I was distracted when I heard it, but something about Fulton County publishing 13 indictments of Trump and then yanking it back down crossed my radar. Any one got any info on this?
Trump Crime Cartel
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: ‘Aspirational Asks’ and Related KKKlownery
Every little Repub legal mind wants a turn in the spotlight, for some reason…
As “aspirational ask” enters the same lexicon as “I am not a crook” John Lauro turns himself into a laughing stock. https://t.co/IQ33WkFMEK
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) August 6, 2023
technically the constitution doesn't let you be a dictator https://t.co/tfN1cxdjul
— gdp breatharian (@revhowardarson) August 6, 2023
Tuesday Evening Open Thread: ‘Aspirational Asks’ and Related KKKlowneryPost + Comments (106)
4 charges
Trump indicted on 4 charges in DC
Update 1: The indictment is here. I am not a lawyer, nor do I ever want to be one, but it sure seems that the attorneys who wrote the document enjoyed their work. It is a fast 45 page read.
Update 2: Just who are the unindicted co-conspirators:
Putting names to the list of six co-conspirators:
1 (a) = Rudy Giuliani
2 (b) = John Eastman
3 (c) = Sidney Powell
4 (d) = Jeffrey Clark
5 (e) = Ken Chesebro
6 (f) = ??? https://t.co/wRKtNSLK0E— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) August 1, 2023
Welp…
So this has happened:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump faced new charges Thursday in a case accusing him of illegally possessing classified documents, with prosecutors alleging that he asked a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate in an effort to obstruct a federal investigation into the records.
The indictment includes new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information, adding fresh detail to an indictment issued last month against Trump and a close aide. The additional charges came as a surprise at a time of escalating anticipation of a possible additional indictment in Washington over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
I continue to regret my failure to purchase popcorn futures at the appropriate time.
Over to the jackaltariat! (Open, if schadenfreude doused thread.)
Image: Dirk Hals, Merry Party in a a TavernMerry Party in a a Tavern, 1628
Forge around and find out — Michigan edition
The AP is reporting that the state of Michigan is filing multiple felony charges for each of the 16 Republicans who signed a fake electoral vote certificate.
I AM SO NOT A LAWYER, but reading through the felony complaints, I would imagine there are strong incentives for people to plead and squeal.
Forge around and find out — Michigan editionPost + Comments (46)
Repub Venality Open Thread: The Bedminster Mysteries
It’s not just Mar-a-Lago: Trump charges highlight his New Jersey life. A dive w/@JaxAlemany and @hsu_spencer on the president’s other club, its significant role in his legal trouble and his life there: https://t.co/3dKsdpglxj
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) June 28, 2023
Long, but worth reading in full (should be paywall-free):
… Prosecutors accuse Trump of showing off classified documents to employees and others not authorized to see them — not once, but twice at his sprawling golf club on the rural plains of New Jersey.
According to the indictment, Trump bragged in July 2021 about a sensitive military plan with two of his staffers, as well as the writer and publisher of a forthcoming book from his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, during a session at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.
In an audio recording of the session near the club’s pool, Trump can be heard acknowledging the secrecy of the documents to the group — who included communications staffers Liz Harrington and Margo Martin, according to people familiar with the matter, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the criminal case…
Trump’s behavior in New Jersey is yet another data point showing that the former president did not simply stash the boxes of sensitive documents, unopened and untouched, in the basement of his Florida club and forget about them. Instead, advisers said he was personally attached to and hyper-aware of the boxes, instructing that at least some of them accompany him from place-to-place, and appeared aware of what was inside…
Repub Venality Open Thread: The Bedminster MysteriesPost + Comments (162)
Republican Venality Open Thread: (More) Self-Incrimation From TFG
New audio from America’s (No Longer Official) Hoarder-in-Chief, as described by Josh Marshall at TPM:
CNN got a copy of the audio recording noted in the Mar-a-Lago indictment in which Trump shows off highly classified military plans for an attack on Iran to some randoms who were putting together a biography of Mark Meadows. I’m not sure which is more shocking: that he was doing this or that someone was writing a Mark Meadows bio. But however that may be, CNN has the recording. It was from 2021 and the recording was made at Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
It’s about as it was described in the indictment. But hearing it does make it come alive in a different way. He’s so guilty as sin it really does beggar belief. He says it’s highly classified; that it would be cool if he could declassify it now but he can’t because he’s no longer President; and he’s showing it to just random people. The recording makes clear that he’s entirely aware of every link in the chain of criminality. You can listen to it here.
I’m certainly not willing to exonerate Trump of eventual plans to share or sell or profit, literally or figuratively for disclosing the contents of these documents to others. I just resist those theories because they’re too literal, too limited. The conversation caught on tape here captures a lot of why he held on to this stuff.
It meant he still had juice, had secrets he could hold over people. He could reward people or punish them…
There are so many people Trump is mad at or wants to get back at I wouldn’t even have remembered that this is one of his grievances. But clearly it is. It’s another chit. Something he’s got over Milley. For Trump it’s all about how he can help you or hurt you. In his mind these documents give him juice. That’s why he wants them. It’s power. And in his mind they’re really his anyway, just like the whole US government was and, he hopes, could be again in less than two years.
I put the tweets with the actual recording at the end of this post, below the fold.
In another place:
Among the many lives Trump has ruined, and he doesn’t care about any of them. https://t.co/ZRV5MqXMgd
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) June 27, 2023
… Brian Mock of Minnesota was arrested in June 2021 and was later indicted on several charges including civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; and theft of government property. His bench trial before Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, where Mock is representing himself pro se, began last week and is set to resume on July 11, when Mock will retake the stand in his own defense.
Mock’s son A.J. Mock was one of several tipsters who turned him into the FBI after the Capitol attack. The younger Mock indicated in his testimony that his father told him that he might not come back after Jan. 6…
“What you guys did today was treason and a homeland security threat … Everyone there should be locked up for the rest of their lives, including you,” A.J. Mock wrote in a message to his dad that was introduced as evidence at trial. “You STORMED THE F—ING CAPITOL.” …
Republican Venality Open Thread: (More) Self-Incrimation From TFGPost + Comments (70)