FBI search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago (Update: Trump Indicted!)

[President Johnson]

Dark Brandon strikes again!

Oh my lord, this meme is beyond awesome! Especially "Jack", what Biden actually said during the 2020 campaign.

This news actually made my day, the first headline I read and is still one of the top stories even in Europe right now. Definitely caught me by surprise.

Quite telling how his cult and the entire Republican Party is triggered and how they're now attacking law enforcement which they pretend to support. Just stupid hypocrites. They launched a years-long smear campaign against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information that turned out meritless. But perfectly fine when Trump essentially steals classified info before leaving office. So will he have the stamina to testify for 11 hours before the House?

[President Johnson]

snip

Oh my lord, this meme is beyond awesome! Especially "Jack", what Biden actually said during the 2020 campaign.

This news actually made my day, the first headline I read and is still one of the top stories even in Europe right now. Definitely caught me by surprise.

Quite telling how his cult and the entire Republican Party is triggered and how they're now attacking law enforcement which they pretend to support. Just stupid hypocrites. They launched a years-long smear campaign against Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified information that turned out meritless. But perfectly fine when Trump essentially steals classified info before leaving office. So will he have the stamina to testify for 11 hours before the House?

I know we had a similar debate to this a couple years back but if Trump didn’t give that info to anyone else is going after him worth risking further unrest and also opening up the precedent for future presidents to be investigated. These are questions I believe are important to take into account

Obama didn’t go after anyone in the Bush admin cause he didn’t want to open up that precedent . This is more than just Trump imo .


If you want to go criminally after him , just focus on Jan 6th imo and nothing else

No, the Justice Department and FBI should follow anything where is evidence of criminal behavior. Apparently this is the case here, why a judge approved the search warrant. Nobody should be above the law, not even former presidents.

Just because the Obama Administration should have prosecuted some bankers doesn't mean Trump should be left alone now. This was totally approriate, and blaming Biden is bizarre because it's unlikely he has even informed in advance. Unlike Trump, he doesn't interfere in the department's day-today-business because he believes independent law enforcement and the rule of law.

[President Johnson]

If you want to go criminally after him , just focus on Jan 6th imo and nothing else

We all saw the photos of clear plastic boxes full of documents being packed up from the White House on Jan 19-20, 2021.  Why not try to find out whether or not he was illegally absconding with papers that were subject to the Presidential Records Act?

It'd be nice to hold Trump accountable for literally any of his crimes, but why focus on one specific avenue and ignore all others?

Cause of the precedent you would set . Like I said should Bush have been prosecuted for Guantanamo Bay or Obama for drones

Why not?  If crimes have been committed, they should be impartially investigated and prosecuted if necessary.  Anything else is a deeply troubling excuse for abuse of power.

Maybe this can actually set a precedent that as president you can't just do illegal stuff and let off the hook. Prosecuters should follow facts and the evidence. If a future Democratic president does something unlawful, he or she should be equally investigated.

[President Johnson]

If you want to go criminally after him , just focus on Jan 6th imo and nothing else

We all saw the photos of clear plastic boxes full of documents being packed up from the White House on Jan 19-20, 2021.  Why not try to find out whether or not he was illegally absconding with papers that were subject to the Presidential Records Act?

It'd be nice to hold Trump accountable for literally any of his crimes, but why focus on one specific avenue and ignore all others?

Cause of the precedent you would set . Like I said should Bush have been prosecuted for Guantanamo Bay or Obama for drones

Why not?  If crimes have been committed, they should be impartially investigated and prosecuted if necessary.  Anything else is a deeply troubling excuse for abuse of power.

Maybe this can actually set a precedent that as president you can't just do illegal stuff and let off the hook. Prosecuters should follow facts and the evidence. If a future Democratic president does something unlawful, he or she should be equally investigated.

Do you feel Bill Clinton was guilty of obstruction of Justice during the Lewinsky scandal and should’ve been removed from office? I’m not talking about the lying under oath charge in that case - I am specifically asking about the obstruction charge.

If he was guilty then, should he be prosecuted now?

You’re setting the precedent after all that Presidents can be charged with crimes after they leave office, for things done in office. If we set that precedent, it must be applied retroactively to Clinton and Bush Jr (IE Bush’s lies for the Iraq War).

I'm laughing at the idea that you think progressive voters in 2022 have any desire to defend Bill Clinton.

Yeah, if there was clear evidence, he should have been investigated (although it's quite known that his impeachment was just a political circus at the time). Trump's obstruction of justice and his "moral shortcomings" have been worse than Bubba's, and Republicans were still fine it. Heck, imagine if Obama did 10% of that. He would have been impeached more than twice.

[President Johnson]

If you want to go criminally after him , just focus on Jan 6th imo and nothing else

We all saw the photos of clear plastic boxes full of documents being packed up from the White House on Jan 19-20, 2021.  Why not try to find out whether or not he was illegally absconding with papers that were subject to the Presidential Records Act?

It'd be nice to hold Trump accountable for literally any of his crimes, but why focus on one specific avenue and ignore all others?

Cause of the precedent you would set . Like I said should Bush have been prosecuted for Guantanamo Bay or Obama for drones

Why not?  If crimes have been committed, they should be impartially investigated and prosecuted if necessary.  Anything else is a deeply troubling excuse for abuse of power.

Maybe this can actually set a precedent that as president you can't just do illegal stuff and let off the hook. Prosecuters should follow facts and the evidence. If a future Democratic president does something unlawful, he or she should be equally investigated.

Do you feel Bill Clinton was guilty of obstruction of Justice during the Lewinsky scandal and should’ve been removed from office? I’m not talking about the lying under oath charge in that case - I am specifically asking about the obstruction charge.

If he was guilty then, should he be prosecuted now?

You’re setting the precedent after all that Presidents can be charged with crimes after they leave office, for things done in office. If we set that precedent, it must be applied retroactively to Clinton and Bush Jr (IE Bush’s lies for the Iraq War).

Well, part of the rationale for the DOJ's opinion that sitting Presidents should not be charged while in office is that they could then be charged after leaving office, even for crimes committed in office.  If you can't charge them while in office or after they're out of office, it means they have carte blance to commit any crimes they want during their terms without fear of consequence.  Is that really what you want?  It would be a complete affront to the rule of law; NOBODY is above the law.  In the case of a sitting President, justice may be delayed to avoid disrupting the functioning of government, but it cannot be denied entirely.

If the DOJ thinks they can make a case against Clinton for obstruction, or Bush for the Iraq War, then by all means they should bring it.  It's worth noting that the DOJ had a draft indictment of Nixon for conspiracy to defraud the United States (the same crime the other Watergate conspirators were convicted of) ready to go after his resignation, but it was mooted by Ford's pardon.

And Ford was right to pardon Nixon

I like Gerald Ford, but no, pardoning Nixon was a terrible idea. The lack of accountability that occurred with Nixon is part of why we're dealing with all of Trump's s***.

No the reason why we are unable to deal with Trump is cause nobody has found a way to break his popularity with right of center voters in this nation . Do that and he is finished

But wouldn't you say popularity is irrelevant in that regard? Evidence of criminal behavior shouldn't care about that. Otherwise, you basically set the standard that anyone who is popular with a certain segment of the population (Trump is not really popular across the country, or outside the Republican Party), can pretty much get away with everything.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/jbouie/status/1557027775512383497

As if ordinary people can steal classified material from the White House, lmao. Or as if ordinary people have it so easy to cheat on their taxes. Really a lazy talkingpoint from Republicans. As usual.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/repswalwell/status/1557428889902895104?s=21&t=iSL9xGWiro15ptjGJlSj4g

Holy crap, put these people in jail.

Beyond disgusting. Are we going to see outrage over this from Republicans of rank and file who pretend to be for law & order?

What these morons apparently don't understand how search warrants actually work. It's not Garland who orders this after being told so by Biden. The Justice Department and FBI gather evidence and submit this content to a judge. The judge then decides whether a search warrant is appropriate or not. In the authoritarian order they prefer, this could be solely done at the president's direction.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1557442940384985090

I hope all the deranged people making such threats get caught and serve a long prison sentence to send a signat that this kind of stuff won't be tolerated. That's the only way you can deal with this.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1557796977580154880?s=20&t=O4iG1gMkHZxtD...

I'm glad Biden (the White House) is staying-out of the DOJ/FBI investigation (as they should).

Yes, that is literally what the bare minimum level of political competence in this situation would require LOL

And also the complete opposite of the last administration.

It's even hilarious to blame Biden or the Democrats in the first place for the entire situation. Trump brought this upon himself because it wouldn't have happened if he simply played by the rules.

[President Johnson]

Garland presser beginning.

Livestream via Washington Post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6juFdjaCko&ab_channel=WashingtonPost

[President Johnson]

I was actually hoping he'd say that the Department would seek an indictment now.

[President Johnson]

What do you think is in it that would be damning enough for people to bail on him? The 74 million voters he got in 2020 when he lost?

There are at least 74 million terrible adult citizens in the US, yes.

#ARAB #AllRepublicansAreBad #All74Million #SorryNotSorry

Gee I wonder why you guys are unable to appeal to people who don’t vote for you guys .

The other top thread on USGD right now is a deranged right winger trying to take down the Cincinnati FBI with lethal force and here you are complaining that a Santander post is excessively alienating. OK 👍

Yes that guy is horrible and should be locked up but to say 74 million people are horrible is extremely condescending and hackish .

I think it's extreme to say the 74 million Trump voters are all horrible people, but anyone who supports Trump after all that has happened since the 2020 election simply does not care about this country nor do they care about the rule of law.

No they just think both sides don’t care about it and believe me I know many Trump supporters and that is what they believe .

They might believe certain things or not, it's their right to do so. People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.

[President Johnson]

I know we read this many times since 2016 and it's gotten tiresome and disappointing, but is it possible "the walls are closing in" this time for real? I don't think he'll ever spend a day in prison, but still.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1558187290555457538

Honestly, this is exactly what I expected. In this case, I hate being proven correct. I just hope these FBI Agents and their families are safe.

[President Johnson]

I guess authorities would never deny or confirm they seized his passports? So it will be anyone's guess.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1560616254867644417

"It's not illegal when the president does it"

[President Johnson]

Trump could be found guilty and while he's being hauled off to prison, Woodbury would be saying "Trump's got this!  It's all part of his plan!"

Or they'd claim that the jury was bribed by Democrats because they were so afraid of him.

[President Johnson]

It's going to be next year probably before there's any indictment from this, if that happens. The filter team still has the documents so they don't even know what their evidence is yet.

And then they may refrain from it because he's a presidential candidate? And a potentially looming indictment fires up his base and allows him to pose as a victim again? Good lord, just indict him already.

[President Johnson]

This just keeps getting worse and worse.

Does anyone still think I'm going too far in calling those who continue to support Trump traitors? Because if someone is out there defending all of this, and would still vote for Trump to be president, then that someone is a traitor to the US.

The problem is that these people either don't pay attention or just don't think it's credible. And there's pretty much nothing that can convince them of the opposite. Anything the FBI or Justice Department say is just a hitjob by Biden and the Democrats to deny their cult leader's well deserved return to power.

[President Johnson]

What is he on the ballot for in November?

Agree.

Why should the election have any bearing here? Trump isn’t on the ballot.

Garland is doing his best to avoid the appearance of a politically motivated investigation.  That won't sway any of Trump's core supporters, but it's still the right move.

Trump and his MAGA enablers will always cry foul and accuse the Justice Department of a political motives, no matter when they announce something or how much hard evidence they gathered. Garland should really not be intimitated by their lazy talkingpoints.

If they wait until after the midterms, the presidential cycle is about to start, so the argument will then change from "politicall motivated for swing the midterms" to "politically motivated to stop Trump from running again." There's no perfect point in time unless you want to let him off the hook and send a signal that cult leaders and/or former presidents are above the law.

[President Johnson]

If Trump has secrets of a US ally, it would also indirectly harm the US. Not just because of terrible optics, but also because even friendly intel services may be a lot more cautious about the information they share with the US government and agencies. And that would be pretty concerning since intel services also rely on partners sharing information with them. So in a sense, it's not less significant.

[President Johnson]

Donald Trump is the most dangerous man in America, and to America.

He fits the description of a traitor to America. And as much as I disdain him, I take no pleasure in saying this about a former president. It's just the sad and bitter truth.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1593686559811047424

Poor Donny was announcing his bid to avoid this, and his low energy speech didn't work. Sad!

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/JohnWDean/status/1594126780964950016

"Corrupt Biden Administration that weaponizes the Justice Department in an abuse of power" blablabla...

It's always a projection.

[President Johnson]

https://twitter.com/SpiroAgnewGhost/status/1600555919477133312

A storage unit???

More classified stuff? Buh her e-mails!