A smorgasbord of schadenfreude

Watching MSNBC was even more delightful than usual tonight. A high point was learning that Sarah Palin was roundly trounced by Mary Peltola in a special election that will put a Democrat in the House from Alaska for the first time in 50 years. Peltola, who is from the indigenous tribe of the Yup’ik, will be the first Alaskan Native and the first woman to hold that House seat.

Then there was more news about the problems faced by Trump’s lawyers. Alina Habba, who represents Trump in a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James against the Trump Organization, signed a certification that she had searched Mar a Lago (as well as the Trump Tower office and Bedminster) for documents that had been subpoenaed in the lawsuit. Habba signed the certification just days before the DOJ issued a subpoena in May for documents and other material Trump had taken from the White House. On June 3, Trump lawyer Christina Bobb signed a similar certification that she had searched everywhere in Mar a Lago, including the so-called storage room, Trump’s residence, and his office, for the documents sought by the National Archives and subpoenaed by the DOJ.

Both lawyers certified that they hadn’t found a thing that was responsive to the two subpoenas. It was also reported that another Trump lawyer, Evan Corcoran, had given the DOJ a verbal assurance that Mar a Lago had been searched from top to bottom and no secret documents or any other materials taken from the White House had been found.

All three Trump lawyers are now facing possible charges for having lied, Habba to a New York State Court, and Corcoran and Bobb to the Department of Justice. Lying to the FBI in an interview or to the DOJ in an official proceeding, carries a penalty of up to five years in federal prison. And if they are not charged, all three are now potential witnesses and therefore can no longer represent Trump due to conflicts of interest.

In a Truth Social post this morning, Trump slammed the DOJ response to his motion for a special master, asserting that it was “terrible" that the FBI "during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see. Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified!"

The documents shown in the photo taken by the FBI during its search on August 8 were found in the position marked by the FBI as exhibit “2A.” The L-shaped ruler positioned on the floor near the documents was placed there by an FBI agent as standard practice to show scale in the photograph which may become evidence in a potential trial of the former president for violating the Espionage Act, as well as for obstructing justice.

The documents shown in the FBI photo were present in that position on the floor of Trump’s office in June when Trump’s lawyer Christina Bobb certified that she had searched the whole of Mar a Lago, including Trump’s office, looking for the documents subpoenaed by the DOJ. Apparently, Bobb failed to look on the floor of Trump’s office, because there they were.

It just gets better and better, doesn’t it?

Watch this space.