from before Trump was even elected. He’s been a one-man crime spree his whole life. What will it take to shake all these people out of the cult?
It’s going to blow away just like the Russia bullshit. And there’s still regular Americans around to keep MAGA alive. Just wait until this bullshit gets debunked. Then come after the rest of us. Good luck
I don’t think so… if they found the documents that have been reported, then they have Trump dead-to-rights. Expect a perp-walk any day now. Trump has access to lots of cash, and the DOJ isn’t going to give him or his family the chance to take off.
And as for the “Russia bullshit”, as you call it – if it comes out that Trump has or was planning to sell US Top Secret information to the Russians, I predict that Congress will re-examine the stuff the Barr and Rosenburg tried to bury, if for no other reason than to prevent another Russian sleeper agent from getting to the White House.
Once again, the President of the United States is the ultimate classifying authority. If he wanted to hand over the nuclear launch codes to the president of El Salvador, he can do that. Any punishment for such is a political remedy not criminal. He has the authority to make whatever decisions he needs to at whatever whim. The reason Hillary cannot be prosecuted for all of the classified information she compromised is because Obama went on television and declared that she did no damage to the security of the U.S. That is enough to get her off the hook.
The markings on the documents are trivial bullshit.
Your refusal to understand it telling of your psychosis.
And once again, he’s not the fucking President anymore. Right now, Trump is an ordinary citizen, just like you and me. He has classified documents in his possession, and has neither the need to know nor the right to have them. Biden rescinded Trump’s security clearance because he was a clear threat to national security. The ONLY reason he could have them would be to make a buck by compromising US security.
In my younger days, I occasionally saw documents that were declassified, and they were clearly marked as declassified. It’s not trivial bullshit. There is a reason that classified documents are marked with the classification – if they’re found anywhere they’re not supposed to be, it’s clearly recognizable and prosecutable.
Clinton spent 11 hours calmly testifying to Congress about the emails. They determined that she wasn’t guilty of any wrong-doing. Any documents that were classified were classified after they had gone on her email server. Republicans in Congress cleared her, not Obama. And she damned sure wasn’t sending Top Secret documents by email (which are usually limited to paper copies anyway.)
Trump spent a whole day last week answering 400 questions by asserting his 5th amendments rights regarding his fraudulent tax dealings. His lawyers did him a service by muzzling him – if he had answered a single question, he would have probably lied under oath, and they knew it. And this is a civil proceeding, where the main purpose of answering questions was to defend the practices of his company. As Trump said not too long ago, “only the mob pleads the fifth”. Eric Trump also pleaded the fifth, some 500 times. There you have it.
Fox News has been happily spewing the “if Trump did it, it wasn’t illegal” line, but they (and other Murdoch properties such as the Wall Street Journal) seem to be backing away from that. Once Trump is indicted for his crimes and the evidence is clearly documented, they will be tarred with the same brush. Some of them may even be liable for conspiracy in other cases, such as the Jan 6th attempted coup.
As far as psychosis is concerned, I’m citing the facts, and you’re just denying what’s clearly right in your face. That’s the mark of a real cult follower.
Correction: Trump’s security clearance ended the second that Biden took office. Biden took away Trump’s access to intelligence briefings.
Former elected leaders and potential presidential candidates are usually provided with continued intelligence briefings, but the Biden Admin probably stopped them for Trump.
And you are still not getting this. When he was President, his authority was absolute in this respect. If he declared those documents unclassified at the time, they are unclassified. Period.
Labeling is part of the rules of the executive branch for executive employees. The President is the executive and makes or breaks those rules at his leisure. That is the nature of “executive.”
You are thinking like a midlevel minion.
This is along the same lines as the Russia collusion bs, that was proven fake. The Democrats have about 5 months left to do yet another impeachment proceeding.