Mar-a-Lago

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      FBI materials seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home included 90 empty folders

      by

      FBI materials seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home included 90 empty foldersRevelation raises possibility that some of government’s most highly sensitive documents may still be unaccounted for Among the items the FBI retrieved from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort this month were 90 empty folders marked classified or for return to the White House staff secretary or a military aide, according to a detailed inventory of items made public on Friday.The inventory – unsealed by a federal judge overseeing the former president’s request to get a so-called special master to determine what materials the justice department can use in its investigation – provided the fullest picture to date of what Trump had retained.New legal filings paint Trump as a flailing liar surrounded by lackeys | Lloyd GreenRead moreIn itemizing the contents of boxes of seized materials, the inventory, put together by the justice department, showed the FBI retrieved 71 empty folders from Trump’s office and 19 empty folders from a storage room when agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.The empty folders carried one of two designations, according to the inventory: some files had “Classified” banners, while other files were labeled “Return to Staff Secretary/Military Aide”, appearing to indicate that highly sensitive documents were not returned as designated.The startling discovery immediately raised, for the first time, the prospect that some of the US government’s most closely guarded secrets could remain unaccounted for, even after the FBI went through Mar-a-Lago and retrieved vast amounts of materials from the property.Still, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is conducting a risk assessment – not a damage assessment – of Trump’s unauthorized retention of classified documents, signaling that at least for now, it believes the material has not otherwise been compromised.Federal agents also seized thousands of government documents – some with classification markings ranging from “Confidential” to “Top Secret”, and others that appeared to be presidential records – as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine clippings from 2008 to 2020, gifts and clothes, the inventory showed.In a status report from its case team conducting the criminal investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents that accompanied the inventory, the justice department said that although it had completed an initial review of the materials, its full review process was ongoing.“The seized materials will continue to be used to further the government’s investigation, and the investigative team will continue to use and evaluate the seized materials as it takes further investigative steps, such as through additional witness interviews and grand jury practices,” it read.The justice department added in the status report that it intended to use all evidence about the documents, including their nature and their location, to inform the criminal investigation examining potential obstruction and potential violations of the Espionage Act.Trump remained quiet about the release of the inventory on Friday, though a spokesman said it showed the FBI overreached: “The new ‘detailed’ inventory list only further proves that this unprecedented and unnecessary raid of President Trump’s home … was a smash and grab.”The detailed list of 33 boxes seized from Mar-a-Lago, which followed the release of the initial property receipt filled out by the FBI at the time of the search, additionally provided more information about how sensitive documents were commingled with more general items Trump potentially kept as souvenirs.Item number 26 – described by the Justice department as a “Box/Container from Storage Room” – included, for example, eight press clippings from 2017-2020, three documents marked “Top Secret”, an article of clothing, a book, and 1,841 government documents or photographs without classification markings.The chaotic and wide-ranging contents of the boxes reflected previous reporting by the Guardian and others that the West Wing and the White House residence was packed up in a hurry, and in haphazard fashion, during the final days and hours of the Trump presidency.Trump was something of a “pack rat” who hoarded materials he saw as his, according to former aides, and partly as a consequence of his refusal to accept he lost the 2020 election, many items from the White House were collected into boxes that were transported to Mar-a-Lago.The items listed in the inventory have already been screened for potential attorney-client privilege, the justice department said. Judge Aileen Cannon is expected to rule shortly on whether to grant Trump’s request to have a special master conduct the filter instead.At least 320 classified documents have been recovered from Mar-a-Lago since January. More than 100 of those were seized in the August search. The justice department has also released a photograph of folders marked “Secret” and “Top secret” scattered over a Mar-a-Lago carpet. Some were stamped “NOFORN”, indicating they should not be seen by any non-US citizen without permission.Trump has decried the investigation as a politically motivated attack on him and nearly all top Republicans have closed ranks around him and rallied to his defense. His lawyers have sought to argue that the case should be treated akin to failing to return a late library book – not a real threat or conspiracy.Trump has never explained his motive in retaining the documents, and top Democrats have said his resistance to returning them to the justice department – even after being subpoenaed – is evidence of obstruction that the justice department should prosecute.Democrats have also said the documents reveal a fundamental lawlessness in Trump’s behavior, characterized by acting with impunity and a disregard for the US norms and traditions that usually govern former presidents.At the same time the scandal has probably harmed Trump’s frequent hints that he wants to run for the White House again in 2024. Joe Biden has used the FBI search as part of a general warning of the extremist nature of Trump and his followers which in a primetime speech on Thursday night he portrayed as a growing threat to American democracy and a potential cause of political violence.Since the FBI raid numerous law enforcement officials have warned that federal buildings and government workers are at risk of attack, especially as rightwing politicians and media pundits have sought to blame them for seeking to stop any Trump political comeback.TopicsDonald TrumpMar-a-LagoFBIUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      New legal filings paint Trump as a flailing liar surrounded by lackeys | Lloyd Green

      by

      New legal filings paint Trump as a flailing liar surrounded by lackeysLloyd Green‘I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information,’ Trump once vowed. As promises go, that one aged badly As a first-time presidential candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly demanded that Hillary Clinton be sent to jail. “Lock her up” emerged as a battle cry for the 45th president and his fans. He also pledged that his presidency would properly handle the nation’s secrets.Justice department details conclusions from FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – liveRead more“In my administration, I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information,” he intoned at a 2016 rally in North Carolina. “No one will be above the law.” As promises go, this one aged badly – much like his commitment to release his tax returns.On Tuesday night, the government filed its 36-page opposition to the ex-reality-show host’s demand that a special master be appointed. (A special master is an independent mediator appointed to go through documents and determine which may be protected by privilege.)Trump’s gambit backfired, however. Once again, he looks like a liar. Beyond that, his lawyers became his lackeys. Christina Bobb meet William Barr.In early June, Trump and Bobb, Trump’s attorney and a former marine, delivered to the government a packet of documents in a sealed folder. A certificate signed by Bobb attested to the fact that “any and all responsive documents accompany this certification”.Apparently not. Instead, the government subsequently “developed evidence” that “efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation”. Who was involved in the conspiracy is an unanswered question.Regardless, it is now official: Trump will be on the midterm ballot even if his name does not appear. The upcoming congressional elections won’t be a normal referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency. Instead, 2022 will sound a lot like a rerun of 2020. A once anticipated red tsunami is now looking more like a “puddle”.On that score, ask media mogul Rupert Murdoch; he can tell you. Just hours before the government filed its latest round of paperwork, Murdoch’s New York Post published an editorial that decried the reemergence of Trump in the national spotlight and its likely impact on Republicans’ chances.“He lost in 2020 because too many Americans – especially moderates – had gotten sick of his self-indulgent behavior,” the Post wrote. “Since then, his egomania has only grown.”In case anyone forgot, in Fire and Fury, the first installment of Michael Wolff’s trilogy of Trump tell-alls, Murdoch referred to Trump as “a fucking idiot” after the two men had ended a phone call. And Fox’s Sean Hannity is caught saying, of Trump: “What the fuck is wrong with him?”These days, Fox News and its corporate parent are defendants in a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems in connection with the network’s alleged role in spreading the “big lie”. According to reports, Murdoch, his son Lachlan, Hannity, and Tucker Carlson are all expected to testify at deposition.Meanwhile, Trump and his minions are threatening violence if things don’t go their way. “There literally will be riots in the street,” Senator Lindsey Graham told interviewers. Trump shared a clip of Graham’s interview on his beleaguered social media vehicle, Truth Social.Said differently, the Republican party is in the process of losing its reputation for law, order and national security. On the right, the drumbeat for defunding the FBI grows louder. Beyond that, Republicans’ relationship to democracy grows more strained.Larry Hogan, Maryland’s outgoing Republican governor, said as much the other day. In an interview with CBS, he acknowledged that authoritarianism had found a nesting place in what was once the party of Abraham Lincoln. “There’s no question we see some signs,” Hogan said.It has been years in the making. Republican politicians have embraced Trump as strongman-lite. In a 2016 radio broadcast, Paul LePage, then governor of Maine, made Trump’s authoritarian streak a selling point. “Our constitution is not only broken,” LePage declared, “but we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country.” The Republican party knew who it was getting.Whether the Democrats can find a message that resonates with swing-voters remains to be seen. Upstairs-downstairs coalitions are inherently unstable.Yet outrage at the US supreme court’s anti-abortion rights decision in Dobbs has spurred voter registration among women and younger Americans. In a recent special election in rural upstate New York, a Democrat pulled off an upset. Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh are not as wise as they fancy themselves.Sadly, the conditions that led to Trump’s electoral college win in 2016 remain – even if he eventually winds up behind bars. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the sharpest drop in US life expectancy in a century, and that drug overdoses reached a record high.America ails; Trump is but one more symptom. On Thursday, the court will hear arguments on his motion. Don’t expect any indictments – if any – until after the fall’s elections. Thanksgiving and Christmas stand to be interesting.
      Lloyd Green served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992
      TopicsDonald TrumpOpinionRepublicansUS politicsMar-a-LagocommentReuse this content More

    • 188 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      FBI searched Trump Mar-a-Lago home over ‘likely’ efforts to hide classified files, justice department says

      by

      FBI searched Trump Mar-a-Lago home over ‘likely’ efforts to hide classified files, justice department saysCourt filing alleges files were found despite Trump lawyers saying all documents had been returned The FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after it obtained evidence there was probably an effort to conceal classified documents in defiance of a grand jury subpoena and despite his lawyers suggesting otherwise, the justice department said in a court filing.The recounting – contained in a filing from the justice department that opposed Trump’s request to get an independent review of materials seized from Mar-a-Lago – amounted to the most detailed picture of potential obstruction of justice outlined to date by the government.“Efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the justice department alleged in its filing on Tuesday night.Among the new revelations in the 36-page filing were that FBI agents recovered three classified documents from desks inside Trump’s office at Mar-a-Lago and additional classified files from a storage room, contrary to what the former president’s lawyers indicated to the justice department.The justice department said in the submission that, after a Trump lawyer in May accepted service of a subpoena for materials removed from the White House, the lawyer and Trump’s records custodian in June gave the government a single Redweld legal envelope, double-taped, that contained the documents.As Trump’s lawyer and custodian turned over the folder to Jay Bratt, the justice department’s chief counterintelligence official, the custodian produced and signed a letter certifying a “diligent search” had been conducted and all documents responsive to the subpoena were being returned.The lawyer for the former president also stated to Bratt that all the records in the envelope had come from one storage room at Mar-a-Lago, that there were no other records elsewhere at the resort, and that all boxes of materials brought from the White House had been searched, the justice department said.The custodian who signed the letter has been identified by two sources familiar with the matter as Christina Bobb, a member of Trump’s in-house counsel team, though a copy of the letter reproduced by the justice department in the filing redacted the custodian’s name. But the FBI subsequently uncovered evidence through multiple sources that classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago in defiance of the subpoena, and that other government records were “likely” concealed and removed from the storage room, according to the filing.The justice department said in its submission that the evidence – details of which were redacted in the search warrant affidavit partially unsealed last week – allowed it to obtain a warrant to enter Mar-a-Lago, where FBI agents found more classified documents in Trump’s private office.“The government seized 33 items of evidence, mostly boxes,” from its search of Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the filing said. “Three classified documents that were not located in boxes, but rather were located in the desks in the ‘45 Office’, were also seized.”Illustrating the contents of the 8 August seizure, in an exhibit resembling how the justice department would show the results of a drug bust, the filing included a photo of the retrieved documents emblazoned with classification markings including “top secret” and “secret” designations.The justice department added that the documents collected most recently by the FBI included materials marked as “sensitive compartmented information”, while other documents were so sensitive that the FBI counterintelligence agents reviewing the materials needed additional security clearances.“That the FBI,” the filing said, “recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’ that the former president’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform, calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification.”After painting an extraordinary portrait of the hurdles that the justice department had to overcome to even recover the documents that belong to the government, prosecutors argued that Trump had no basis to seek the appointment of a so-called special master to review the files.The request for a special master in this case fails, the filing argued, because Trump is attempting to use the potential for executive privilege to withhold documents from the executive branch – which the supreme court decided in Nixon v GSA did not hold.The justice department added that even if Trump could somehow successfully assert executive privilege, it would not apply to the current case because the documents marked classified were seized as part of a criminal investigation into the very handling of the documents themselves.Trump is expected to press on with his request for a special master and to obtain a more detailed list of materials taken from Mar-a-Lago, according to a source close to his legal team, which also disputed that the justice department’s filing raised the likelihood for an obstruction charge.On Tuesday morning, before the justice department filed its response minutes before a court-imposed midnight deadline, Trump added a third lawyer, the former Florida solicitor general Christopher Kise, to his outside legal team, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. TopicsDonald TrumpFBIMar-a-LagoFloridaUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 213 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump seized classified documents – but for Republicans the story is Hunter Biden’s laptop | Lawrence Douglas

      by

      Trump seized classified documents – but for Republicans the story is Hunter Biden’s laptopLawrence DouglasThere was a time when Republican lawmakers took dangerous security breaches seriously but Trump’s actions are unworthy of attention for the likes of Senator Ron Johnson In a Friday appearance on Newsmax, the rightwing media site, Ron Johnson blasted the FBI for not being aggressive enough in following the evidence. Was the great patriotic Republican senator from Wisconsin angry that the FBI had waited too long before searching Mar-a-Lago for illegally stashed documents critical to US national security? Hardly. What agitated Johnson was an alleged whistleblower’s complaint that the FBI had failed to take the “necessary investigative steps after receiving Hunter Biden’s laptop”.Remember laptop-gate? The FBI received the laptop back in 2020 from a computer repair shop owner who claimed the PC had been left in his shop but never retrieved by Hunter Biden. Analysts determined that much of the data was a “disaster” from a forensics standpoint, as the hard-drive had clearly been accessed by persons other than Biden’s son. Nonetheless, after exhaustive studies completed earlier this year, both the New York Times and the Washington Post concluded that some of the retrieved material had been authentic; and while it showed that Hunter clearly tried to trade on his father’s name, it failed to indicate any corruption on Joe Biden’s part.For the likes of Senator Johnson, the laptop remains the story of the hour. Unworthy of the senator’s attention was the release of the redacted affidavit that indicated former president Trump, in defiance of a subpoena, had refused to hand over documents that had the highest security classification and arguably included the names of American intelligence assets abroad. There was a time when Republican lawmakers took dangerous security breaches seriously. But this was back when Republican lawmakers also recognized the possibility of electoral defeat after a fair vote.Senator Johnson was hardly alone in his peculiar priorities. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, attacked the “raid” on Mar-a-Lago as “another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves”. Also joining the attack was former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who earlier lamented, “look what the DoJ did … to President Trump, while it slow-rolls and looks the other way on Hunter Biden”. And while Senator Johnson is yet to join Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar in their calls to “defund the FBI”, the Wisconsin senator insists the handling of the laptop affair demonstrates the FBI’s “corruption”; the bureau, he concludes, is “not to be trusted”.If we struggle to characterize the unrelenting efforts of those like Johnson, who defend Trump through systematic misdirection and by attacking the integrity of US institutions of law enforcement, President Biden himself supplied a helpful term – “semi-fascism”. In a speech given last Thursday, the president rightly described “Maga Republicans” as a “threat to our very democracy”.The rise of semi-fascism within the heart of the Republican party underscores the exceptional risks in indicting Trump and bringing him to trial. That some form of indictment will soon follow now seems increasingly likely. The redacted affidavit reveals that in hoarding and refusing to surrender government documents, Trump may have violated three separate federal criminal statutes, which carry penalties from three to 20 years imprisonment. And this investigation is unrelated to the criminal fraud inquiry in Manhattan; the election interference investigation in Georgia; and the Department of Justice’s examination of the election tampering scheme that culminated in the violence of January 6.While many no doubt eagerly look forward to Trump’s day of legal reckoning, dread is the more proper response. When even a Maga-lite lawmaker like the Florida senator Marco Rubio counters the president’s claim of authoritarian strains within the Republican party by tinnily declaring, “If you’re looking for authoritarianism, look no further than what happened under the watch of Anthony Fauci and his allies in the elite establishment,” we know that any future indictment will be greeted by hysterical and violent attacks on the integrity of the US system of justice.And yet the costs of inaction are greater still than the costs of moving against Trump. A failure to indict born of fear of the political risks of doing so suggests that Trump and the semi-fascists have already succeeded in deforming the rule of law in America. Holding Trump to legal account may not succeed; it may trigger civil unrest and redound to his favor. But it may also begin a long, painful process of removing the poison of Maga authoritarianism from our body politic.Those who cherish democracy need to call out the proto-fascist tendencies now seizing the Trump-occupied Republican party.
      Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US and teaches at Amherst College
      TopicsUS newsOpinionUS politicsMar-a-LagoDonald TrumpHunter BidenJoe BidenRepublicanscommentReuse this content More

    • 225 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Critics denounce Lindsey Graham for warning of ‘riots in the street’ if Trump indicted – as it happened

      by

      Critics are decrying as “irresponsible” and “shameful” South Carolina Republican Senator and enthusiastic Trump convert Lindsey Graham’s comments that there will be “riots in the street” if Donald Trump is prosecuted.Graham twice made the reference when he went on Fox News’s Sunday Night in America show last evening, the Washington Post reports.Richard Haass, president of the nonpartisan think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, tweeted that Graham’s “prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.”.@LindseyGrahamSC’s prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) August 29, 2022
      Republican Joe Walsh, described by the Post as the former congressman and a tea party adherent turned frequent Trump critic, also tweeted “a message for Graham” that: “Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that. Shameful.”A message for @LindseyGrahamSC:Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that.Shameful.— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 29, 2022
      And the Post added that Trump posted the Fox News interview without comment to his Truth Social platform.I’m handing the blog over to Richard Luscombe now, fresh from his disappointment at Cape Canaveral at seeing NASA’s Artemis rocket not lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, but ready to take you through US political news developments for the next few hours.Thanks for joining us on a very Trump-centric day in US politics. We’re closing our blog now, but here’s a final look at what we were covering:
      Critics decried as “irresponsible” and “shameful” South Carolina Republican Senator and enthusiastic Trump convert Lindsey Graham’s comments that there will be “riots in the street” if Donald Trump is prosecuted.
      The White House said it was “appropriate” that the US intelligence community is reviewing potential national security risks from disclosure of materials recovered during a search of Trump’s Florida residence. But national security spokesperson John Kirby said the White House was not involved in the review.
      The justice department told a federal court in Florida more about its review of materials seized by the FBI during the raid, and also said it will provide a further filing, sealed, with a more detailed receipt of what was seized on August 8.
      A Georgia judge ruled this morning that the state’s Republican governor Brian Kemp must testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal attempts by Trump and others to influence the 2020 election result there – but not until after the November midterm election.
      Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon is leaning towards approving a request by Trump to appoint a so-called “special master” to review the assessment of the materials taken away in the FBI search. Other material had previously been returned by Trump after pressure from the government, but more was found upon the search.
      The DoJ and the Trump legal team square off this week in Cannon’s court, with the government obliged to provide more details about the FBI search and Trump’s team expected to present arguments in a hearing on Thursday afternoon in favor of the appointment of a special master.
      Karine Jean-Pierre took a swipe at Washington politicians for failing to act on the Biden administration’s request for pandemic funding, and hastening the end of widespread free Covid-19 tests.The White House has announced it is halting the distribution of free tests starting next month, and blames a lack of funding. The last day for orders will be 2 September.White House press secretary Jean-Pierre said the lack of progress in the House towards funding a package to support testing, vaccines and therapies had led to “some tough decisions”:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We warned that congressional inaction would bring unacceptable trade-offs and harm our preparedness and response and guidance, and the consequences would worsen over time.
      This is an action we’ve been forced to take that will help preserve our limited remaining supply, ensuring we have a limited supply of tests available in the fall.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is delivering her daily briefing and is taking pains to stress again that Joe Biden has not been briefed about, and has had no input in the justice department’s criminal investigation into Donald Trump.The office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) is currently sifting material seized in the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he is alleged to have hidden improperly retained classified documents from his administration.Without evidence, the former president has accused Biden, the ODNI, the FBI and anybody else he believes had a hand in the search and seizure, of a political witch-hunt against him.But Jean-Pierre said this afternoon that Trump was off track:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We have been very clear that the president was not briefed in advance of the justice department’s recent actions. We have not been involved. We are committed to the independence as it relates to any matter the justice department has.
      This is an ODNI decision that they have made. The president hasn’t been briefed on any of this. None of us have.Joe Biden will visit the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania next week, aiming to ride a wave of increased popularity and attempting to lift Democrats’ fortunes two months before the midterm election.Biden will speak at Milwaukee’s Laborfest celebration, then go to Pittsburgh where other national labor leaders are appearing at that city’s Labor Day Parade, the Associated Press reports.The president plans to “celebrate Labor Day and the dignity of American workers,” according to the White House.Biden is expected to tout the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year, as well as the Inflation Reduction Act, which he signed in August.Both states have races for governor and seats in the US Senate.In Wisconsin, Democrats are trying to reelect governor Tony Evers and oust Republican senator Ron Johnson. “We have a good relationship,” Evers said. “I’m looking forward to it.”In Pennsylvania, Democrats are trying to hold on to the state’s open governor’s office and to flip the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Pat Toomey.An “aspiring member” of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Monday to more than four years in prison for storming the US Capitol during the 6 January riot, the Associated Press reports.Joshua Pruitt, 40, came face-to-face with Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senate majority leaders as he joined fellow Donald Trump supporters in efforts to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, the court heard.“One look at Pruitt, and the leader of Senator Schumer’s security detail immediately saw the threat and hustled the 70-year-old senator down a hallway, having to change their evacuation route on a dime,” assistant US attorney Alexis Loeb wrote in a court filing.US district court judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Pruitt, of Maryland, to four years and seven months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.Prosecutors wanted a five-year sentence for Pruitt, a bartender and personal trainer they described as “an aspiring Proud Boys member” whose intimidating figure made him an “ideal recruit” for the group.Democrats’ apparently resurgent fortunes ahead of November’s midterms are pushing Republicans into panic-buying “aggressive” media slots in markets where believe they are lagging.That’s the assessment from Axios, which has looked into Republican campaign spending across the country, including a $125m ad buy by House minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s political action committee, the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), in almost entirely Democrat held districts.Of McCarthy’s spending, “$9 of every $10 [is] targeting seats carried by President Biden in 2020,” Axios reports.“CLF is doubling down on offensive spending, even in places where Biden won by double digits two years ago”.First look: Kevin McCarthy’s leadership PAC has reserved another $37 million in TV time — with $9 of every $10 targeting seats carried by President Biden in 2020.It’s a rejoinder to growing talk about Democrats finding a shot to retain the House. https://t.co/5oBNmGgwje— Axios (@axios) August 29, 2022
      Biden’s approval ratings have climbed steadily since earlier this year, buoyed by a series of legislative successes including the Inflation Reduction Act, and a perceived backlash by more moderate voters to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade federal abortion protections.Republicans who once assumed retaking control of the House in November was a given appear increasingly fearful that there will be no rout of the Democratic majority, and the rash of sudden spending is an attempt to shore up their support, Axios says.“Democrats hope to harness voter energy around protecting abortion rights to motivate their base and appeal to independents in an election Republicans had hoped would focus on economic anxiety,” the media site says.Critics are decrying as “irresponsible” and “shameful” South Carolina Republican Senator and enthusiastic Trump convert Lindsey Graham’s comments that there will be “riots in the street” if Donald Trump is prosecuted.Graham twice made the reference when he went on Fox News’s Sunday Night in America show last evening, the Washington Post reports.Richard Haass, president of the nonpartisan think tank the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank, tweeted that Graham’s “prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.”.@LindseyGrahamSC’s prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former Potus may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are obligated to call for the rule of law.— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) August 29, 2022
      Republican Joe Walsh, described by the Post as the former congressman and a tea party adherent turned frequent Trump critic, also tweeted “a message for Graham” that: “Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that. Shameful.”A message for @LindseyGrahamSC:Yes, if Trump is indicted, there will be violence. I see & hear those threats all the time. But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that.Shameful.— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 29, 2022
      And the Post added that Trump posted the Fox News interview without comment to his Truth Social platform.I’m handing the blog over to Richard Luscombe now, fresh from his disappointment at Cape Canaveral at seeing NASA’s Artemis rocket not lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, but ready to take you through US political news developments for the next few hours.The White House today said it is “appropriate” that the US intelligence community is reviewing potential national security risks from disclosure of materials recovered during a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence, Reuters reports.The director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, told lawmakers in a letter last week that her office is working with the Justice Department to “facilitate a classification review” of documents including those recovered during the August 8 search.Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has told congressional leaders that her department has launched a review “of the potential risk to national security” in the event that Trump compromised secrets from classified Mar-a-Lago documents. pic.twitter.com/lDBeeEwbkO— The Recount (@therecount) August 29, 2022
      The White House is not involved in the assessment of the risk associated with those documents, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.John Kirby just now tells reporters the White House is not involved in the damage assessment DNI is conducting re: classified docs Trump took to Mar-a-Lago. Kirby calls the assessment an “appropriate action.”— Morgan Chalfant (@mchalfant16) August 29, 2022
      Meanwhile:DOJ also tells the court it is conducting a classification review, along with ODNI, of the materials seized from Trump’s home. It also confirms what was reported this weekend: ODNI is leading an intelligence community assessment— Sarah N. Lynch (@SarahNLynch) August 29, 2022
      It’s been a very Trump-dominated morning and we’ll have some updates on other things coming up shortly, as well, while also bringing you any further developments in the various legal cases enveloping the former president.Here’s where things stand:
      The US Department of Justice has told a federal court in Florida more about its review of materials seized by the FBI during a search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago private resort and residence in Palm Beach and also said it will provide a further filing, sealed, with a more detailed receipt of what was seized on August 8.
      A Georgia judge ruled this morning that the state’s Republican governor Brian Kemp must testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal attempts by then-president Donald Trump and others to influence the 2020 election result there – but not until after the November midterm election.
      Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon is leaning towards approving a request by Trump to appoint a so-called “special master” to review the assessment of the materials taken away from Mar-a-Lago after the FBI search. Other material had previously been returned by Trump after pressure from the government, but more was found upon the search.
      The DoJ and the Trump legal team square off this week in Cannon’s court, with the government obliged to provide more details about the FBI search and Trump’s team expected to present arguments in a hearing on Thursday afternoon in favor of the appointment of a special master. This all involves the criminal investigation into Trump hanging onto highly-sensitive official documents after he left office and potential obstruction.
      In the Department of Justice’s filing in federal court in south Florida today, relating to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and seizure of classified documents apparently secreted there by former president Donald Trump, it has told the court it will comply with the request to provide “a more detailed receipt” for property seized during the search on August 8.The government has promised “a sealed, supplemental filing” on this with the court “as well as a ‘particularized notice indicating the status of [the United States’] review of the seized property, including any filter review conducted by the privilege review team and any dissemination of materials beyond the privilege review team’,” according to the filing. More

    • 138 Shares109 Views

      in US Politics

      FBI reviews records seized by Trump and identifies potentially privileged files

      by

      FBI reviews records seized by Trump and identifies potentially privileged files Justice department’s move could undermine former president’s request to have a special master filter the documents The FBI has already finished reviewing whether any of the materials seized from Donald Trump’s resort in Florida were privileged, the justice department said in a court filing on Monday that could undermine the former president’s request to have a special master filter the documents.The justice department said FBI agents not involved in the investigation surrounding Trump’s retention of government secrets at Mar-a-Lago have completed a review of the documents and identified a number of files that may be privileged and set aside from the evidence cache.“The Privilege Review Team identified a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information, completed its review of those materials, and is in the process of following the procedures … to address potential privilege disputes, if any,” the filing said.The disclosure from the justice department, which came in response to a ruling on Saturday from a federal judge to hold a hearing this week about whether to appoint a special master, undercuts Trump’s request because the government has already finished what a special master would have done.Trump’s legal team is expected to continue with its effort to have a special master sort through the seized materials to ensure the FBI does not hold on to potentially privileged documents, arguing the justice department should not itself decide what it can use in its investigation.The motion is significant because it gives Trump’s lawyers an opportunity to contest the seizure of certain documents and communications that they argue cannot be used by the justice department as it mounts an investigation into possible Espionage Act violations and obstruction of justice.But the justice department’s note in the filing that they had already finished going through the seized materials could serve to undercut Trump’s motion. Judge Aileen Cannon, overseeing the case, could decide there is no longer a point in a special master in light of the development.The department also said a “classification review” of the documents Trump took is being conducted by the FBI and the director of national intelligence. The search warrant affidavit revealed the intelligence community feared their presence at Mar-a-Lago could compromise human clandestine sources.TopicsDonald TrumpMar-a-LagoUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Graham predicts ‘riots in streets’ if Trump is prosecuted over classified records

      by

      Graham predicts ‘riots in streets’ if Trump is prosecuted over classified recordsRepublican South Carolina senator cites ‘the ‘Clinton debacle’ and claims the FBI failed to investigate Hunter Biden Amid growing fears about political violence in the US, a senior Republican senator predicted “riots in the streets” if Donald Trump is prosecuted for mishandling classified information.Of all the legal threats Trump is facing, is this the one that could take him down?Read moreLindsey Graham, of South Carolina, made his remarks about the ex-president while speaking to Fox News’s Sunday Night in America, hosted by Trey Gowdy, a former Republican congressman from the same state.Graham said: “Most Republicans, including me, believe when it comes to Trump, there is no law. It’s all about getting him. There’s a double standard when it comes to Trump.”Alleging a failure by the FBI to investigate Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, Graham added: “I’ll say this, if there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle … there’ll be riots in the streets.”As a House committee chairperson, Gowdy investigated Hillary Clinton’s work as secretary of state, including her handling of the attack on a US facility in Benghazi in 2012 and her use of a private email server for government business. Clinton was not charged over the email issue.Trump is under investigation and could be indicted over the handling of classified White House records he took to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home, in contravention of federal law.On Friday, an affidavit released with redactions showed how concerns about illegal activity and obstruction of justice merited an FBI search at Trump’s resort earlier this month.Trump seized on the search to claim unfair treatment and whip up supporters. He is reportedly close to announcing another White House run. He is eligible to do so because he escaped conviction in his second impeachment trial for inciting the Capitol attack.Graham’s remarks were widely condemned.Law professor and former White House ethics chief Richard Painter referred to Trump supporters’ deadly attack on the Capitol when he said: “A senator who calls for ‘riots in the streets’ if Trump is indicted should be expelled from the Senate. He’s inciting January 6 all over again.”The president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haass, said the “prediction that violence may follow any prosecution of the former [president] may not qualify legally as incitement but it is irresponsible all the same as it will be seen by some as a call for violence. Public officials are [obliged] to call for the rule of law.”Graham was on friendly terms with Biden when they were senators together but his dogged support for Trump has reportedly prompted the president to ice Graham out. In his interview with Gowdy he slammed Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, then returned to his theme.Saying that as “a simple-minded guy” he thought “people want to be treated the same without regard to political ideology”, Gowdy asked about his guest’s own legal problems.Graham is resisting attempts to force him to testify about his involvement in Trump’s attempt to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020 by Biden in Georgia, a swing state.Graham said: “If we let county prosecutors start calling senators and members of Congress as witnesses when they’re doing their job, we’re out of … constitutional balance here.“I’ve got a good legal case. I’m going to pursue it … I love the law. I’ve never been more worried about the law and politics as I am right now.”US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?Read moreHe continued: “How can you tell a conservative Republican that the system works when it comes to Trump? … If they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information after Hillary Clinton set up a server in her basement, there will literally will be riots in the streets. I worry about our country.”Trump indicated his approval, posting video of Graham’s remarks to Truth Social, the platform Trump set up after being suspended from Twitter over the Capitol attack.Former Republican congressman Joe Walsh, who has emerged as a Trump critic, predicted that there will indeed be violence if Trump is indicted.“I see and hear those threats all the time,” he wrote. “But threats of violence should NEVER stop the pursuit of justice. NEVER. And you KNOW that Lindsey. But you’re too much of a coward to say that. Shameful.”TopicsDonald TrumpMar-a-LagoUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in US Politics

      US investigates fake heiress who infiltrated Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort

      by

      US investigates fake heiress who infiltrated Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resortA Ukrainian woman posed as a Rothschild to gain access to the Florida resort, heightening fears over security lapses A second foreign national is being investigated by US authorities for gaining access to Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida resort which is at the center of an FBI probe over missing classified documents, heightening fears over security lapses both during and after his presidency.According to an article from the Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a Ukrainian woman posing as a member of the Rothschild banking dynasty is under bureau investigation after infiltrating the private members club under a false pretense.IRS to review security at facilities as threats from extremists increaseRead moreInna Yashchyshyn, 33, allegedly lied to members that she was a Rothschild heiress and mingled with Trump, US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and others at Mar-a-Lago functions.OCCRP, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Gazette, reported that Yashchyshyn had demonstrated “the ease with which someone with a fake identity and shadowy background” could bypass security at Trump’s club.Earlier this month, the FBI obtained a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago as part of a criminal probe over the unauthorized retention of government secrets by Trump and his aides, who failed to return the documents in question despite repeated requests.On Saturday, Congress members Adam Schiff and Carolyn Maloney – respectively, the chairpersons for the House intelligence and oversight committees – said that the US intelligence director, Avril Haines, had confirmed that her subordinates, along with the Justice Department, would evaluate whether the improper storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had risked or caused any damage to national security.The search came a month after the heads of the FBI and Britain’s domestic security service MI5 issued a sharp warning about systemic challenges posed to western economies and governments by Chinese espionage.Yashchyshyn – the daughter of an Illinois truck driver – maintained that she was a Rothschild heiress while holding a position as president of United Hearts of Mercy, founded by Florida-based Russian oligarch Valery Tarasenko in Canada in 2015.OCCRP and the Post-Gazette reported that “both the FBI’s office in Miami and the Sûreté du Québec provincial police in Canada have launched investigations that touch on her dealings”.While the FBI refused to comment, its Canadian counterpart confirmed that its major crimes unit launched an investigation into Yashchyshyn earlier this year.Word of the investigation into Yashchyshyn comes three years after a Chinese national approached a Secret Service agent outside Mar-a-Lago and claimed to be a member who wanted to use the pool. After passing the checkpoint, Yujing Zhang told a receptionist she was there to attend an event given by the United Nations Chinese American Association.But no such event was on the calendar, and agents later found that she was carrying two Chinese passports, $8,000 in cash, four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive, a thumb drive containing computer malware – but no swimsuit.She also claimed to speak English poorly, though agents later testified that Zhang spoke and read English well.Zhang was charged with making false statements to federal agents and illegally entering a restricted area. Zhang later received an eight-month prison sentence and was deported to China after being convicted of trespassing and lying to Secret Service agents.The security lapses at the club involving Zhang and Yashchyshyn for some called to mind an episode early in Trump’s presidency where he was talking with then-Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on a patio about a response to a North Korea missile test while diners looked on.In a particularly stunning moment, a guest who snapped a picture of Trump and Abe later took a selfie with a military aide carrying the black leather satchel carrying the codes needed to launch a nuclear strike, which is nicknamed “the football”.“It’s unheard of,” a deputy national security adviser to Joe Biden in the Barack Obama White House said at the time. “These people operate behind the scenes. I don’t think this team has any appreciation about the vulnerabilities they are creating for themselves and how dangerous this is.”The Trump White House press secretary at the time, Sean Spicer, later insisted that no classified information was discussed and the leaders’ discussions were focused on the logistics of press statements they were to give.Abe, who left office in 2020, was assassinated while giving a campaign speech in the Japanese city of Nara last month in an unrelated case.New details into the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago emerged Friday when a heavily redacted affidavit justifying the search explained how investigators believed that highly sensitive national defense information and evidence of obstruction of justice were at the ex-president’s property.The document detailed how an FBI review of materials Trump had returned to the National Archives in May 2022 concluded that he had kept sensitive government secrets at Mar-a-Lago.The justice department said among the documents recovered by the National Archives, 184 had classification markings. Some were stamped “SI” for special intelligence, “HCS” for intelligence from human clandestine sources, and “NOFORN” for “Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals”.TopicsDonald TrumpMar-a-LagoFBIUS politicsnewsReuse this content More