The New York Times is reporting tonight that FBI agents raided the Palm Beach home of former president Donald Trump this morning. The agents were said to have stayed in the residence for several hours, and according to Trump, “They even broke into my safe!”
On Lawrence O'Donnell's show, presidential historian Michael Beschloss noted the coincidence and added that a month before he resigned Nixon and his buddy Bebe Rebozo went to check out -- wait for it -- Mar-a-Lago as a possible southern White House.
I come home from work to this welcome news-because despite his utter incapacity to understand that this is not a witch hunt, the feds are after Donald Trump for real!
Lord, love a duck! I hope they get the goods on him and nail him good. He thinks he's too good for getting caught stealing our property? Hows about giving it back to us, you slime ball?
Read a column in the New Yorker about the newest book out and if even half of it's true, he should be put in Florence ADX and left to rot.
This is more than presidential records. This is about highly sensitive intelligence information. Minor records violations would not lead to searching of an ex-president’s properties. Big news indeed
He's probably going to have to spring for a worker especially assigned to remove ketchup from walls from this point on. Heinz must be chortling over the news.
If your stomach can take it, tune in to Fox to see what they are saying about the raid. I do so from time to time as a sanity check because I can see and hear what real loons are saying. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.
TFG was so busy crimin' that he had no time for presidentin'
Perhaps the FBI knew exactly what was taken in those 15 boxes. So they know what he kept when the boxes were returned. Another sleepless night at mar-a-lardo.
Indicted, convicted, imprisoned, humiliated. I want it all so badly....
Not enough can be said about the absolute Sociopathy of Donald. His expectation is always to tell any lie, manipulate any circumstance, grift any opportunity, destroy any norm and all people involved…and get away with it. It’s worked for him so far, trained as he was by Roy Cohn and his awful father to become the monster that he has been for most of his life. We are all held hostage watching this hideous ‘person’ continuing to weasel out of any consequences for his entire life. All we can do is continue to hope for justice, plead for it and demand it.
Excellent points, Lucian! I am thinking, though, that it's odd that the press isn't asking the obvious follow-up questions. What is on the news is that the feds were looking for classified documents that Trump had taken and not returned. I see a few problems with this:
(1) Why would Trump care about classified documents enough to break federal laws to retain them?
(2) What could those documents do for him? My guess is that after you've been president, you never want to see another classified document. How could those classified documents be of use to him, other than to impress his friends and donors?
(3) If you're trying to avoid prosecution, don't you (if you're a bad guy) generally destroy incriminating documents, not retain them? Certainly, this is the pattern we've seen so far with Trump and his associates.
(4) What documents (assuming they're the incriminating variety, not just plans for the next world war) would be of use to Trump?
My own first guess was that he had documents from subordinates that he could use to take them down with him if they testified against him. But to be fair, this is not what any of the news "sources" are saying. As you point out, whatever these documents were, the evidence of a crime having been committed was great enough for a federal judge to sign off on a raid on a former president's residence. The DOJ had to have significant evidence already to make this happen.
If you have any thoughts here, please don't hold back.
Some of the intelligence was described as being so sensitive it can't be categorized publicly. A judge would ok a warrant like this only if investigators could convince him/her the crime is grave. This is stuff he kept after he was forced to return 15 boxes of secrets he took off with. The guy has proven himself so sociopathic that it almost seems silly to suspect him of normal-person motives. (CX later: Stuff may have been in the 15 boxes, not in addition to it. Maybe both.)
When I read that, I wondered if they had to go to the FISA court to get the warrant, because if the material is that sensitive, they have to have special clearance just to touch it, let alone read it.
Oh, I'm just salivating that Trump is finally on the shit list for good. I hope it all comes together so that he can't get away with it any more.
Even sociopaths have motives, maybe not normal motives but motives nonetheless. The weird thing about sensitive intelligence is that it is of no use to most of us because we have nothing we could do with it. Bad guys either sell it to other bad guys or use it to extort or leverage. Maybe there's a use I'm forgetting, but it's hard to see how that fits here.
Considering that evidence in the form of photos are coming forth showing some toilets exactly as they were found with material in them, you have to wonder if that triggered this search.
Lucian, Please continue to report on this story. On any story, you do a great job of pulling and vetting information, researching, connecting the pieces and then reporting the story in a logical way.
The verbal/visual media cannot do that. I was away when this story broker earlier today. Haven't turned on radio, TV, or internet (until just now). And I have everything I need to know right here. Thanks,
Love your comments, but don't call it a "raid". That language plays into the Republican's attempts to de-legitimize this fully legal action by the FBI. Please be careful about all lanuage since the right is trying to re-language everything to make it sound sleazy and illegitimate when in fact our side is law-abiding and following proper procedures.
Pathological liar that he is, the part about breaking into his safe doesn't even make sense. It's almost certainly not true, or if it is, it's because he refused to have it opened for them. I'm all stocked up on popcorn! Let the next scene play on.
8/8/74 Nixon Resigned.
8/8/22 DOJ and FBI prove how droll they can be.
On Lawrence O'Donnell's show, presidential historian Michael Beschloss noted the coincidence and added that a month before he resigned Nixon and his buddy Bebe Rebozo went to check out -- wait for it -- Mar-a-Lago as a possible southern White House.
I come home from work to this welcome news-because despite his utter incapacity to understand that this is not a witch hunt, the feds are after Donald Trump for real!
Lord, love a duck! I hope they get the goods on him and nail him good. He thinks he's too good for getting caught stealing our property? Hows about giving it back to us, you slime ball?
Read a column in the New Yorker about the newest book out and if even half of it's true, he should be put in Florence ADX and left to rot.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/inside-the-war-between-trump-and-his-generals
He's a traitor, plain and simple.
A traitor ...and he had quite a nice free ride on our tax dollars
The big bonus is that most of the GOP "leadership" is once again showing its true colors to the world, and OMG are they ugly.
I read that New Yorker article. The authors spent a lot of time listening to General Milley unload his brain about the Trump WH.
thank you for that link to give insight into Mark Milley's influence (or lack of) in the events leading up to j6.
Thank you for this link. Wow. I'm still reeling.
This is more than presidential records. This is about highly sensitive intelligence information. Minor records violations would not lead to searching of an ex-president’s properties. Big news indeed
Oh, the dishes and ketchup will be flying!
He's probably going to have to spring for a worker especially assigned to remove ketchup from walls from this point on. Heinz must be chortling over the news.
If your stomach can take it, tune in to Fox to see what they are saying about the raid. I do so from time to time as a sanity check because I can see and hear what real loons are saying. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.
TFG was so busy crimin' that he had no time for presidentin'
Perhaps the FBI knew exactly what was taken in those 15 boxes. So they know what he kept when the boxes were returned. Another sleepless night at mar-a-lardo.
Indicted, convicted, imprisoned, humiliated. I want it all so badly....
Not enough can be said about the absolute Sociopathy of Donald. His expectation is always to tell any lie, manipulate any circumstance, grift any opportunity, destroy any norm and all people involved…and get away with it. It’s worked for him so far, trained as he was by Roy Cohn and his awful father to become the monster that he has been for most of his life. We are all held hostage watching this hideous ‘person’ continuing to weasel out of any consequences for his entire life. All we can do is continue to hope for justice, plead for it and demand it.
Excellent points, Lucian! I am thinking, though, that it's odd that the press isn't asking the obvious follow-up questions. What is on the news is that the feds were looking for classified documents that Trump had taken and not returned. I see a few problems with this:
(1) Why would Trump care about classified documents enough to break federal laws to retain them?
(2) What could those documents do for him? My guess is that after you've been president, you never want to see another classified document. How could those classified documents be of use to him, other than to impress his friends and donors?
(3) If you're trying to avoid prosecution, don't you (if you're a bad guy) generally destroy incriminating documents, not retain them? Certainly, this is the pattern we've seen so far with Trump and his associates.
(4) What documents (assuming they're the incriminating variety, not just plans for the next world war) would be of use to Trump?
My own first guess was that he had documents from subordinates that he could use to take them down with him if they testified against him. But to be fair, this is not what any of the news "sources" are saying. As you point out, whatever these documents were, the evidence of a crime having been committed was great enough for a federal judge to sign off on a raid on a former president's residence. The DOJ had to have significant evidence already to make this happen.
If you have any thoughts here, please don't hold back.
Some of the intelligence was described as being so sensitive it can't be categorized publicly. A judge would ok a warrant like this only if investigators could convince him/her the crime is grave. This is stuff he kept after he was forced to return 15 boxes of secrets he took off with. The guy has proven himself so sociopathic that it almost seems silly to suspect him of normal-person motives. (CX later: Stuff may have been in the 15 boxes, not in addition to it. Maybe both.)
When I read that, I wondered if they had to go to the FISA court to get the warrant, because if the material is that sensitive, they have to have special clearance just to touch it, let alone read it.
Oh, I'm just salivating that Trump is finally on the shit list for good. I hope it all comes together so that he can't get away with it any more.
Terrifying to realize he was privy to the most classified information
Even sociopaths have motives, maybe not normal motives but motives nonetheless. The weird thing about sensitive intelligence is that it is of no use to most of us because we have nothing we could do with it. Bad guys either sell it to other bad guys or use it to extort or leverage. Maybe there's a use I'm forgetting, but it's hard to see how that fits here.
I thought he was illiterate. Maybe he took them for one of his handlers or his puppet master Putin.
Even the safe! Is nothing sacred? Should’ve put it behind a portrait. They wouldn’t have found it.
I wonder if they checked the toilets and the sewage since Trump was known for tearing and flushing documents.
Considering that evidence in the form of photos are coming forth showing some toilets exactly as they were found with material in them, you have to wonder if that triggered this search.
Thank you God! (She IS listening!)
Lucian, Please continue to report on this story. On any story, you do a great job of pulling and vetting information, researching, connecting the pieces and then reporting the story in a logical way.
The verbal/visual media cannot do that. I was away when this story broker earlier today. Haven't turned on radio, TV, or internet (until just now). And I have everything I need to know right here. Thanks,
If I were DT, I would not sleep well tonight.
Love your comments, but don't call it a "raid". That language plays into the Republican's attempts to de-legitimize this fully legal action by the FBI. Please be careful about all lanuage since the right is trying to re-language everything to make it sound sleazy and illegitimate when in fact our side is law-abiding and following proper procedures.
To compare the Watergate break in to the FBI serving a search warrant is some kind of twisted logic.
Pathological liar that he is, the part about breaking into his safe doesn't even make sense. It's almost certainly not true, or if it is, it's because he refused to have it opened for them. I'm all stocked up on popcorn! Let the next scene play on.
The noose tightens....