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

[GeorgiaModerate]

Bill Barr chimes in on the Mar-a-Lago obstruction case:

Basically, he thinks this case, unlike Bragg's indictment, is going to be real trouble for Trump. He cites the judge's ruling to puncture Trump's attorney-client priviledge, which hints that the government had a lot of evidence for the judge: "that and just the things I read in the newspaper make me feel that there’s probably a likelihood that they have people — people who have cooperated with the government and may be able to establish that he well knew he had not delivered all the documents back to the government,”

https://nypost.com/2023/04/14/bill-barr-trumps-reckless-behavior-led-to-special-counsels-probes/

I'm inclined to agree that this is the most likely investigation to result in a conviction and serious criminal penalties for Trump.  In order of the ones we know about, I'd rank them:

1. DOJ - classified documents
2. Georgia - election interference
3. DOJ - J6/fake electors
4. NY - hush money

With a wild card that there may be other investigations that aren't publicly known yet, e.g. for tax or campaign finance fraud, at both state and federal levels.

[emailking]

Here are my takes.

Most likely for conviction:
1. MAL
2. NY
3. DOJ J6
4. GA

Most likely for prison if convicted:
1. DOJ J6
2. GA
3. MAL
4. NY

Most likely to result in prison:
1. MAL
2. DOJ J6
3. GA
4. NY

[emailking]

A top Trump lawyer has recused himself from Mar-a-Lago documents case
Evan Corcoran is still representing Trump in other cases, including the probe into the former president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol

One of former president Donald Trump’s top lawyers on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case is no longer working on the matter after he appeared before a federal grand jury last month, according to people familiar with the move.

Evan Corcoran is still representing Trump in other cases, such as special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information they are not authorized to disclose.

Prosecutors investigating Trump’s taking classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago Club after leaving office won a court fight that allowed them to question Corcoran when judges ruled that he could not use attorney-client privilege to avoid disclosing information about his communications with Trump. Prosecutors cited an exception to the legal principle that lawyers must keep confidential what they are told by their clients when there is evidence that a client used the attorney’s legal services in furtherance of a crime.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/15/trump-corcoran-mar-a-lago-documents/

https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1647287317076246529

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump's lawyers Congress, ask them to intervene to end DOJ investigations into Trump, Biden, and Pence over classified info

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23790193-230426-parlatore-letter-to-congress

    A legislative solution by Congress is required to prevent the DOJ from continuing to conduct ham-handed criminal investigations of matters that are inherently not criminal.

     What is consistent in all three of these cases is that the document handling procedures in the White House are flawed and DOJ is not the appropriate agency to conduct investigations pertaining to the mishandling or spillage of classified material.

     The solution to these issues is not a misguided, politically infected, and severely botched criminal investigation, but rather a legislative solution. DOJ should be ordered to stand down, and the intelligence community should instead conduct an appropriate investigation and provide a full report to this Committee, as well as your counterparts in the Senate.

     President Trump’s legal team would be happy to meet with you or your staff to assist in any way necessary to address these issues. Please know that despite the differences in the cases, we do not believe that any of these three matters should be handled by DOJ as a criminal case. Rather, the stakeholders to these matters should set aside political differences and work together to remediate this issue and help to enhance our national security in the process.

[emailking]

Special counsel probing Trump Organization’s handling of Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage

Prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have been asking questions in recent weeks about the handling of surveillance footage from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort after the Trump Organization received a subpoena last summer for the footage, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.

The handling of the footage, and how employees within the Trump Organization responded to the Justice Department’s demand for it, have prompted a new round of grand jury subpoenas to top Trump employees in the last few weeks, the sources told CNN.

Longtime Trump Organization executives Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son Matthew Calamari Jr. are expected to appear Thursday before the grand jury investigating possible mishandling of classified documents brought to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, sources said. Prosecutors are expected to ask them about the handling of the surveillance footage and Trump employees’ conversations following the subpoena, according to the sources.

Calamari Sr., the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Trump Organization, has primarily overseen security operations for Trump and his properties during his decadeslong career working for Trump. His son, Calamari Jr., is director of security for the Trump Organization.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/03/politics/maralago-footage-trump-special-counsel-calamari/index.html

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/nytmike/status/1654268226803466249

[emailking]

Article says they're investigating whether witnesses were assessed for loyalty to Trump and given access to lawyers if they were loyal enough.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Trump is gonna get blanched

[Progressive Pessimist]

Trump is gonna get blanched

It's official, folks!

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

These investigations just hurt Trump and DeSantis for a Filibuster proof Trifecta but we have Divided Govt now and I said Ds spent the funds in Ukraine and gonna have to capitulate and reverse the cuts in 25

That's why same users that support War in Ukraine and Johnson reelection bid and made R nut maps because there were quite a few, aren't gonna get their Students loan Forgiveness, it says on the piece of paper since it was done by Executive order not Congress all stimulus aren't Guarenteed

As soon as RH got back in control with Ron Johnson from Day 1 they didn't want that Student loan Forgiveness and what do you think Trump or DeSantis would do block it

[emailking]

New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified

The National Archives has informed former president Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records which show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president, according to multiple sources.

In a May 16 letter obtained by CNN, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall writes to Trump, “The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”

The 16 presidential records, which were subpoenaed earlier this year, may provide critical evidence establishing the former president’s awareness of the declassification process, a key part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.

The records may also provide insight into Trump’s intent and whether he willfully disregarded what he knew to be clearly established protocols, according to a source familiar with recent testimony provided to the grand jury by former top Trump officials.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/17/politics/trump-letter-archives-special-counsel-declassification/index.html

[2016]

The Walls are closing in on Trump (just what emailking described)

https://twitter.com/realTuckFrumper/status/1658945758387924992

[emailking]

Trump Reacts to Bill Barr's Remarks on Classified Documents Probe

Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his claim that he did nothing wrong by having classified documents at his Palm Beach estate, after former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr said the alleged mishandling of classified documents presents Trump's most formidable legal challenge.

...

"I've said all along that of the cases out there right now, the one I'd be most concerned about, if I were the president, is the Mar-a-Lago document case," Barr told CBS News' Catherine Herridge on Thursday.

"It's very clear that he had no business having those documents," the former attorney general added. "He was given a long time to send them back and he was—they were subpoenaed. And if there's any games being played there, he's going to be very exposed."

Taking to Truth Social on Saturday the former president responded and wrote, "I did NOTHING WRONG! When are they going to start talking about [President Joe] Biden's documents, and the documents of almost all other modern day Presidents?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-reacts-to-bill-barr-s-remarks-on-classified-documents-probe/ar-AA1bs1YM

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

(I think this is the right thread for this. The lawyers for  the sex criminal leader of the Republican party (and of the criminal Trump Org) have themselves potentially committed so many crimes while covering for his many additional crimes that it is hard to keep track sometimes.)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-lawyer-tim-parlatore-leaves-former-presidents-legal-team-rcna84896

Timothy Parlatore, a key lawyer representing Donald Trump in a special counsel investigation of his handling of classified documents, said Wednesday that he is leaving the former president’s legal team.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/20/us/politics/parlatore-trump-lawyer-conflict.html

Timothy Parlatore, who withdrew this past week from representing the former president in the special counsel investigations, said he stepped aside over differences with a Trump adviser, Boris Epshteyn.

What were those differences? (Usual disclaimers for the propaganda mill Dilbert Stark paid the GDP of Bahrain for apply.)
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1660023873088151554

This is the same lawyer (Parlatore) who previously claimed that "Mr. Trump's legal team has no evidence that Mr. Trump showed classified documents to anyone."

So, the lawyer who says he doesn't have any evidence Donald Trump shared the secret information Donald Trump stole, is quitting because he hasn't actually be able to talk to his client about the details of the defense he's supposed to be mounting. It seems to me that Donald's strategy of "lying to lawyers  who then lie to other lawyers who will then lie to the Court" is reaching the point of diminishing returns. (Or maybe he just needs to recruit a fresh round of unpaid legal meatshields.)

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

https://news.yahoo.com/prosecutor-suggests-indictments-trump-election-124244682.html

Trump is getting indicted in GA and Ds will win KY and MS G and LA G is going to a runoff, Trump is still acting as though he isn't gonna be reprcautions to his actions

That's why voters not polls have the Final say on Trump just like Rs lost WI, PA and FL

[emailking]

Trump was warned about retaining classified documents, notes reveal
Exclusive: Unreported warning contained in notes taken by lawyer Evan Corcoran that prosecutors have viewed in recent months

Federal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump was put on notice that he could not retain any classified documents after he was subpoenaed for their return last year, as they examine whether the subsequent failure to fully comply with the subpoena was a deliberate act of obstruction by the former president.

The previously unreported warning conveyed to Trump by his lawyer Evan Corcoran could be significant in the criminal investigation surrounding Trump’s handling of classified materials given it shows he knew about his subpoena obligations.

...

In particular, prosecutors have fixated on Trump’s valet Walt Nauta, after he told the justice department that Trump told him to move boxes out of the storage room before and after the subpoena. The activity was captured on subpoenaed surveillance footage, though there were gaps in the tapes.

...

The notes revealed how Trump and Nauta had unusually detailed knowledge of the botched subpoena response, including where Corcoran intended to search and not search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as when Corcoran was actually doing his search.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/22/trump-warning-classified-documents-mar-a-lago

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1660762237529903104

[Torie]

Trump illegally taking, and then not returning, despite "requests," government documents relating to the dealings of his real estate empire is well ... interesting.

Maybe that is the real reason Trump is running for POTUS. If elected, the prosecution stop, and he is untouchable until two thirds of the Senate convicts him. Developing.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Trump is getting his campaign contributions from the Proud Boys that's why he said he will pardon the insurrection t
It was okay for whites to put Bush W in but not okay for blks to put Biden ahead that's why he keeps saying 20 if anyone thinks 20 is fair like he is a victim, he isn't a victim he doesn't need to be Prez he is a billionaire, he plays of grievances

MCCARTHY blocked the Jt J6 Commission and hearings on J6

[emailking]

Special Counsel Is Wrapping Up Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe
Some Trump associates anticipate an indictment—and raising funds off it

Special counsel Jack Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in his criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump mishandled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to people familiar with the matter.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/special-counsel-is-wrapping-up-trump-mar-a-lago-probe-99cd2517

The rest is paywalled.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Former President Donald Trump's legal team has formally requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, amid fears from his attorneys that the coming weeks could bring a possible indictment of Trump regarding his alleged efforts to retain materials after leaving office and to obstruct the government's attempts to retrieve them.

The letter, though thin on details, was sent so Trump's lawyers could present arguments that Trump should not be charged in the investigation related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fearing-indictment-imminent-classified-docs-probe-trump-team/story?id=99506836

Here's the letter:

https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1661175617511911424

[Torie]

One of the comments from the peanut gallery mused whether an adult with a law degree really wrote the letter. The answer of course is yes. It’s not their fault that there client did not give them better material and went out of his way to hand incriminating evidence to the Justice Department on a platter.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1661795852971638790

[Yoda]

https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1661795852971638790

OUCH. I don't see how he avoids prison time unless, of course, he succeeds in pushing the trial or sentencing beyond the '24 election, somehow wins and then pardons himself. These leaks are incredibly damning. trump stole these documents, lied that he had declassified them, and showed the classified documents to people who did not hold the security clearance to see them. It will be a literal bombshell if it comes out at trial the identity of the individuals he showed the documents to.

[Del Tachi]

The documents Trump is known to have retained (like his "love letters" from Kim Jong-un) are the type of harmless momentos you'd show-off at a party.  Trump is really suffering for how over-classified a lot of executive branch material is, and this over-prosecution is political.