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"That is not a defense to that charge. That is an admission to the charge." [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-06-14
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The title of this post was a ready-made meme produced by Andrew Weissman last night, summing up the “non-defense” spouted by the criminally-accused — and very rattled — MAGA cult leader.
Being booked by the Federal authorities — on over 3 dozen counts — can have that effect on a person.
Former FBI Lawyer, MSNBC Analyst Says Trump Just Admitted to a Crime
www.thedailybeast.com — June 14, 2023
[...] Speaking from his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, Trump insisted he had “every right” to have those documents. Yet [former FBI general counsel and MSNBC legal analyst Andrew] Weissman told MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell that that wasn’t the defense Trump may believe it to be. “One thing it’s important for everyone to know is [that] those statements that you just played are admissible as admissions, regardless of whether Donald Trump takes the stand or not,” Weissmann said, adding, “Part of what he said is just a straight-out confession. It’s not a defense. It’s a confession.” He explained further: “When you are charged with the illegal retention—the illegal possession of the documents—it is not a good idea to say, ‘Hey, you want to know why I took these? Because I could.’ That is not a defense to that charge. That is an admission to the charge.”
This was in response to the “defense” Trump made at his NJ golf resort, the evening after being arraigned on 37 Federal charges:
Hours later, Trump delivered a speech from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he claimed he had “every right under the Presidential Records Act” to take the documents. www.mediaite.com — June 13, 2023
That link has a video of the Weissman statements dissecting the Trump admissions.
For the record, the Presidential Records Act does not authorize Trump to abscond with nuclear secrets, or other products of American national security agencies. Quite the contrary, if the truth be told:
Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. The Presidential Records Act says that, the moment a president leaves office, NARA gets custody and control of all presidential records from his administration. Nothing in the law says there should be a negotiation between a former president and NARA over a former president’s return of presidential documents – much less that there should have been a months long battle after NARA first contacted Trump’s team in 2021 to try to get some of the records that had not been handed over at the end of his presidency. The key sentence from the Presidential Records Act is unequivocal: “Upon the conclusion of a President’s term of office, or if a President serves consecutive terms upon the conclusion of the last term, the Archivist of the United States shall assume responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records of that President.” Jason R. Baron, former director of litigation at NARA, told CNN in a March 2023 email: “The former President is simply wrong as a matter of law. As of noon on January 20, 2021, when President Biden took office, all presidential records of the Trump Administration came into the legal custody of the Archivist of the United States. Full stop. That means no presidential records ever should have been transferred to Mar-a-Lago, and there was no further talking or negotiating to be had.” Timothy Naftali, a CNN presidential historian, New York University professor and former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, described Trump’s claim as “nonsense” and said the former president’s description of the Presidential Records Act is “a matter of fantasy,” concocted to allow Trump to “pretend that he’s a victim.” www.cnn.com — June 6, 2023
Trump may think this Jedi mind-trick will work on his followers ...
Donald you’re no Obi Wan, dude ...
But the Special Counsel is the real Jedi, in this story. He’s produced such a “damning” case against Darth Trump, that he’s “scared shitless” — and admitting to more and more crimes nearly every time his does his “double-down” shtick.
Instead Donald you’re more like Gollum with every passing day.
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Trump isn’t running to be president, he’s running to be pardoned — and to get “his retribution.”
Just what the country doesn’t need. Again.
More flushing … from the Trump’s throne-room …
[END]
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