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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel / One Person Could End the Speculation

One Person Could End the Speculation

by John Cole|  August 9, 20225:58 pm| 145 Comments

This post is in: Trump Crime Cartel

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No one (other than the FBI and the judge involved) knows what the search warrant yesterday is about, and the reason there is so much speculation is because with Trump, there was so much criminality that we know of and so much potential criminality.

There is one person who could settle all that. Trump. He could release the content of the search warrant right fucking now if he wanted to. The target of a warrant is not bound by any confidentiality. He could walk to any microphone in the western hemisphere and there would be dozens of reporters there eager to hear all about it and look at the warrant and broadcast it.

But he won’t. Because he’d rather people speculate and he would rather play the victim.

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Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    To be fair, most of the media would rather speculate too, so they’re not going to press him on it.

  2. 2.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 9, 2022 at 6:02 pm

    If the story that he’s looking for a defense lawyer is true, then he thinks whatever is on that warrant is real and the FBI got the evidence they wanted in the raid.

    The only cloud to that silver lining is that Trump is phenomenally, mythic levels of stupid.  What he thinks he’s in danger of doesn’t necessarily correlate to reality.

  3. 3.

    JDM

    August 9, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    There’s also the fact that Trump probably hasn’t managed to work his way all the way through the warrant. He’s probably stuck on the first page and complaining about the lack of pictures.

  4. 4.

    sab

    August 9, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    I bet James Comey has the contacts to get to the bottom of this, since the current guys are stubbornly following the rules.

  5. 5.

    cain

    August 9, 2022 at 6:04 pm

    I’m actually waiting on him to declare war with the govt and get dark MAGA out so that hey can abscond to Hungary.

  6. 6.

    sab

    August 9, 2022 at 6:04 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Alex Jones has a lawyer who might soon need work and obviously will work for anyone.

  7. 7.

    Grampa

    August 9, 2022 at 6:05 pm

    Not just the warrant. Presumably, there was an inventory of items taken, which should have been signed off on by T or his designee.

  8. 8.

    jonas

    August 9, 2022 at 6:09 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:If the story that he’s looking for a defense lawyer is true

    Oh god. What utter assclown(s) is he going to get for that gig? Just the lawyer’s antics will be a story unto itself, aside from whatever Trump gets charged with.

  9. 9.

    MattF

    August 9, 2022 at 6:09 pm

    Also, delaying, obfuscating, and teasing things out until anyone listening is bored and confused is part of his playbook. That feeling you get of ‘I need to get out of here’ is part of his game.

  10. 10.

    Redshift

    August 9, 2022 at 6:11 pm

    I think it’s less that he wants people to speculate and more that he doesn’t want to burst the bubble of “it’s all an outrageous political witch hunt and there’s no good reason for it.” If the warrant could be spun to support that in any way, he’d release it in a hot minute.

  11. 11.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 6:12 pm

    @jonas: Oh, it’ll be Rudy again, count on it.

  12. 12.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 9, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    @jonas: The lawyer better demand to be paid up front.

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    August 9, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    But, but, how can he demand/beg for donations for his PAC if he does that?? The Deep State doesn’t follow niceties like legal procedures and the law, you know…

    So I'm no federal prosecutor, but going right to "the FBI planted evidence!!!" within 24 hours of the search doesn't seem…great

    — Marc Channick (@Sorry_What_Now) August 9, 2022

    (via Popehat)

    I’m sure John Dillinger is involved somehow, he always is. fnord. [/ThreadDownstairs]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    RSA

    August 9, 2022 at 6:13 pm

    @sab:  Alex Jones has a lawyer who might soon need work and obviously will work for anyone.

    …and who will immediately send Trump’s pee tape to the DOJ, accidentally.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    August 9, 2022 at 6:15 pm

    @different-church-lady: Does Jared have a law degree?

  16. 16.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 6:17 pm

    @dmsilev: Why would Trump think that mattered?

  17. 17.

    Ken

    August 9, 2022 at 6:17 pm

    Isn’t the widespread speculation that the warrant was for classified documents just that — speculation? It really could be anything. Until we see the warrant, or learn more, we’re all free to assume the worst. Plutonium. The books for his human trafficking operation. A meth lab. The steamier love letters from Kim Jong-un, with pictures.

  18. 18.

    SpaceUnit

    August 9, 2022 at 6:17 pm

    Because this investigation likely involves classified documents (and could potentially affect national security) could the judge impose a sweeping gag order that forbids disclosing the details of the warrant?

    Any lawyers in the crowd?

  19. 19.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:18 pm

    @Ken:

    I don’t think meth lab is assuming the worst when it comes to Trump.

  20. 20.

    Dangerman

    August 9, 2022 at 6:20 pm

    @Ken:

    A meth lab.

    Brachiating Bad?

  21. 21.

    MazeDancer

    August 9, 2022 at 6:20 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Definitely, lawyer needs up front payment.

    Also, expect to be fired.

    Trump is also well-known for both not following counsel and telling counsel what to do.

  22. 22.

    Spanky

    August 9, 2022 at 6:21 pm

    @jonas:

    Oh god. What utter assclown(s) is he going to get for that gig?

    Rudy suddenly felt a great disturbance in the Force, like a great moron crying out for representation.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:21 pm

    If Trump were to be indicted, I expected he would be given the opportunity to turn himself in.  I was never contemplating a raid.  So this is like Christmas in August.

  24. 24.

    dm

    August 9, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    @Ken: Q’s identity.

  25. 25.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 6:22 pm

    @Redshift:

    Yup, is there any iota of a way to make him look good he’d be on it like a rat, umm, like a rat… umm.. like that.

  26. 26.

    gene108

    August 9, 2022 at 6:23 pm

    I wasted time on Twitter (redundant, I know) and so many high ranking Republicans were outraged by this “unprecedented” search of a former President’s home by his successor.

    They vowed revenge on Joe and Hunter Biden, Merrick Garland, and so many others.

    They vowed to purge the FBI of anyone involved with this.

    They made threatening implications about, if “the FBI can get a search the home of the former President, imagine what else they can do to you”, like the FBI couldn’t get a warrant to search my home, if they really wanted to.

    But none of them ever said they think Trump’s innocent. They never said, in all their stand with Trump rhetoric, that they believe TFG will be exonerated.

    The cold sweat coming from Republicans that their messiah might be held accountable for the first time in his life amuses me.

    Edit: changed formatting

  27. 27.

    Ken

    August 9, 2022 at 6:23 pm

    @Baud: Fine, the edit window was still open so I added another. On Your Head So Be It.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    August 9, 2022 at 6:24 pm

    @different-church-lady: Good point.

  29. 29.

    Fair Economist

    August 9, 2022 at 6:24 pm

    Oh no, it’s not that Trump wants speculation. It’s that the named crimes are very serious – probably selling secrets – and he doesn’t want the public to be forced to acknowledge how much of a traitor he is.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 9, 2022 at 6:26 pm

    Mueller, She Wrote. @MuellerSheWrote 14m

    BREAKING: the DoJ has executed a search WARRANT on REPUBLICAN MEMBER OF CONGRESS SCOTT PERRY, confiscating his phone. Perry asked for a pardon for 1/6 and MEADOWS was seen burning documents after meeting with PERRY.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:26 pm

    As long as we’re engaging in baseless speculation, how sweet would it be if Ivanka was the informant?

  32. 32.

    JPL

    August 9, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    @gene108: They need the crazies to vote.   It’s all they got.

     

    OT  talking about crazies…   The Republicans against Trump pac have a hard hitting but true ad about Walker wanting to shoot the brains out of his ex-wife.   I just saw it on air, and it was followed by a Herschel Walker ad, that starts with a scene from his football days, and then he states I’m hard hitting.

    He might want to pull that ad, just sayin.

  33. 33.

    sukabi

    August 9, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    topic adjacent….

     

    Sen. Perry had his phone seized by the feds…

     

    https://twitter.com/SpiroAgnewGhost/status/1557125845289816064?s=20&t=9OeTfQFQFl-uyLxJ38YXh

     

    Spiro Agnew’s Ghost

    @SpiroAgnewGhost

    BREAKING: U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (PA), deeply involved in post 2020-election attempts to overturn the results, says the FBI has *seized his cell phone* pursuant to a search warrant this afternoon

  34. 34.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    👍

  35. 35.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 6:27 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Holy christ!

  36. 36.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:28 pm

    @JPL:

    Even the Missouri GOP rejected Greitans.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    August 9, 2022 at 6:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: So, … Tuesday??

    “Sure I burned those documents.  That’s why there are so many fireplaces in the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building – to burn documents.  Everyone knows that, you silly.”

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 6:29 pm

    @gene108:

    Some of them know they very well could be the next one in the FBI crosshairs.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    August 9, 2022 at 6:30 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This doesn’t look good, but looks can be deceiving.

    😅😅😅

  40. 40.

    gene108

    August 9, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    @JPL:

    They need the crazies to vote. It’s all they got.

    I know. I still find it amusing.

    IIRC, Democrats weren’t at all panicked when the FBI was going over “but her emails” in 2016 about the likelihood of wrong doing.

    I feel like this says something about both parties. I’m not quite sure how to put it.

  41. 41.

    Spanky

    August 9, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    @different-church-lady: Hmmm. Starting with the (Congressional) small fry.

    Expect more to follow.

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    August 9, 2022 at 6:32 pm

    I want to see Meadows go down.

  43. 43.

    CaseyL

    August 9, 2022 at 6:32 pm

    I agree that the reason Trump hasn’t released the warrant is because he doesn’t want to publicize the evidence that DoJ now has.  Which means the evidence is incredibly damning – not enough to break through to the True Believers, but possibly to the MSM (other than Fox).

    With Scott Perry’s phone now also confiscated, anyone who was in on the coup must be shitting bricks, wondering when their time is coming.

    @zhena gogolia: The speculation on Twitter is that Meadows has turned and is singing like a bird.  (Which would explain why Justice decided not to charge him with contempt, back when the J6 Committee requested it.)

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    August 9, 2022 at 6:33 pm

    @gene108: Did any of us for one second think that Hillary might be betraying her country? No.

    Do they think/know TFG is? Of course.

  45. 45.

    Spanky

    August 9, 2022 at 6:36 pm

    I get the definite sense that DOJ is playing chess, having thought through many moves ahead. And all the Trumpists can do now is react. (Standard RICO procedures, no doubt.)

     

    Moar popcorn  Alexa!

  46. 46.

    Josie

    August 9, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Yes. Why else would Russia be so upset about the search at MAL? They probably know what the object of the search is and are worried about being outed.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    @Spanky:

    To be fair, DOJ could be playing Chutes and Ladders and still outsmart the Trump gang.

  48. 48.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 9, 2022 at 6:38 pm

    Would the warrant be available with a FOIA request? How long does that take?

  49. 49.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    No.  It’s an active law enforcement record.

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    August 9, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    @Spanky: Gods, I hope so!

    I wonder if/when someone is going to make a break for it, hightail off to a country the US doesn’t have an extradition treaty with. Or get stopped at an airport trying!

  51. 51.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 9, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    Even the Brits are laughing at him

    Notorious mob boss Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion. Not sure what’s brought that to mind today.

    — Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) August 9, 2022

    Well, Larry knows a dirty rat when he sees one​

  52. 52.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 6:39 pm

    @sukabi: ​ 

    The news is just so delicious, so tasty, so yummy, AND IT’S ONLY TUESDAY!!!

  53. 53.

    Spanky

    August 9, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    @Baud: Damn! I used to love that game! And now I can’t remember a damn thing about it.

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 9, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    @Baud: ​
      I think it’s Eric. He is going to grass them all up and skate. I have no basis for this except that it would be funny.

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    August 9, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    If the story that he’s looking for a defense lawyer is true, then he thinks whatever is on that warrant is real and the FBI got the evidence they wanted in the raid.

    Putting on my tinfoil hat for a moment, that isn’t necessarily true.  If you assume the whole thing was made up as an excuse to harass Trump, you could easily believe they’ll charge him with some made-up crime.  Of course, if you assume the courts are completely corrupt, you have to question why you’d bother with a good attorney, since the outcome is foreordained anyway.  But if you’re a conspiracy theorist, that last point is easy to ignore.

  56. 56.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    @Roger Moore: And if you assume Trump is innocent you can do six impossible things before breakfast.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Would he be a reliable witness?

  58. 58.

    Mike in NC

    August 9, 2022 at 6:41 pm

    Returned from an errand today and spotted a “Trump 2024” yard sign outside a house in our development. No idea who lives there but I can likely look it up on the HOA website and taunt the proud idiot(s).

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 6:42 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Just my take —

    Scott Perry was one of those seeking a pardon from Trump at the end. It seems he is deeply involved, from reports, in the fake elector scheme.

    This feels like a (mob or drug) conspiracy wrap up to me. Once the boss is in the sights, every rat runs for cover. I guarantee that for every Perry who had shit seized, there are at least 5-10 others who did so too, but are smart enough to keep their fucking mouths shut.

    I want to thank Alex Jones’ attorney personally, but I don’t know where to find him. Probably debriefing with the G-men.

    ETA in case I wasn’t clear: this was not about top secret documents taken by Trump, this is about the fake elector prosecutions. But if the find evidence of other wrong doing? Who’s to say?

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 9, 2022 at 6:42 pm

    @Spanky: It has chutes and ladders.  Does that help?

  61. 61.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 6:43 pm

    @Mike in NC: Don’t do it! If you gloat that fella will probably feel forced to vote for Trump!

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    August 9, 2022 at 6:43 pm

    @SpaceUnit:

    Because this investigation likely involves classified documents (and could potentially affect national security) could the judge impose a sweeping gag order that forbids disclosing the details of the warrant?

    And we all know the great respect Trump pays to the pronouncements of the courts when they tell him not to do stuff. /s

  63. 63.

    Spanky

    August 9, 2022 at 6:44 pm

    @Baud: No, but just imagine if they had a wire on him all this time! WHAT IF HE’S THE SMART ONE!

  64. 64.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 9, 2022 at 6:44 pm

    You know how much evidence it takes to sign off on a no-knock raid at the home of a former President?

    — Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) August 8, 2022

  65. 65.

    Spanky

    August 9, 2022 at 6:45 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: You’re so good to me.

  66. 66.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 6:46 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: No, because they remain secret or at least sealed until formal legal proceedings (read indictment) begin. But Trump can release it as the object at any moment if he wanted to clear things up

  67. 67.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:46 pm

    @Spanky:

    That would be The Prestige level crazy.

  68. 68.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:47 pm

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    Was it actually no knock? I know it was secret.

  69. 69.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 6:47 pm

    @different-church-lady: Two of them in the sack?

  70. 70.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 9, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    @Baud: If he has documents….  Or recordings….

    ETA:  Would any of them?

  71. 71.

    Ken

    August 9, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    @Roger Moore: you have to question why you’d bother with a good attorney, since the outcome is foreordained anyway.  But if you’re a conspiracy theorist, that last point is easy to ignore.

    If you’re a proper conspiracy theorist, everything is evidence for the theory. Thus: If the charges were legitimate, Trump could get off if he hired a good attorney. So when he hires some idiot, it means the charges aren’t legitimate. QED checkmate libtard et cetera.

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    August 9, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    @Baud:

    Would he be a reliable witness?

    The real question is what documentary evidence he could produce.  People lie all the time, but contemporaneous documents are much less likely to.

  73. 73.

    Dangerman

    August 9, 2022 at 6:49 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’d go with Baron. Or Ivana. Faked her death so the Trump’s didn’t have to go to the deposition.

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    August 9, 2022 at 6:49 pm

    @Spanky: PBS/British murder mystery shows have taught me that it’s always the quiet one.

    Does anyone even know what Eric’s voice sounds like??  (No, I’m not getting out of the boat to find a clip.  You go ahead.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:50 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    But what documents would he have about what’s stored at Mar-a-Lago? That would have to be based on his eyewitness testimony.

  76. 76.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 6:50 pm

    @Baud:

    It couldn’t have been, Trump’s lawyer met with the DOJ last week IIRC

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 9, 2022 at 6:50 pm

    @Spanky: How did Claudius survive the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula?  Just saying.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    You think he knew about the raid I’m advance?

  79. 79.

    sab

    August 9, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Actually we don’t have a lot of national experience with this particular legal conundrum because all our other presidents had more sense.

  80. 80.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    @Baud: It was reported as “no announce” which means in vernacular, “no knock.” You only get those if there is serious chance of violence or evidence destruction. Also, the SS was notified before (how much who knows) that it was going down.

  81. 81.

    Ken

    August 9, 2022 at 6:51 pm

    @different-church-lady: If you gloat that fella will probably feel forced to vote for Trump!

    If DeSantis (or anyone but Trump for that matter) is the nominee, we should do all we can to encourage Republicans to write-in Trump.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:52 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Thanks.

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 6:53 pm

    @Roger Moore: yes!

    Paper, paper, paper, paper.

    Which is why you don’t take notes of a criminal conspiracy.

  84. 84.

    sab

    August 9, 2022 at 6:53 pm

    @Baud: That gobsmacked me.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 6:54 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: He liked horses?

  86. 86.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 9, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    @Immanentize: Um.  Sure.

  87. 87.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 6:56 pm

    @Immanentize: Robert’s Rules of Order says we gotta have minutes.

  88. 88.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    @Baud:

    Nope, Immanentize cleared it up.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    Via reddit

    https://i.redd.it/0jy2huky3qg91.jpg

  90. 90.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    That’s what he does.

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    August 9, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    Meanwhile, … RollCall:

    The Department of Homeland Security announced late Monday it will begin phasing out a Trump-era program that requires some asylum-seekers to spend months in Mexico, after a Texas federal judge dissolved his earlier order that required the program’s revival.

    The department said in a news release that it is “committed to ending the court-ordered implementation” of the immigration program, known informally as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, “in a quick, and orderly, manner.”

    The move follows the Supreme Court decision in June that the government is not legally required to implement the program.

    The former administration’s policy, initially terminated by the Biden administration but revived late last year under court order, requires some migrants to wait in Mexico for the duration of their U.S. immigration court proceedings, which can last months or even more than a year.

    As part of the department’s effort to end the revived program, migrants claiming asylum will no longer be newly enrolled in Remain in Mexico. Additionally, migrants already waiting in Mexico under the program will be “disenrolled” at their next immigration court hearing date and allowed to continue their cases from within the U.S., according to DHS.

    The department’s news release added that it “will provide additional information in the coming days.”

    […]

    It’s almost like this Biden guy knows how to work the system to get his policies in place. Huh. Whodathunkit??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 9, 2022 at 6:59 pm

     For the first time in its 246-year history, the Marine Corps has named its first ever Black four-star general. Gen. Michael Langley.

    Biden running up the score

  93. 93.

    sab

    August 9, 2022 at 6:59 pm

    @RSA: IANAL but legally the pee tape probably wouldn’t be all that useful.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    That is shocking.  Good on Biden and the rest.

  95. 95.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    @MazeDancer:

    Trump is also well-known for both not following counsel and telling counsel what to do.

    At one point, his lawyers wouldn’t meet with him individually. He was such a liar that they always sent another person in to witness whatever TFG said.

  96. 96.

    lee

    August 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    Have not read thru the other comment sections, to see if anyone has mentioned this.

    Andrew Yang has tweeted about the search warrant and has come down on the same side as Trump.

    I’m sure none of us here finds that surprising.

    Apparently laws are for little people.

  97. 97.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    OT: Whoo hoo, just opened a letter from the IRS saying they found a $200 error in my favor!

  98. 98.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    And they haven’t even passed the funding bill yet!

  99. 99.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    @lee: That’s exactly why we need a third party! Wait, what?

  100. 100.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    Everything is coming up Milhouse.

  101. 101.

    sab

    August 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    @Immanentize: Can Trump even read?

  102. 102.

    Geminid

    August 9, 2022 at 7:01 pm

    @Ken: Or encourage them to just stay home. Disaffected trumpers sitting out the Georgia Senate runoffs are probably what put Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Senate. There is always a dropoff in voting between a general election and the runoff. Usually this favors Republicans in Georgia, but that time the Democrats’ dropoff was less than half of the Republicans’

    I think this was why Georgia Republicans did not resist Trump more forcefully when he foisted Herschel Walker on them. They were afraid he’d sandbag them again this fall.

  103. 103.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 7:02 pm

    @Baud:

    Indubitably.

  104. 104.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 9, 2022 at 7:03 pm

    FWIW, I doubt the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago to confirm Trump was careless about or even lying about possession of some random classified documents. The content of these classified documents presumably matters. And why Trump was concealing them, if he was.

    — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 9, 2022

    Could be documents related to the 1/6 coup

  105. 105.

    CaseyL

    August 9, 2022 at 7:04 pm

    @different-church-lady: Congrats!

  106. 106.

    Scout211

    August 9, 2022 at 7:06 pm

    Delete.

  107. 107.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 9, 2022 at 7:06 pm

    @Roger Moore: ​

    If you assume the whole thing was made up as an excuse to harass Trump, you could easily believe they’ll charge him with some made-up crime.

    But this is about what Trump believes, not what his fans believe. And Trump has been under investigation for quite some time, and not been paranoid enough to take this step. He thinks he’s been caught. Again, he’s a truly monumentally stupid motherfucker, so he could be wrong. But he thinks this raid changed things and he’s going to face charges.

  108. 108.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 9, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    Is any Trump supporter actually claiming Trump is unlikely to have broken the law?It all seems to be Trump is above the law, not Trump is innocent under the law.

    — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 9, 2022

    Bill makes a good point: not one republican is saying he’s innocent

  109. 109.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 7:11 pm

    Welp, might as well give up on the idea of getting anything at all done this week…

  110. 110.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    August 9, 2022 at 7:15 pm

    The F.B.I handed Congressman Scott Perry a warrant and took his cell phone today. So that happened.

  111. 111.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 7:15 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    I am working three screens.

  112. 112.

    artem1s

    August 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    he would rather play the victim.

    mmmm, no. he’s a narcissist. the content of that warrant has something in it, that if revealed, would be a searing blow to his ego. may be as simple as being an official document that verifies he is not the President. or something personally embarrassing. even if the contents are leaked by someone else, he can always claim it’s fake news or has been altered. If he thought the content was benign, he’d already be grifting off it

  113. 113.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: ​

    not one republican is saying he’s innocent

    I think most of them don’t grasp the concept. Republicans are super tribal. Law enforcement exists to punish your enemies. Some of them have an extra ‘everyone is guilty of something’ belief, but it’s like all the ‘lock her up’ chanting. Their enemies are guilty and they are innocent, by definition. Even the ones who can grasp the difference will be slow to think it’s worth mentioning.

  114. 114.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Your duty is here.

  115. 115.

    dm

    August 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    @lee: No, that’s not what Andrew Yang said, but I suppose you can be forgiven for interpreting it that way.

    What he said was a muddle, amounting to: “This is just going to feed the paranoids”.

    Which is true, but… the paranoids are going to conjure all the nutrition they need.  We shouldn’t let that stop us from doing what’s right.

    Preet and Joyce Vance on their podcast are celebrating a big news event that happens before they record.  They’re coming down on: the government wants its documents back, they’ve been negotiating for 18 months.  As to why now: the meetings with the lawyers we heard about last week may have broken down.

    I wonder if a Secret Service agent in Trump’s company noticed classified documents after hearing that “all the documents have been returned”, and mentioned it to the Justice Department (maybe while talking about what happened to the Jan. 6 texts on his phone?).

  116. 116.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 9, 2022 at 7:18 pm

    Because he’d rather people speculate and he would rather play the victim.

    And make bank on it.

  117. 117.

    danielx

    August 9, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    @Spanky: ​
     Somehow I don’t think chess is Trump’s game. Three moves in he’d knock over the board and throw the pieces – “I win!”

  118. 118.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 7:31 pm

    @different-church-lady: monopoly!

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    @dm: This line that goes “You can’t prosecute Trump because that’s gonna make his voters vote for him even harder” is confounding me.

  120. 120.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 9, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    @danielx: Only if “Fuck this shit!” means “I win.”

  121. 121.

    Baud

    August 9, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    It’s not an observation.  It’s propaganda designed to pump up their side and make our side insecure.

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    August 9, 2022 at 7:36 pm

    Axios from about an hour ago:

    What she’s saying: Christina Bobb, a lawyer for Trump who has hosted shows for the far-right network One America News Network (OAN), said in a podcast interview Tuesday that she arrived on the scene after the FBI began the search and alleged that law enforcement personnel initially refused to show her the search warrant.

    * The warrant, which they shared after the search, showed agents were investigating possible violations of laws regarding the handling of classified material as well as the Presidential Records Act, Bobb said.

    * The search spanned roughly 10 hours, she added.

    * Trump’s legal team had engaged in discussions with the Department of Justice earlier this spring, Bobb said in a separate interview with the Post. At the time, his lawyers turned over several documents that could be considered presidential records after searching two to three dozen boxes of materials, she noted.

    * At another meeting in June, federal officials examined the material brought by Trump’s legal team, Bobb said.

    TimesofSanDiego (from March):

    A reporter for San Diego’s One America News Network is among six people subpoenaed by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    Letter to Christina Bobb of OAN (PDF)

    The panel said Tuesday it had issued subpoenas to OAN’s Christina Bobb and five others who promoted false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and took part in, or encouraged, actions based on those false claims.

    The letter demands Washington-based Bobb, 39, produce documents by March 15 and sit for a deposition March 23.

    “The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the November 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on those claims,” the letter said.

    […]

    I assume she sat for the deposition, but I haven’t checked.

    RawStory:

    Christina Bobb, an attorney for President Donald Trump, objected to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago because she said her client is “extremely cooperative.”

    In an interview on Real America’s Voice, Bobb said that she was at Trump’s Florida home during the Monday raid but “was not allowed to observe.”

    “I was his legal representation, his counsel on the ground there,” she said. “They kept me out of everything, all the facilities. They say that’s standard protocol. I could not see. I could not observe.”

    “I thought it was particularly alarming because we had been very cooperative,” the attorney continued. “This is a Washington, D.C. case coming out of Joe Biden’s Department of Justice. We’ve been extremely cooperative.”

    Real America’s Voice host Karyn Turk wondered if the FBI had “planted” evidence.

    “Nobody observed it,” Bobb confirmed. “No, there wasn’t. To your point, this was a completely unnecessary power flex. It was a weird flex. It’s quite honestly sad to see what they have done to our country.”

    “No, there is no security that something wasn’t planted,” she added. “I’m not saying that’s what they did.”

    […]

    “I’m not saying they’re child-eating lizard people, but I wasn’t there to see if they aren’t…”

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    robmassing

    August 9, 2022 at 7:38 pm

    If it were a nothingburger he would have released it 30 seconds after he received it

  124. 124.

    Fester Addams

    August 9, 2022 at 7:38 pm

    Russia, if you’re listening — I hope you are able to find the missing warrant…

  125. 125.

    Immanentize

    August 9, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    @Another Scott: 10 hour search, huh? Productive!

  126. 126.

    Ivan X

    August 9, 2022 at 7:44 pm

    @sab: man has bush 43 been rehabbed

  127. 127.

    Sasha

    August 9, 2022 at 7:48 pm

    Just make sure that if he does, demand that Trump release his long form warrant. 😜

  128. 128.

    Ken

    August 9, 2022 at 7:48 pm

    @danielx: Have you played “Trump: The Game”? It’s sort of like Monopoly; players buy various properties and whoever ends up with the most money wins, which is reasonable.

    The rule which makes no sense is that when you land on someone else’s property and have to pay them rent, you take the money out of the bank and give it to them. You don’t have to pay it back. I can’t help but think this explains a lot about Trump and his bankruptcies.

  129. 129.

    dm

    August 9, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    @different-church-lady: we’re talking about people who believe the election was stolen. What’s confounding?

    But Yang keeps beating that drum.

    Preet & Joyce Vance also mentioned that we’re 90 days out from the mid-terms, and the Justice Dept likes to avoid actions that might impact the election starting real soon. Another reason for moving now — especially if there’s a danger that Top Secret materials might be disclosed — can’t wait until November to protect those.

     

    They’re also concerned about the potential political impact, but are confident there was great urgency to act.

    Appropriately, the White House learned about this raid from Twitter.

  130. 130.

    Scout211

    August 9, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    @Another Scott: Thanks for posting this. I deleted my attempt to post the information about her upthread because I couldn’t find a more credible link than an OAN interview with her. Plus, I got some of the information wrong about her spouse.  (Bobb/Bopp, so confusing)

    My question has been why aren’t the mainstream media reporters all over her asking for interviews. She was there. But maybe now they will be booking her? She loves to talk, apparently.

  131. 131.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 9, 2022 at 7:54 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Christina Bobb, a lawyer for Trump who has hosted shows for the far-right network One America News Network (OAN)

    Oh, well, that’s a trustworthy source who definitely wouldn’t lie about anything or everything.  We can completely rule out that her entire story is fictitious from top to bottom.

  132. 132.

    lee

    August 9, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    @dm: That’s what his second tweet said. He had one (which has been deleted) was decidedly different.​
     

    Also if you go back thru, he has even more tweets that try to claim that the search warrant was not really warranted.

  133. 133.

    Ken

    August 9, 2022 at 8:00 pm

    @Scout211: She loves to talk, apparently.

    Certainly the main quality I look for in a lawyer is their willingness to discuss my private legal affairs on national television.

  134. 134.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 9, 2022 at 8:09 pm

    Someone at National Review is making actual sense.

    Kevin Williamson:

    The FBI’s serving a search warrant on Donald Trump’s residence is not — in spite of everything being said about it — unprecedented. The FBI serves search warrants on homes all the time. Donald Trump is a former president, not a mystical sacrosanct being.

    If we really believe, as we say we believe, that this is a republic, that nobody is above the law, that the presidency is just a temporary executive-branch office rather than a quasi-royal entitlement, then there is nothing all that remarkable about the FBI serving a warrant on a house in Florida. I myself do not find it especially difficult to believe that there exists reasonable cause for such a warrant. And if the feds have got it wrong, that wouldn’t be the first time. Those so-called conservatives who are publicly fantasizing about an FBI purge under the next Republican administration are engaged in a particularly stupid form of irresponsibility.

    There are no fewer than five different congressional committees with FBI oversight powers. I’m not especially inclined to take federal agencies and their officers at their word in almost any circumstance, and so active and vigorous oversight seems to me appropriate here, as in most other cases. But if it turns out, in the least surprising political development of the decade, that Donald Trump is a criminal, then he should be treated like any other criminal.

    If that did indeed establish a precedent, it would be a good precedent.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 9, 2022 at 8:37 pm

    I shouldn’t even hope. I’ve been burned so many times…

    Patrick @QuadCityPat. 34m
    Meadows flipped.

    Tristan Snell @TristanSnell
    Trump’s lawyers told him to cut off all contact with Mark Meadows — and two days later the FBI shows up at Mar-a-Lago.
    Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe not.

  136. 136.

    oatler

    August 9, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    This afternoon my bus driver was listening to hate-radio and the talk was all about This Means War. The Qanon Ricochet site is full of pants-loaded terror and, of course, Civil War.

  137. 137.

    Feathers

    August 9, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    Dark Melania?

    When I first saw the Dark Brandon meme I laughed my ass off, thinking of the Jungian shadow self. As one does. Jung held that everyone has a shadow side that they deny. We normally think of a good person having a dark side, but an evil person’s shadow self would be good.

    So the right wing created Brandon, an evil twin of Biden (a good guy), however Brandon has morphed into Dark Brandon, who is a super double good Biden with extra super powers. Too wonderful.

    But yeah, Dark Melania is just a dream. Hope Baron is doing OK, but it’s sort of a hope against hope.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s probably too soon for DOJ to have looked at Alex Jones’s phone, but that’s just another weird timeline thing. We’ll find out eventually, it’s just so odd for nobody to know what’s actually going on. Except Trump.

  138. 138.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 9, 2022 at 9:02 pm

    @oatler:

    and, of course, Civil War.

    This is why it’s hard to predict and prosecute shit like Jan 6, because conservatives are such frenzied, elaborate violence fantasists.  Every single time they lose, they start screeching about how they have all the guns and it’s time for Civil War.  Strangely, they all seem to wait for someone else to fight it for them.

  139. 139.

    Raoul Paste

    August 9, 2022 at 9:29 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  If Meadows flipped, he’s going to be personna-non-grata in a lot of places

  140. 140.

    different-church-lady

    August 9, 2022 at 9:32 pm

    @Raoul Paste: Won’t get invited to any more parties on Martha’s Vineyard?

  141. 141.

    Raoul Paste

    August 9, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    @different-church-lady: I’m thinking more like the entire state of North Carolina

  142. 142.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 9, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    @Raoul Paste: I’m not counting any chickens, and I’ve always thought MM was a true believer as opposed to most of trump’s cabinet who saw him as a useful idiot,  but I imagine the prospect of massive legal bills plus the possibility of jail would be clarifying

  143. 143.

    dm

    August 9, 2022 at 10:00 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Meadows thinks he has a chance at the Presidency.  He’s not particularly good at reading the room.

     

    What ever happened to that hyper-secret server in the White House basement where the readout of Trump’s “perfect” call with Zelinsky was supposedly stored?

    I suppose it’s only natural that we wouldn’t hear about the fate of a code-word only server in a SCIF, but I’ve been wondering….

  144. 144.

    Burnspbesq

    August 10, 2022 at 12:30 am

    @dmsilev:

    Does Jared have a law degree?

    He’s allergic to work. Law school would have killed him.

  145. 145.

    Nettoyeur

    August 10, 2022 at 12:55 am

    @Geminid: No need. Herschel Walker IS a sandbag. Trump hate us Georgia forever, Precious.

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