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He did steal stuff, even if it does seem like the Executive Branch gets to decide what is classified [1]

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Date: 2022-09-19

Sturm und Drang.

Finally, some rationality: only the Executive Branch determines classifying and trying to make lawfare declassify them violates some version of common sense. Stealing the documents is the crime, and he lied about it. They might even be more valuable because they may compromise national security, especially if he showed “eyes only” material to random Mar-a-Lago club members.

Trump calls the National Archives a “radical left controlled” institution, and repeats bogus claims that they put content warnings on the Constitution and other founding documents. He’s running out of excuses.

x I’m sketching another drawing to get a mental picture of what, exactly, this Special Master is supposed to be doing. The non-evidentiary personal records and A-C privilege are a very small part of what’s been seized. Literally everything else belongs to gov (draft not to scale) pic.twitter.com/7tbPdoNpGM — Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) September 19, 2022

x In a recent filing before the 11th Circuit, the DOJ appealed a judge’s decision to bar investigators from using the classified material seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home for their probe against him, @jacq_thomsen reports https://t.co/B5UlPBb3Ga 1/5 pic.twitter.com/sgrbkBPYiE — Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) September 19, 2022

The DOJ said the circuit court should halt part of the lower court decision that prevents prosecutors from relying on the classified documents in their criminal investigation into the retention of government records at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence after his presidency ended 2/5

In addition, the department requested that Special Master Raymond Dearie, who was tasked with reviewing all the records seized in the federal raid, not be allowed to review the classified documents 3/5

In the unprecedented search of the former president's property, the Justice Department has said it is investigating the retention of government records with some marked as highly classified, including 'top secret,' as well as obstruction of a federal probe 4/5

reut.rs/3Ul2OrY 5/5 Justice Dept. asks appeals court to allow review of classified documents in Trump probe The Justice Department must now convince the Atlanta-based appeals court, composed of 11 judges of which six are Trump appointees, to take its side in litigation over the records probe

• • •

x BREAKING: in an amicus brief filed by many of the same people whose brief was rejected by Cannon, they argue that neither the court nor a special master has the authority to determine whether records are classified. ONLY the executive branch ALONE can do that. 1/ pic.twitter.com/BBC1KhTFRb — Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) September 19, 2022

Also, they can find NO CASE where top secret stuff has been given to defense lawyers, especially in the pre-indictment phase, and besides, trump never argued that he actually declassified anything, so the judges ruling was based on bridge trolls and cigarettes (paraphrasing) 2/

And a great argument about rule 41g: Donald has no possessory interest, nor does he even have the clearance to look at them because he’s not the effing president. 3/

Ha! Here they remind the court that when Donald cited Kavanaugh’s suggestion that a former president MIGHT have executive privilege against the current POTUS, he was talking about CONGRESS trying to get docs, not the executive. 4/

And, how come trump didn’t cry “executive privilege” when he handed over classified docs in response to the May subpoena? Executive privilege can’t apply to a search but not a subpoena, dummy. You only cried executive privilege when you got caught lying. (Paraphrasing) 5/

Besides, this twice impeached schlub is a plain old citizen just like the rest of us and isn’t entitled to ANY greater protection under the law then we are. 👊 6/

“There is no principled reason for applying a different rule to a FPOTUS and endowing them with rights greater than afforded to other citizens. To do so would undermine the ‘appearance of fairness & integrity’ that the court sought to protect in its order.” Chef’s kiss. 7/

Here’s a link to the full Amicus Brief filed with the 11th circuit. Proposed Amicus Brief to 11th Circuit Appealing Judge Cannon's Special Master Order.pdf

• • •

x Trump calls the National Archives a “radical left controlled” institution, and repeats bogus claims that they put content warnings on the Constitution and other founding documents. The archives referred Trump’s retention of classified documents to the DOJ in February. pic.twitter.com/7XOpDu8K3f — nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) September 19, 2022

x Here’s Judge Cannon’s bid for permanent ignominy. She ends her denial of a stay by saying (in effect) former presidents are entitled to special treatment. https://t.co/ROsdCFLfb8 — Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 15, 2022

Former president Donald Trump warned that if he were indicted on a charge of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, there would be “problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before.” Trump, speaking Thursday to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, added, “I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.”

Hewitt, who is also a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, then noted that critics would describe the comment as inciting violence, and he asked Trump to respond to the claim. “That’s not inciting — I’m just saying what my opinion is. I don’t think the people of this country would stand for it,” Trump said.

When pressed by Hewitt, Trump said he thought there would be “big problems, big problems.”

Federal agents conducted a court-authorized search of Trump’s club and residence Aug. 8, as part of a long-running investigation into whether government documents — some of which are classified — were being stored at Mar-a-Lago instead of returned to the National Archives. www.washingtonpost.com/...

x Just a reminder that the "Storm" referenced below is the big end date for QAnon, when Trump is supposed to round up all of his political enemies and hang them in public after a brief military tribunal.



I have no idea if he knows this, but he shouldn't be playing around with it. pic.twitter.com/T2kg32wmfg — Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 13, 2022

“It’s kind of a spectrum of Q to at this point,” CNN’s Elle Reeve, who is writing a book on extremism, told me after the Jan. 6 riot: “people who are like, ‘no, I’m not that deep into Q, but who can’t get behind taking out pedophiles? No one likes pedophiles!’ ”

Meanwhile, polling indicated that a sizable portion of the population continued to adhere to even the most bizarre elements of what QAnon had long claimed. Meanwhile, the Biden administration continued to warn about the danger posed by domestic extremism, including QAnon.

“The fact that Q is more palatable to more people makes it much more dangerous,” Reeve said, comparing it to White nationalist rhetoric. “Because it means, of the huge group that believes in it, the small number who are willing to take violent action will be like an absolute larger number.”

That there’s a huge group that believes Trump is the nation’s salvation against evil has not escaped the former president’s attention. Last week, he elevated a QAnon meme on the social-media platform he owns. www.washingtonpost.com/…

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