All Republican Gang of Eight Members Condone Large-Scale Theft of Classified Information, Press Yawns
The Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee went on a four tweet rant yesterday, complaining that the FBI is conducting an investigation into the suspected large-scale theft of highly-classified materials.
The House Minority Leader used the instance of a lawfully executed warrant in support of a national security investigation to call for an investigation not into the man suspected of stealing code word documents, but instead, of Attorney General Merrick Garland for authorizing this investigation into a classified breach.
The Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, more appropriately asked for a briefing, but even after admitting he hadn’t had one yet and claiming (dubiously) that he didn’t know of the suspected massive theft of highly classified information, scoffed at the seriousness that such a large-scale compromise of classified information might cause.
Mitch McConnell weighed in, belatedly, to demand transparency about an investigation into stolen secrets.
The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the events of Monday. Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately
These men are all entrusted with the protection of Americans intelligence secrets. But when faced with a choice of putting party or America’s security first, they immediately rushed to protect their party, even while admitting they don’t know the facts of the underlying investigation.
And in spite of the fact that these men have all engaged in minimizing the large-scale compromise of classified information with their rants, virtually every press outlet has reported their comments as more horse race journalism, one side against the other, as if top Republicans attacking the FBI for trying to protect classified secrets is not itself newsworthy.
The lazy-ass press couldn’t even be bothered to show how all these men, especially Marco Rubio, made wildly inconsistent statements when Jim Comey or Hillary Clinton were suspected of mishandling far less sensitive intelligence. Nor did the press bother asking these men about the destruction of DHS (including Secret Service) and DOD records that Congress itself had already asked for before magnifying their comments.
They just let these men turn this into a partisan fight rather than a serious legal investigation, all for free!
Update, 8/10PM: Included Mitch McConnell’s statement.
Nice collection of tweets, Marcy.
OTOH, there’s Alexander Vindman:
Also this:
Then there is this from Garry Kasparov:
#HereRightMattters indeed.
Goddess bless Alexander Vindman. He has earned this moment.
Amen!
Vindman saw it right away.
Trump is an “imposition.”
“Impositions” after convictions should go to jail.
Most political impositions are imposters who create big lies.
Today is a good day, for the rule of law.
A bad day for a despot.
A fascist.
oh hell YES, and damn, Marcy, as angry as you are, I am angrier, and I lost my lovely filter a long time ago. Alexander represents the best of our professional officers, and it’s great to see Garry share his very astute comment … but our *rule of law* as been under serious assault for decades, and anyway, those with deep pockets full of cash fare far better in the courts of law than the poor man. Thank you, Marcy!
Y’all who read and share EW, thank you, too. Enjoy the pithy, and often informative comments. When I share one of the reports from here, I usually mention to read the comments, too.
indeed. for Alexander, for Fiona, for Mashsa . . . for every real patriot. i still want that stuff they jammed in the super secret box . . .
For those who don’t always have the time/ bandwidth to follow EW into the weeds, Heather Cox Richardson is on fire today.
“It’s been quite a day.
It began with Axios sharing photos of what purported to be White House toilets with torn up paper in them….”
and this “Manafort admitted what the Senate Intelligence Committee said in their report about Russian interference in the 2016 election: he gave internal polling data from the Trump campaign to Konstantin Kilimnik…”
and this “Trump wanted the generals to be loyal to him, as he believed “the German generals in World War II” were loyal to Adolf Hitler. (In fact, they tried repeatedly to assassinate him.)…”
and this “in early June investigators had gone to Mar-a-Lago to learn more about the materials Trump had taken when he left the White House. …and journalist Laura Rozen reported that agents suspected that Trump had taken and was holding other classified documents after he returned many of them….”
And THEN we get to search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago. Not bad for one day’s news, sheesh.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-8-2022
Yes! Luv the lady, and several fb friends follow her, too … so if i perchance miss her reports, they will often share on fb … i really don’t like fb, but as time and tides roll by, and the orbits go by, it has been a way to reconnect with family, friends, and old colleagues.
I subscribe to her newsletter, and read it most days.
i look most days. she and Marci and Allison Gill help a lot.
She also has an active YT channel where she alternates between history talks (latest one was an in-the-weeds discussion of the Articles of Confederation that pre-dated the Constitution) and current politics.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnbKOlm6H9njgmN-Yil90Rg/videos
yup. and the decision on trump’s taxes and the confiscation of scott perry’s phone. is the dam broken yet?
is there any attribution at all for these photos, date-stamp, anything?
they certainly turned up in a timely fashion, or was that just a matter of pre-publication flak on the part of the haberman book?
I don’t see anything along those lines in the axios post of 8/8.
Question for @bmaz and the other lawyers, since all I know about search warrants is what I’ve seen on TV shows:
Is there ANY reason why Trump can’t just hand out copies of the search warrant? I’m not sure why ANY journalist would run with a story about an FBI search without at least ASKING to see the search warrant, and then putting a statement in your story saying that you asked and that the person refused to show it to you if that’s what happened.
Frank! Good to see you again. Nope Trump can disseminate it at his will. That he is not doing so is notable.
Perhaps none of the courtier press has asked. No one seems to have mentioned it.
The modern press may simply be too lazy to ask. Except for the NYT reporters, who felt the question would be “nosy.”
I doubt the national political press genuinely grasps how important the National Archives are in helping affirm American history, in part by documenting everything from patents to rare photos and maps.
I’m skeptical that many in the press grasp what is going on here, nor how quirky-smart archivists have to be.
I’m with Wm Ockham: if the National Archives helps bring down Trump, it would be exquisite.
(It would also be non-political, in the sense that these folks are simply doing their jobs. FWIW, in case people are unaware, genealogists use NARA quite a lot, because it houses historical census records; those genealogists tend to be like bloodhounds on a trail, and some archivists are similarly gifted.)
nara.gov is a treasure trove.
Like many other GOP types (AG Barr comes to mind, but the examples are legion), Individual-1 likes to make wild claims about what a document says but when the actual document is reviewed it says something else.
As bg noted, the press is too lazy and too willing to create a horse race to push back on the hypocrisy.
The corporate media makes more money with their RW stenography than they’d ever make with actual investigative reporting. They lean right because there is more money to be made. It isn’t really a news corps, its just gossip and horserace: a reality show, in fact.
I understand he wasn’t in Florida, so he only knows what he was told. Not sure who would have the copy of the paperwork that the FBI surely handed over at Mar-al-Ego, but I’d expect it to be with the head of security there, at least.
Heh, they can and usually do just leave it on a desk or table. In a regular home, it is usually the kitchen table. But there is no reason an aide or secretary there couldn’t scan it and send it to him, and I bet he has seen it already.
Well unless reference to the documents IDed would be classified by itself.
Yeah, I dunno, I think they have to leave the actual warrant there. As to what they are searching for, that might be in a protected appendix. Maybe. I do not know, but I’ll bet they left something.
It had to be the Secret Service personnel who would let them in. Wouldn’t they be thorough and demand it?
No, they do not have the right to demand anything.
Then at least portions of the search warrant itself would have to have been classified.
One of Individual-1’s lawyers (Ms. Bobb, I believe) was whining that the Feebs wouldn’t let her ‘observe’ since she was the attorney on site. So, I would guess the warrant was left with her and I wonder whether ‘observing’ is part of executing a warrant. I would guess that anything not on the warrant’s list or in ‘plain sight’ would be liable for exclusion at trial. Of course, Ms. Bobb said that the Feebs probably planted evidence too, so that will be the excuse du jour when the results are leaked out / announced.
IANAL but I’ve heard, repeatedly, that the subject of a search warrant also gets a receipt listing the items taken, although, in this case, there may be items which “cannot even be mentioned” because of their level of secrecy and sensitivity.
But again, IANAL. Trmp, presumably, could release the text of the search warrant AND the list of items taken but I doubt that’s gonna happen.
Apologies if this was answered somewhere else, but will the text of search warrant be made publicly available?
Yes. But Trump has it and already could have done so if he wanted.
At some point it will have to be filed, along with any affidavits, with the court who authorized it along with the a list of all items seized. Any one looking at the court file?
The warrant and affidavit are already filed with the court, that is how it got issued. The warrant may be public, but everything else will stay sealed because it is Rule 6 material, among other concerns.
Finally, this is the first comment I have read mentioning the search warrant that was left at Mar a Lago. By law, after a search, the warrant is required to be left at the place of the raid. Why is no one talking about Trump’s failure to provide it to the public in his defense? Is it possible the warrant provides information that puts him in a bad light?
People are talking about that everywhere. Not just Dems and lawyers, but even Hugh Hewitt has said.
He lost Hugh “Nuclear Triad” Hewitt? He’s done!
/Canadian
“But when faced with a choice of putting party or America’s security first, they immediately rushed to protect their party”
It’s more they rushed to protect their liege!
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use a more differentiated username when you comment next as we have several community members named “Ian.” Thanks. /~Rayne]
I 100% agree with the points you’re making in this post about the hypocrisy and bad reporting regarding this serious matter.
And no doubt, you have myriad of other things to be working on and don’t need to add this to your agenda. But who better than you to do a thorough and deeply-research (which these reporters probably didn’t have time to do with this breaking story) write-up documenting the inconsistent then-and-now statements.
It probably won’t have an impact or change anything, and it won’t be gratifying because we all know (or think we know) in advance how inconsistent those statements will be shown to be, but it would still be good for someone to document it somewhere?
To see/read what certain Republicans demanded previously for Hillary, Benghazi, Hunter Biden, etc, go to Aaron Rupar’s twitter feed, @atrupar.
Tis’ another gift for Val Demmings who appears to have Marco in her sights. I hope.
I hope too, Pete T. I would love to see real law-enforcement trump phony platitudes at last.
A pox on all their houses. They cry crocodile tears, and you can smell the fear from miles away.
After many hopes for a comeuppance have been dashed over the past 6 years, it finally appears that the teflon on this Don has worn off.
Perhaps now the whingers will be silenced?
I take it you have seen sampling of comments from the MAGS forums? Sounds like, as many have been predicting, Jan. 6 was just a dress rehearsal.
Yep, they’re saying that impeaching him twice and stealing the election from him didn’t really upset them.
“But that FBI raid really crossed the line and now we’re really really very very angry.”
Looks like a former supreme power bloc desparately trying to control the nation.
Will they continue with the violence?
Did the scorpion have to sting the fox mid-river?
Gosar dramatically going for gold wants to “dismantle and eliminate” the FBI
https://twitter.com/DrPaulGosar/status/1556790609213546496
So defund the police?
What are Gosar’s reelection prospects, bmaz?
100% He is in a deep red district.
That district is a mess after redistricting. Gosar went from 4th to 9th and the AZ Democratic Party appears not to have been ready to field a candidate in time for the primary, had two D write-ins and I can’t tell if either qualified to make November’s ballot.
https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona%27s_9th_Congressional_District
A damned shame because Gosar needs to be pressed by an opponent. He strikes me as a brittle Col. Jessup who’ll break under the right pressure.
But probably not this time!
Just came in at Huffpost, and just more proof that their convoluted, twisted, inside-out logic defies all physics, truth, ethics, or morality >
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-trump-fbi-raid_n_62f1b7a2e4b0ee32ad75c11d
“their convoluted, twisted, inside-out logic defies all physics, truth, ethics, or morality”
just don’t take exception, since it’s the newfangled way and the shape of things to come
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9bk2MrMGaA
NPR is often disappointing. The only pieces they have are a Trump Said and a Horserace story. The Trump Said story includes quotes from: Eric Trump, Donald Trump via his PAC, Kevin McCarthy, and a former federal prosecutor.
Trump says FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/08/1116427430/trump-says-fbi-agents-raided-his-mar-a-lago-home-in-florida
Biden signs semiconductor bill into law, but Trump raid overshadows event
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/09/1116468961/biden-signs-semiconductor-bill-into-law-but-trump-raid-overshadows-event
What else would you expect from Nice Polite Republicans?
A classic:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/addybaird/republicans-storm-scif-impeach-trump-pizza-phones
Jesus…
I remember when this happened, at the time, and reading this triggered a reaction somewhat akin to PTSD… it all came flooding back to me…
It’s like every last member of the Omegas from Animal House went on to become an elected Republican legislator…
W/ the exception that Animal House was funny… this bunch is not… they’re just dangerous…
I recall Matt Gaetz indulging in some adolescent fantasies and saying that forcing his way into the SCIF was “Just like the movie 300!”. But I think he only said that to show that he thinks about other things besides high school girls.
Omegas => Ortegas
I was rather amused at Rubio’s slip, since Daniel Ortega’s family type of corruption is quite similar to Trump’s – partially explains Trump’s growing popularity with Hispanics.
An aside, but the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago has accelerated other investigations of Trump world. Less than 24 hours have passed, and Trump is preparing to be deposed in New York, and Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to testify in-person to the Georgia 2020 election interference grand jury. The next step of the E. Jean Carroll civil suit against Trump is imminent. The January 6 committee has new evidence from Alex Jones (and Matt Gaetz and Roger Stone). And now that the Trump cherry has been popped, subsequent searches of other Trump properties, accounts and electronic files is imminent. There’s blood in the water, folks. The DOJ can’t unfuck this. They are fucking now. Bend over, Sir.
The search at Mar-a-Lago did nothing in the way of accelerating any other unrelated investigation.
What you’re seeing is the accumulation of more than two years investigations finally reaching a point where they’ve passed some obstructive barriers and are making progress toward their culmination.
You’re also seeing what happens when there are fewer legal restraints because the subject/target is a seated president.
DOJ may have been waiting to gauge the public reaction to the Jan 6 Commission. There was a lot of support shown by most Americans for the commission’s findings. Despite the RW Confederate threats of violence, Trump and his cult followers are a minority, and the majority of Americans are on the side of the Law.
DOJ does not care about the stupid commission.
No, extremely unlikely the “search” has anything to do with any of that.
I am willing to cough up most of this to pent-up proceedings. But it’s August. A lot of judges are on vacation. This is a lot of movement for August (unless this is some three dimensional chess by the DOJ – ‘wait until August!’). There’s some pushing going on in all the other cases and investigations. Blood in the water, folks. It’s as if everyone was waiting for Merrick Garland to say, ‘Trump is not untouchable.’
Naw, there are always judges around, even in August, if you need one.
Appeals Court ruled today that Trmp’s tax returns can be revealed to Congress, another dropped shoe that has been working its way through the system:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-09/trump-s-tax-returns-can-be-released-to-congress-court-rules
How about – the investigative facts have reached “critical mass”?
Or,
The DOJ has gone nuclear!
(Except they pronounce it nu-clar).
And if I had a subscription to the NYT, I would have cancelled it years ago.
Or, how about not engaging in ridiculous hyperbole here?
Just found over at TPM:
https://twitter.com/sarahhuckabee/status/794255968448020480
Gotta love the archive sometimes.
Jason had a heads up it looks like:
https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold/status/1556958699582672897?
No, not on the search.
OT, but apparently Rudy’s saying he can’t fly now to try to dodge the GA grand jury. The judge has given him until 17 AUG. I’m sure TSA has records of when Rudy flew to rallies and other court hearings in his ‘duties’ for Individual-1.
Train, RV, bus, limo…
Lots of ways to get there.
Love the idea of Giuliani taking a Greyhound from the Port Authority station to the one in downtown Atlanta.
The Georgia DA has offered to purchase a bus or train ticket for Giuliani. Her office also claims to have proof that Giuliani bought airline tickets in cash to Roma and Zurich during that same week. (Cash. Hmm.) Also too, Giuliani has already flown since his “invasive procedure”. It’s painful to see in America’s Mayor, but Giuliani may be lying.
Fani Willis is a noisy piece of political ladder climbing garbage. She really said that?? What an unethical piece of garbage. Don’t place your hopes on something like that. It is disgusting.
It was in a motion, according to reporting. They included a Giuliani tweet which proved he had traveled, and stated that he had purchased tix to Italy and Switzerland. From reporting: “If flying to Atlanta is the issue, the DA’s motion says they would arrange for bus or train fare for Giuliani to travel form New York.”
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/da-says-tweet-travel-records-show-giuliani-capable-appearing-before-grand-jury/UXI773O56ZC57K6F2NTJMIRS5Y/
For once I’m believing you. The DA’s office is indulging at the very least. That’s the least sexy investigation to me, although in some ways the most crime boss-like crime and it includes Giuliani directly, which is a bonus. It has entertainment value. Is it racist of me to enjoy seeing Trump pestered by a black woman?
I don’t mean to make light of your profession. I’m just an amateur and don’t feel Willis’ unprofessional behavior personally.
Fair. Can only report what I know and genuinely think. Pretty sure usually right, though, unfortunately, not always.
First rule of marriage: I don’t know everything, but I’m always right.
Since the earliest reporting, last night, of the coordinated GOP inflammatory incitement to disrupt the investigation and dissolve executive agencies, I have been waiting for the thoughts and insights of sharp legal minds on a matter that has yet to appear in the general discussion.
At what point do hostile congressional threats–add to Sen. Rubio’s threat of retaliation Rep. McCarthy’s “I’ve seen enough” rallying call and Rep. Gosar’s support for “a complete dismantling and elimination of the democrat brown shirts known as the FBI”–coming as they are in response to a single law enforcement action in an ongoing investigation, move from protected conduct of congressional duties to conspiracy to obstruct justice, or conspiracy to disrupt duly authorized executive proceedings?
Thanks for this post. Driving errands, it suddenly hit me today how very extraordinary this situation is. Basically, one of the major political parties in the US has declared open war on the US Government. Again I think of how inured we’ve become. I get home to find EW has addressed the issue. It helps with the sanity.
They have been wanting to drown the government in a bathtub for a while now, so it shouldn’t be surprising, I guess, but these tweets are so starkly unAmerican. Of course, when you’ve committed serious crimes, you may have reason to want to disband the FBI. Here’s hoping the USG can channel Glen Close in Fatal Attraction.
In reviewing comments in the preceding post, I see that Rayne touched upon this problem in a general sense as well:
“The Constitution also fails to address what happens when an entire political party has been corrupted and incapable of convicting and removing an elected federal officer who has betrayed their oath of office.”
Despite this constitutional omission, the more narrow question persists. Do the immunity privileges attending congressional duties have no limit when the constricting snakes of the Republican Congress smell prey on their own civic bodies and set out to devour the sustaining organism?
Yes, it’s odd to see Republicans being interviewed on TV and asked for their positions on, say, climate change, inflation, the war in Ukraine, etc., and the whole time you’re listening to them you’re thinking how irrelevant their answers are compared to the larger fact that these same GOPers want to subvert and upend the very political processes by which Americans have governed themselves for the past two-and-a-half centuries. They’re really people without a country because instead of cherishing the one they have, which in so many ways is still the envy of the world, they want to destroy it.
A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root around the tree. A crow remarked, `You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die.’ `Let it die,’ said the pig. `Who cares so long as there are acorns?’
Thanks for the quote from Rayne. I didn’t find it to add a thought, so I’ll add it here. The founders well understood the possibility of a corrupt political party taking over the government from within, thus destroying the constitutional order specifically designed to protect US citizens from tyranny. In fact, they did not offer a constitutional remedy for this situation because they knew no remedy exists.
From time to time I reread George Washington’s Farewell Address. It is uncanny how he recites chapter and verse of the precise situation we are facing.
My comment was over in the thread under Marcy’s other post today,
Q: Can a warrant be obtained for a safe without specific information that items sought were believed to be located in that particular safe? I know an FBI agent had to provide an affidavit and that agents had info on the basement storeroom. Would knowing that be sufficient for a judge to approve a warrant to search the entire premises including the safe?
Another OT, apparently Hannity is doxxing the judge on his radio show (name, location, history). Exactly how does this square with the outrage over Kavanaugh having to go out the back entrance? Maybe Slanthead needs a dose of his own medicine.
[Let’s avoid the appearance or fact of incitement to violence, thanks. /~Rayne]
Not an incitement, but reporting what is already out there. It might also explain what the Guardian reported about the ones at M-a-L who are threatening violence. What I also see is crickets from the GOP on these threats made to a federal judge simply because of who this judge ruled against.
I’d like to see the press say more about the spineless GOP types, starting with Pence. I’d also like to see the press talk about the incitement from the RWNM, starting with Hannity, Ingraham, Bongino, etc., but they’d have to pick sides. So because it’s Hannity in this case, IOKIYAR.
Hardly the first time spineless Rethugs smear a judge who doesn’t go their way, or don’t protest the smear. They’ve been doing that for years, since race-baiting the judge(s) over immigration/Muslim ban rulings, at least.
At this point, I’d be surprised if they protested the smears at all.
Andrew C. McCarthy:
“Trump raid not about classified documents — it’s about Jan. 6”
https://nypost.com/2022/08/09/trump-raid-not-about-classified-documents-its-about-jan-6/
Andy does not know jack shit.
He could have checked with Trump’s lawyer first, but that would take effort.
LOL, just making it up
As bmaz noted in another post, Individual-1 could show the world what was in the warrant since a copy was left with his representative Ms. Bobb, but instead of showing us the goods he was busy fundraising off of his story about it instead. I would expect that this is a squeaky clean warrant with all requirements covered and AG Garland’s blessing. Since there were allegedly taint teams as part of the search to winnow out privileged items this was better than anything the last WH did in terms of decorum (see McCabe or either Vindman, etc.).
Until it’s revealed, possibly in court proceedings, we do not know what the warrant actually says. It hasn’t stopped some of the press from wild speculation. As EoH notes below the press also missed the lede about why the search was done. It’s the horserace mentality.
These sorts of horserace headlines are why the MSM is failing its readers. From the Guardian, but a common approach:
Jay Rosen provides an alternative framing “for any newsroom that needs it.”
The Guardian, however, prefers the usual MSM clickbait, and inverts a truth sandwich by layering it between Republican talking points and fearmongering. The all-important last paragraph, the bottom half of its sesame seed bun, ends with the GOP message to its mob base, “Lock and load”:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/09/trump-fbi-raid-republican-reactions-2024-election
https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1557061400572448770
Another incorrect Guardian headline:
“FBI raid [sic] on Trump’s residence [sic] takes US into uncharted territory.”
That’s like saying fire department’s response to unprecedented campaign of arson takes US into uncharted territory. It’s Trump who has taken the US there, not the FBI. The FBI warrant search was not a “raid.” Zoning laws prohibit Trump from using Mar-a-Lago as a residence. It’s as if the Guardian no longer cares if it’s no more accurate than the GOP.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/09/donald-trump-fbi-raid-documents
Marina Hyde’s OpEd, “Yet more disgrace for Trump as the FBI raid Mar-a-Lago. Of course, he’s milking it,” is an enjoyable, factually correct takedown of TFG, consistent with her title (barring the reference to a “raid”).
Too enjoyable, it seems, for the Guardian’s headline writers, who felt obliged to add a secondary headline that counters hers: “Law enforcement agents searched the 45th president’s mansion – and gave him another reason to run in 2024.”
Mar-a-Lago is not Trump’s “mansion.” It’s a large private club, whose zoning restrictions prohibit permanent residents. Nor does Trump need “another reason” to run in 2024. Promising to run has been Trump’s biggest source of revenue and political control over the GOP since he left office.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/09/fbi-raid-mar-a-lago-donald-trump-law-2024
Whatnot
The tin pot dictator favored a stone cold tea party. Even though it was short on Havarti, the crew knew how to remain quite farty. Then things got more than a little gnarly, awaiting Rasputin’s arrival (although he was tardy.) Wiles and gambits were the order of the day. Until they finally got in the way. Who was left banging the pot? The dish and the spoon and a little whatnot.
Trump and friends fume about the FBI [legally] grabbing all the unmentionables in view at Mar-a-lago.
Karma.
A rare listen to NPR today. One guest “expert” given a lot of air time ended with her opinion that the Republicans have a lot of momentum going into the midterms and the execution of a warrant on the former GOP President’s adds to that. The reporting included speculation as to exactly how screwed up the FBI is, with the reassurance that they’re not always right but they’re not always wrong either. Much of the “story” consisted of responses to Trump’s claims and included a seemingly sincere question starting with: what if Trump truly feels that the warrant wasn’t properly researched.
“Republicans have a lot of momentum going into the midterms“…bwahahahahah they have no fucking idea how big the hornets’ nest is they’ve smacked with Dobbs. They are literally lying to themselves at this point and trying to gaslight us at the same time.
But we are coming for them, a la Kansas.
Oh jeez, I forgot one of the tastier claims: with respect to skepticism about the FBI’s motives, “they only brought it on themselves”. As though Trump hasn’t been playing the crime boss for years trying to undermine US law enforcement with anti-FBI rhetoric and as though these attacks of the FBI weren’t 100% predictable behavior from the party with zero integrity. I mean, as though there is some universe in which Trump would say, “Well, they got me fair and square.:
It really doesn’t matter much what Individual-1’s feelings are, since both he and the GQP are already fundraising off of what they say is in the warrant but not showing us the papers. No ‘research’ will ever be sufficient in the eyes of the RWNM or the MAGA cult to question anything the ‘Dear Leader’ wants or does. They’ll do their own ‘research’ in the Q-verse or 4chan echo chambers.
As a matter of legal concern the warrant research did and does matter, since the former allowed a judge to authorize the search and the latter protects the evidence for use at any subsequent trials. Unlike Durham, Garland is neither a political hack nor an idiot so I would expect this warrant to stand up quite well later in court.
NPR is usually hopeless at this sort of thing, which might explain how rarely useful it is to listen to it.
NPR allowed its “expert” to use the MAL warrant search to push the propaganda meme that the GOP has momentum. Rayne’s response handily dismisses that. In much the same way, the MSM acknowledges gas prices have fallen daily for 50 days straight, but uses it to frame an attack on Democrats: will they keep doing that?
Trump’s feefees are irrelevant to the FBI’s investigation – as any real reporter would know – as is his belief (has he any real ones?). But his rhetoric is essential to stoking his base’s sense of victimhood and its demand for vengeance. If there were a Pulitzer for enabling, NPR would be always be a contender.
Don’t be so sure about gas prices staying low through NOV, because Big Oil really likes the GQP. BO can do whatever they want with impunity like last year’s burning ocean and Deepwater Horizon among many other disasters without consequences. I hope I’m wrong but expect to see some sort of crisis create the illusion of a gas shortage which will be blamed on the Ds in general and Biden in particular.
How do we know? BO just recorded record profits almost across the board from the last crisis.
My point was one often made here and it’s not really about gas prices. It’s that the MSM turns any development against Biden and the Democrats and into something favoring the GOP, and I don’t think it’s because controversy sells better than good news.
Except that retail sales are softening because of the price. Sales are also going to soften as summer vacations end and the entire country goes back to school and back indoors.
Polling also shows the public is fully aware fossil fuel companies are to blame for higher prices at the pump.
Let’s hope that polling is right, because I see it as the biggest threat to the Ds keeping the House and Senate..
Lot of voters also furious with GOP for voting down cap on insulin this week. They really screwed the pooch every way to Sunday on the IRA bill, capping a string of really bad decisions like voting against support for baby formula and the horseshit they pulled with the PACT Act.
You go and look at the turnout numbers on Kansas wrt the codification of abortion rights; the KS GOP did everything it could to assure they’d win including putting it on the primary ballot when turnout is typically poor and the opposition crushed them.
And gas prices were higher then than now.
Sarah Isgur? She’s genuinely dumb, and it’s basically as stupid for NPR to have her as an “expert” as it was for them to bring back John Bolton after Biden pulled US troops out of Afghanistan.
As a side note, on the same broadcast NPR had a bit about “fossil” evidence about the Chincoteague ponies involving a horse tooth that wasn’t possibly a fossil. It took zero seconds of searching to find the tooth was not fossilized and the poor scientist who published the research never even claimed it was. NPR just invented that claim and associated him with their specious claim. Because of course nobody there cares.
What. A. Day. Now a “Yes!” for Ways and Means to receive DT’s tax returns!
Not so fast, he will go to the Supreme Court.
True. IANAL.
In the meantime, a girl can hope that more evidence concerning his taxes bubbles to the surface.
If the GOP takes the House in November, that investigation will go kaput in January, so the clock’s ticking.
Will SCOTUS intervene? I think they’ll grant certiorari but whether Individual-1 would be able to hide his taxes from a legitimate Congressional investigation is a toss-up. It should be a 9-0 slam dunk in line with prior precedents like Nixon losing 8-0 on his tapes and Clinton losing in his bid to avoid depositions. This is information, nothing more and something every other president including Nixon had provided.
However, I think the SCOTUS reactionaries recognize the real threat to the GQP and will vote for the party, not the nation and let Alito twist the logic into the appropriate pretzels for the opinion.
They may decide it’s time to cut him loose.
That probability depends on what happens between now and when SCOTUS hears the case since I’m sure at least 4 Justices will detect a Constitutional question to settle regardless of stare decisis. If Individual-1 is indicted and on his way to a conviction then the SCOTUS reactionaries cut him loose. If he’s not politically dead yet, they may decide to save him because of the graymail / blackmail that may lurk in the tax filings WRT the GQP leadership.
Remember the GQP has been paying for DJT’s lawyers and many of the GQP leaders are thoroughly tied in to Russian money (DeSantis being one of them). All Individual-1 has to do is call his pal Vlad to help him out by dropping a few dimes. Vlad will be happy to do it to create chaos here.
Very concerning that the leaders of the supposedly strong-on-defense party have lost any remaining semblance of moral fiber, backbone, and rationality.
Any chance that Garland can assign an SI just in case Congress is lost to these fascists? Do they even remember what happened to McVeigh? Or where the Unabomber is?
One significant accomplishment of the execution of this search warrant, whether intended or not: It has dramatically expanded the Overton window concerning trump’s legal exposure.
Some quotes from Charlie Pierce’s article where he saw some Fox News coverage about the FBI conducting the warranted search at Mar-A-Lago.
(https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a40848599/democracy-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/ <– behind a pay wall, I know)
Over the breathless media coverage rumbling about how this was going to lead to violence/civil war:
"…I did come away with a feeling that we’d all be better off if the media stopped hyping the “historic” and “unprecedented” nature of the events."
In response to Jim Jordan's accusations (phrased as questions) that the FBI was on a fishing expedition:
"Bunk. This is an investigation into a possible federal crime."
Charlie's closing comments:
"In 2016 (albeit with some help from abroad), the country elected a grubby little crook riding America’s longest lucky streak to be its president. Now the bill has come due. This wasn’t a presidency, it was a burglary. And they got caught."
It was NOT a raid. It was the execution of a judge-approved search warrant. Do NOT fall into the trap of calling it a raid. A raid is what happened to Brianna Taylor in KY, which got her killed after police stormed in the early morning, fired many shots and murdered her. Now DOJ is going after the killers after the KY legal system exonerated the cops.
“The lazy-ass press couldn’t even be bothered…”
We have to dispel this fiction that the corporate media doesn’t know what it is doing. The corporate media knows exactly what it is doing. Their interests align with those of the GOP, of which Trump is the undisputed leader. Their preferred strategies, tactics, and decorum might differ but their goals are the same. Protect the plutocracy at all costs.