from The Gray Area:
8/13/22:
![](https://thegrayarea.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Mar-A-Lago-entrance-with-Motorcycle-policeman-in-front.png)
The Trump Mar-A-Lago search warrant and
warrant receipts were released to the public yesterday. CNN reports the details of the warrant and the Wall Street Journal adds some very relevant commentary a summary of both are included below.
The warrant
identifies three federal crimes that the Justice Department is looking at as part of its investigation:
- violations of the Espionage Act
- obstruction of justice
- a catch-all charge for everything Trump
- criminal handling of government records.
According to the search warrant receipt,
federal agents seized:
- 1 set of "top secret/SCI" documents
- 4 sets of "top secret" documents
- also, a serious security level, but may be easily explained.
- 3 sets of "secret" documents
- 3 sets of "confidential" documents.
The warrant receipt didn't detail what such classified documents were about. As such, the warrant appears weak and offers hard to prove potential criminal charges
Here are 4 key questions regarding this raid according to the Daily Signal.
1. Is a Trump Indictment More Likely?
-“To get this type of warrant, they need to have probable cause showing they recently learned of documents in his possession. This would be recent, not something they knew about for a year or for a month,” Lawlor said.
2. What Are Potential Penalties?
-Someone who removes or destroys protected government documents faces a penalty of a fine or imprisonment under several statutes.
3. Will This Further Undermine Confidence in Justice Department?
-Schweikart pointed to a history of a politicized CIA used during Watergate, as comparable to a politicized Justice Department.
“The Justice Department has clearly been going after Trump for four years, but couldn’t get him with two impeachments or a special counsel,” Schweikart said. “Trump could be seen as a bigger threat to the swamp out of office.”
4. Is This Unprecedented Action Justified?
-“This has never been done before with a president or former president in American history,”
Is it possible that Mr. Trump made a mistake with some documents in his possession? Of course, it is possible.
Mr. Trump claims to have nothing to hide and said “it was all declassified.” Media reports say he was served a subpoena for the documents some weeks ago. Did he resist, and on what grounds? That could make it hard to prove a criminal case against him, though we don’t know what other evidence the Justice Department has about Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents.
There is no real evidence that documents were planted during this raid. But, the sordid history of the FBI’s Russia collusion falsehoods means that many people might believe it. In addition, Hillary Clinton bleached 33,000 email under subpoena and no one at the FBI or the Archives seemed concerned. A level of inconsistency that is hard to ignore.
That’s the political reality no matter how many times Mr. Garland chants “
no one is above the law.” While that cliche is obviously true, or should be, it clearly has not been true in recent years. But,
the search of the home of a former President and perhaps future presidential candidate is an inherently political act. It requires overwhelming evidence to persuade the country, not merely 12 jurors. It requires judgment and discretion about what is in the best interests of the nation.
Mr. Garland’s FBI search warrant has put a badly divided country on a perilous political course. He will need much more evidence than what is in the warrant, and a much more serious violation of law, to justify a prosecution.
I had a conversation with someone yesterday about all this. They asked, what could possibly be the benefit of this raid if there is no proof of a crime? Politically that would hurt the Dems and FBI, right? The answer is no. The FBI is and will be further damaged by this activity, but not the Dems. It will not hurt the Dems with other Dems and the media. The media are now and will continue to provide cover for the Dems in this effort as they did with Russian collusion and two impeachments. It will hurt them with Trump's supporters, but the Dems don't have a chance with that group anyway. They need their base to show up in November.
This link shows how the left wing base reacts to such news.
Along with the Jan 6th commission insurrection hoax, the Dems and the media want this threat of criminal activity against Trump to further frighten and possibly change the minds of some independents and Republican RINOs, both for the 2024 presidential election and 2022 mid-terms.
The Dems and the media fear Trump more than anyone on the planet. You have to ask yourself why? Is it because he is a danger to our democracy? That is the Dems political narrative, for which there is no evidence a
fter 7 years of making things up and unconstitutional searches. He is constantly found not guilty and everything indicates Trump is nothing but a patriot. So, why
Trump derangement syndrome Because he beats them, has 70M voters behind him, and he is not afraid of them as all other Republicans are. They need more people to be turned off by Trump's style, while demonizing his substance as authoritarian. His 70M supporters are not authoritarian white supremacists, love his substance and further expansion of his strength and ideas is what the left fears.
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