So first let's debunk trump's false claims that all of these documents had previously been declassified by him. You know the "I could just think it" defense.............
Exclusive: Donald Trump admits on tape he didn’t declassify ‘secret information’
Former President Donald Trump acknowledged on tape in a 2021 meeting that he had retained “secret” military information that he had not declassified, according to a transcript of the audio recording obtained by CNN.
“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to the transcript.
CNN obtained the transcript of a portion of the meeting where Trump is discussing a classified Pentagon document about attacking Iran. In the audio recording, which CNN previously reported was obtained by prosecutors, Trump says that he did not declassify the document he’s referencing, according to the transcript.
Trump was indicted Thursday on seven counts in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the mishandling of classified documents. Details from the indictment have not been made public, so it unknown whether any of the seven counts refer to the recorded 2021 meeting. Still, the tape is significant because it shows that Trump had an understanding the records he had with him at Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House remained classified.
Publicly, Trump has claimed that all the documents he brought with him to his Florida residence are declassified, while he’s railed against the special counsel’s investigation as a political witch hunt attempting to interfere with his 2024 presidential campaign.
CNN first reported last week that prosecutors had obtained the audio recording of Trump’s 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin.
The transcript of the audio recording suggests that Trump is showing the document he’s discussing to those in the room. Several sources have told CNN the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document.
“Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump says at one point, according to the transcript. “This was done by the military and given to me.”
Trump was complaining in the meeting about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. The meeting occurred shortly after The New Yorker published a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs to ensure Trump issued no illegal orders and that he be informed if there was any concern.
“Well, with Milley – uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him,” Trump says, according to the transcript. “They presented me this – this is off the record, but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. We looked at some. This was him. This wasn’t done by me, this was him.”
Trump continues: “All sorts of stuff – pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this.”
“Secret” and “confidential” are two levels of classification for sensitive government documents.
In March, prosecutors subpoenaed Trump for the document referenced in the 2021 recording. Trump’s lawyers provided some documents related to Iran and Milley in response to the subpoena, but they could not find the document itself.
Federal prosecutors have been investigating Trump over the mishandling of classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago and obstruction of the investigation. Trump’s lawyer said the former president was given a summons by the Justice Department to appear in court Tuesday in southern Florida.
The Mar-a-Lago investigation is one of two being led by Smith, who was appointed special counsel in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election is still ongoing.
For the week, they have been talking about it. Guess the news media was right?
They were right about the indictment but they underestimated how many counts that indictment included by a long shot.............
Trump charged with 37 counts in classified documents case, indictment says
A 37-count criminal indictment against Donald Trump over his handling of classified government records was unsealed Friday.
The charging document was made public a day after the former president was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Miami.
Among other allegations, the indictment says that Trump showed classified documents to other people in the summer of 2021, after leaving office.
One of those documents was a “plan of attack” that he said was prepared by the Pentagon, while the other was a classified map related to a military operation, the indictment alleges.
The FBI raid of Trump’s Florida home last August discovered hundreds of classified documents, which he had failed to turn over to U.S. officials despite months of their efforts to recover them.
The indictment says Trump was aware of the highly sensitive nature of the documents, quoting him at one point as saying: “As president, I could have declassified it ... but this is still secret.”
Also charged in the indictment was Trump’s valet, Walter Nauta, who faces several of the same charges as his boss, with whom he allegedly conspired to keep classified records and hide them from a federal grand jury.
Trump is due to be arraigned in Miami on Tuesday, the day before his 77th birthday.
He and Nauta each face a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges, which are conspiracy to obstruct justice and counts related to withholding and concealing the government records.
Thirty-one of the counts accuse Trump of willful retention of national defense information. He is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document or record; concealing a document in a federal investigation; scheme to conceal; and false statements and representations
The indictment notes, “As he departed the White House, TRUMP caused scores of boxes, many of which contained classified documents, to be transported to The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he maintained his residence.”
“TRUMP was not authorized to possess or retain those classified documents,” the indictment says.
The indictment estimates that Trump’s trial would take between 21 and 60 days.
Earlier Friday, two of his lawyers resigned from representing him in the classified documents case, and in another pending federal criminal investigation for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
It seems there are only 34 counts against trump directly. From what I've seen, Walt Nauta, a personal aide to Donald Trump has also been indicted in the case and my guess is the other three counts are against him.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump indictment unsealed in documents case | Live updates
MIAMI (AP) — Follow along for live updates on former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate. The indictment marks the first time in U.S. history that a former president faces criminal charges by the federal government he once oversaw. Trump faces the possibility of prison if convicted.
___
LAWS APPLY TO ‘EVERYONE’ TRUMP SPECIAL COUNSEL SAYS
The Justice Department special counsel who filed charges against Trump says in his first public statement that the country has “one set of laws and they apply to everyone’ while he outlined the charges against the former president.
Jack Smith spoke to reporters briefly in Washington on Friday but did not take questions.
“Adherence to the rule of law is a bedrock principle of the Department of Justice and our nation’s commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world,” Smith said.
Smith said said prosecutors would seek a speedy trial and “very much look forward" to presenting their case.
Trump is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in South Florida.
___
TRUMP KEPT CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN BATHROOM, SHOWER OF CLUB, INDICTMENT SAYS
The indictment alleges Trump kept classified documents in the bathroom and shower at his Florida estate, as well as various other locations that included a ballroom, storeroom, office and bedroom.
Prosecutors noted that “tens of thousands of members and guests” visited the “active social club” of Mar-a-Lago between the end of Trump’s presidency in January 2021 through the August 2022 search. They argued that “nonetheless” Trump stored documents “in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, and office space, his bedroom, and a storage room.”
The indictment claims that, for a two-month period, some of Trump’s boxes were stored in one of Mar-a-Lago’s gilded ballroom. A picture included in the indictment shows boxes stacked in rows on the ballroom’s stage.
The indictment also shows photographs of boxes that spilled over in the storage room, including a document marked SECRET/REL TO USA, FVEY” which means information releasable only to members of the intelligence alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the photo the classified document is redacted.
___
What to know:
— Trump faces a string of inquiries in various states and venues as he campaigns for a return to the White House
— Trump’s case differs from those of other politicians known to have been in possession of classified documents
— Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel probing Trump’s role in the retention of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election?
— In spite of legal woes and a crowded GOP field, Trump has remained Republicans’ frontrunner for 2024
— Does the indictment stand to damage Trump’s standing with voters?
___
LAWYER SAID TRUMP SUGGESTED HE REMOVE DAMAGING DOCUMENTS
The indictment unsealed Friday also says that, unaware of any records being moved, Trump’s attorney on June 2, 2022, identified 38 documents with “classified” markings and placed them in a folder, which he sealed with clear duct tape handed to him by Trump valet Walt Nauta. The valet then took the attorney to see the former president.
“Did you find anything? Is it bad? ... Is it good?” the lawyer said Trump asked.
The attorney told federal authorities that he discussed the folder of classified material with Trump and how the material should be handled. The attorney told authorities that as they discussed the attorney taking the materials with him, Trump gestured in a way that suggested he wanted the attorney to identify “anything really bad” and “you know, pluck it out.” The lawyer clarified that Trump did not articulate such instructions beyond making that “plucking motion.”
The attorney told authorities that he did not take anything out of the folder and that he instead immediately contacted the FBI and another Trump attorney. On June 3, according to the indictment, the second Trump attorney acted as the official custodian of records on Trump’s behalf and turned the material to the FBI.
___
INDICTMENT ALLEGES VALET MOVED BOXES AT TRUMP’S DIRECTION
The indictment alleges that Nauta acted “at Trump’s direction” to move move “approximately 64 boxes” of documents from the Mar-a-Lago storage room to the former president’s residence. Nauta’s actions occurred between May 23, 2022, and June 2, 2022, according to the indictment.
That total includes “approximately 30 boxes” Nauta allegedly moved on June 2, the same day Trump’s legal team was expected to examine the cache. Nauta’s actions that day came hours after he talked briefly via phone with Trump, prosecutors allege. Neither Trump nor Nauta, according to the indictment, disclosed to the former president’s attorneys that Nauta had moved any of the storage room contents.
According to prosecutors’ timeline, Trump met later that day with one of his attorneys and Nauta escorted the attorney to the storage room for his review of the documents.
___
INDICTMENT ALLEGES TRUMP SHOWED DOCUMENTS TO OTHERS
The indictment unsealed Friday outlined two circumstances in which Trump allegedly showed the documents to others.
One occurred in a meeting with a writer at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he described federal officials’ “plan of attack” against him and purportedly acknowledging that he knew the information “is still a secret.”
In a later meeting with a representative from his political action committee, Trump displayed “a classified map related to a military operation,” acknowledging he “should not be showing it to the representative and that the representative should not get too close,” prosecutors said.
In the next paragraph, prosecutors note how Trump, at a press conference while president in 2017, addressed media leaks and said that leaking classified information is “an illegal process” and that people involved “should be ashamed of themselves.”
___
TRUMP FACES 37 FELONY CHARGES
Trump is facing 37 felony charges related to the mishandling of classified documents.
An indictment unsealed Friday also alleges that he described a Pentagon “plan of attack” and shared a classified map related to a military operation.
The document marks the Justice Department’s first official confirmation of a criminal case against Trump arising from the retention of hundreds of documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
Charged alongside with Trump was Walt Nauta, a Trump aide who was seen on surveillance camera removing boxes at Mar-a-Lago.
The indictment accuses Trump of having improperly removed scores of boxes from the White House to take them to Mar-a-Lago, many of them containing classified information.
Trump described a Pentagon “plan of attack” and shared classified map related to a military operation, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
The document marks the Justice Department’s first official confirmation of a criminal case against Trump arising from the retention of hundreds of documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump disclosed the existence of the indictment in a Truth Social post Thursday night as well as in a video he recorded.
The indictment accuses Trump of having improperly removed scores of boxes from the White House to take them to Mar-a-Lago, many of them containing classified information.
___
INDICTMENT AGAINST TRUMP MADE PUBLIC
An indictment charging former President Donald Trump with mishandling classified documents has been unsealed.
The document released Friday marks the Justice Department’s first official confirmation of a criminal case against Trump arising from the retention of hundreds of documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump disclosed the existence of the indictment in a Truth Social post Thursday night as well as in a video he recorded.
People familiar with the matter have told The Associated Press that the indictment includes seven separate charges.
___
BIDEN STAYS MUM ON TRUMP INDICTMENT; PENCE THINKS TRUMP SHOULD STAY IN PRESIDENTIAL RACE
President Joe Biden is steadfastly refusing to comment on Trump’s indictment and says he has not spoken to attorney general Merrick Garland about it, as the White House continues to shy away from the political implications of the case.
Traveling in North Carolina on Friday, Biden said of Garland shortly after the indictment against Trump was unsealed and released to the public, “I have not spoken to him at all. I’m not gonna speak to him.”
The president added, “I have no comment on what happened” and repeated similar replies when pressed.
Trump is the early front-runner in the Republican presidential primary for the right to challenge Biden, who is seeking reelection. At least one of Trump’s rivals, meanwhile, doesn’t think the case should prompt the former president to bow out of the primary race.
Mike Pence, who was Trump’s vice president, was asked by a reporter while campaigning at a diner in Derry, New Hampshire, if Trump should suspend his campaign and replied, “No.”
“I think any consideration of that is premature,” Pence said. “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in America. I think the former president has a right to make his defense.”
___
TRUMP CHOOSES LAWYER FROM NEW YORK CRIMINAL CASE TO REPRESENT HIM
Trump says he has picked a lawyer from his New York criminal case to represent him in his newly indicted federal classified documents case.
Trump posted Friday on his Truth Social platform that Todd Blanche will lead his defense in the federal case, along with “a firm to be named later,” replacing his previous lawyers, Jim Trusty and John Rowley.
Blanche, a respected white-collar defense lawyer, joined Trump’s legal team just before his New York indictment in March. Before that, he was a partner at the firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. He’s also been a federal prosecutor in New York.
The New York Times Trump Was Recorded Saying He Knew He Had a Classified Document
Maggie Haberman Fri, June 9, 2023 at 1:35 PM EDT·3 min read
Former President Donald Trump declared at a meeting in July 2021, six months after leaving the White House, that a document in front of him was “classified” and “highly confidential,” according to a person briefed on the matter.
That meeting, with people helping his former chief of staff with a book, has been previously reported, but new details of Trump’s specific comments appear to demonstrate explicitly that he was aware that materials he had taken with him from the White House included classified information. The recording is expected to be a key piece of evidence in the case against him that special counsel Jack Smith brought this week, with seven counts related to his possession of reams of classified material.
Trump also indicated he couldn’t show the document to the people in front of him — many if not all of whom didn’t have security clearances that would allow them to see sensitive government material — and added, “As president, I could have declassified them; now I can’t,” according to the person briefed on the matter, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Trump then said the document was “classified,” and a woman in the room replied, “Now we have a problem,” according to the person familiar with the recording.
Many details of what is said on the recording were reported earlier by CNN, which also first reported on the existence of the recording.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to an email about the new information.
The meeting took place in July 2021, by which time, officials at the National Archives had already spent at least two months pressing Trump’s representatives on returning documents they believed he had in his possession.
The transcript demonstrates that Trump was not only aware he had sensitive material but also had it with him at his club at Bedminster, New Jersey, where the meeting took place, and that he knew he no longer had the power to declassify material.
Trump’s meeting was with two people helping Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff, with a memoir about his tenure in the White House. Aides to Trump also attended.
At the time, Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom Trump had appointed, had been a subject of multiple media portraits describing him as pressing back against an erratic president in the final months of the presidency.
Trump went on a tear about Milley.
“Isn’t it amazing, I have a big pile of papers,” Trump said at one point. Papers could be heard rustling, and then Trump began appearing to point to a specific document, saying, “Look, this was him.” At another point he said, “This was the Defense Department and him.”
He described something in front of him as “like, highly confidential,” and maintained it was really Milley who wanted to attack Iran (in fact, Milley cautioned against such a move).
At one point, Trump was interrupted, and a woman in the room could be heard on the recording referencing Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state whose email server Trump used as an attack line during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump said Clinton would send material “to Anthony Weiner, that pervert,” referring to the former congressperson who was married to an aide to Clinton.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly asserted that, while still in office, he had declassified all the material he took with him from the White House (though the charges may not rely on whether anything was classified). But his assertion appeared to be undercut by the recording.
“As president, I could have declassified them; now I can’t,” Trump was recorded saying, according to the person familiar with its contents. He then reiterated something was “classified” as he and one of the women in the room talked over each other, according to the person familiar with its contents.
“Isn’t that interesting? It’s so cool,” Trump said, adding, “You probably almost didn’t believe me, but now you believe me.”
The thing that bothers me about this is that this case is going in front of a judge that Trump appointed. That by itself isn't as bad as it sounds. What makes it bad is that, twice this judge had it before her to stop or hinder this investigation. And she tried. But was overturned on appeal... She was kinda beat on by the court of appeals about her decision. I don't know what that will mean in the end.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
On one hand, I think any judge appointed by trump would have a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves. Seems like the judge in the Disney case did so for significantly less (something like a 3rd degree relative owned Disney stock or something like that).
On the other hand, if trump were to be convicted, I wouldn't want there to be any excuses.
Don't blame the clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.
Why critics are upset that Judge Aileen Cannon will preside over Trump's new criminal trial
Ben Adler·Senior Editor Fri, June 9, 2023 at 4:07 PM EDT·4 min read
Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. (Photo-illustration: Yahoo News; photo via Wikicommons) Former President Trump’s critics groaned when they learned that Judge Aileen Cannon was listed on the summons for Trump’s Tuesday appearance to face charges in federal court.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, made controversial rulings in Trump’s favor during the investigation into his personal possession of classified government documents. Some observers fretted that Cannon would run Trump’s trial in a biased manner.
But some other experts cautioned that Cannon would not necessarily preside over the trial, arguing that she would either recuse herself or be reassigned by a higher court.
Who is Cannon?
Trump nominated Cannon in 2020 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — which includes Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., where he kept the documents. Prior to her appointment, she was a federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida.
She has been a member of the Federalist Society, an activist network of conservative attorneys and legal scholars, since she was in law school at the University of Michigan.
Why was she chosen to oversee this trial?
Federal trial judges are typically assigned at random, but Cannon was already assigned last year to preside over Trump’s lawsuit demanding a “special master” in an attempt to deny the FBI access to materials it had seized that Trump claimed were subject to executive privilege.
“If the case is being overseen by the same district and magistrate judges, that means the court likely considered the indictment to be ‘related’ to the search warrant and intentionally assigned it to those judges,” former senior Justice Department national security official Brandon Van Grack told ABC News.
“[Cannon’s] rulings on everything from procedural motions to Trump’s planned efforts to have the case thrown out before trial will have vast implications for the course of the case,” ABC News noted.
Why do many distrust her?
Cannon ruled in favor of Trump’s request for a special master — an independent arbiter who would review the documents, many of them classified — much to the consternation of former and current federal prosecutors across the political spectrum.
“Paul Rosenzweig, a former homeland security official in the George W. Bush administration and prosecutor in the independent counsel investigation of Bill Clinton, said it was egregious to block the Justice Department from steps like asking witnesses about government files, many marked as classified, that agents had already reviewed,” the New York Times reported.
“This would seem to me to be a genuinely unprecedented decision by a judge,” Rosenzweig told the Times. “Enjoining the ongoing criminal investigation is simply untenable.”
"The opinion, I think, was wrong," William Barr, who served as attorney general under Trump, told Fox News. "It's deeply flawed in a number of ways."
Even the special master Cannon appointed said he was “perplexed” by Trump’s assertion of executive privilege over classified documents after he had left office.
Cannon’s decision was overturned by a unanimous three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Two of those appellate judges were also appointed by Trump. (The appeals court had already overturned Cannon’s refusal to grant a stay of her ruling while the appeal was pending, another move by Cannon that shocked legal experts.)
What happens next
The Washington Post confirmed with multiple sources that Cannon has been assigned to preside over the case, at least initially.
“Trial judges can affect the timing and shape of cases in many ways,” the Post reported. “They can rule on motions to dismiss counts or the entire indictment, decide what evidence is admitted or excluded, and address a host of other critical questions.”
Cannon’s rulings will be subject to appeal. But the Post cautioned that “such litigation could add months of delays or might have to wait until after trial, dragging out the process to 2025 or longer.”
Some commentators speculate that Cannon will either recuse herself or that the Justice Department will successfully request the appeals court remove her from the trial.
“Although a judge’s behavior in court generally doesn’t form the basis for recusal, the 11th Circuit has ordered ‘reassignment’ where a judge leans so heavily for a defendant they call their objectivity in the eyes of the public into question,” Joyce Alene, a professor at the University of Alabama Law School and a legal analyst for NBC News, wrote on Twitter.
“This is persuasive authority that Judge Cannon must step aside if the case falls to her as a permanent assignment. Her court & certainly the 11th won’t tolerate the damage it would do to their credibility if she failed to voluntarily recuse.”
Judge Aileen Cannon is going to get another chance to prove that she is capable of making serious judgments concerning the rule of law. I suspect that her fellow conservative judges of the 11th circuit will be watching.
JURISPRUDENCE
Judge Aileen Cannon’s Reign of Madness Is Over
Here’s why the 11th Circuit, including two Trump judges, ruled in favor of the Department of Justice.
BY MARK JOSEPH STERN SEPT 22, 20223:20 PM
Judge Aileen Cannon suffered a rout on Wednesday night when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shredded every aspect of her decision that halted the criminal investigation into Donald Trump. The three-judge panel, which included two fellow Trump nominees, gave the Justice Department a complete victory, identifying multiple grievous errors in Cannon’s reasoning. Technically, the 11th Circuit ruled against Trump, but much of its reasoning reads like a ruling against Cannon herself—a vehement repudiation of her sloppy effort to run interference for the president who appointed her. Most notably, the panel emphasized the most dangerous consequence in Cannon’s decision: In twisting the law for Trump, the decision created a startling and unlawful threat to national security.
Cannon’s decision was so sweeping that this element of the case has been easy to miss. But national security experts like Slate’s Fred Kaplan have been ringing the alarm from the start, pointing out how Cannon’s injunction kneecapped federal law enforcement and potentially jeopardized people’s lives. The reason why is simple: In her first ruling, the judge prohibited the government from “further review and use of any of the materials” seized from Mar-a-Lago “for criminal investigative purposes,” including about 100 classified documents. She added, however, that the government could “continue to review and use the materials seized for purposes of intelligence classification and national security assessments.”
This distinction is utterly impractical, even fantastical. It is impossible to abide by. Here’s the problem: The FBI and Justice Department officials conducting the criminal investigation into Trump are working on the damage assessment, as well. These two tasks have been intertwined from the start. As Norm Eisen and Fred Wertheimer explained in Slate, those officials assessing the damage caused by improper handling of classified materials must communicate with officials considering possible criminal penalties. In some cases, the same individuals will participate in both the damage assessment and the criminal case. These overlapping roles make perfect sense: The criminal case against Trump will rest, in part, on the damage that his behavior inflicted on national security. So by halting the Justice Department’s criminal investigation, Cannon effectively halted its damage assessment, too. Her roadblock has hamstrung the intelligence community’s efforts to determine whether Trump’s illicit seizure of classified documents imperiled the nation’s security by compromising American spies still working undercover.
The Justice Department explained all this to Cannon, who apparently didn’t care enough to change her ruling. Luckily, the 11th Circuit did. It relied heavily on a declaration submitted by Alan E. Kohler, Jr., the Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI. The appeals court credited Kohler’s explanation that “as part of a classification review to assess the existence and extent of damage” to national security, the FBI “needed to access evidence and disseminate it to other intelligence agencies to assess potential harm.” Consider a few of the government’s most pressing concerns: Who accessed the classified material? What portion of it was compromised? Are there any other classified papers still unaccounted for?
These questions are equally relevant to the intelligence community and to the criminal investigators. But as the 11th Circuit pointed out, under Cannon’s ruling, government officials cannot answer them without risking “contempt of court.” The consequence will be a “chilling” of their “national-security duties,” since those responsibilities are “inextricably intertwined” with the criminal investigation.
The 11th Circuit did not spell out how, exactly, Trump’s seizure of classified documents may have harmed the security of the United States. That reticence is understandable, since many key details of the case remain secret. And yet, an unredacted portion of the warrant that authorized the Mar-a-Lago search showed that these records included information provided by spies. Some documents were marked HCS, or Human Intelligence Control System, which indicates that they may contain the identity of undercover informants. This is a problem for more reasons than the obvious: Just last year, the CIA warned that a shocking number of its informants had been arrested and killed by foreign nations. The agency also noted its struggle to recruit new informants. It is hard to imagine that anyone would want to sign up if they knew that a former president could keep documents revealing their identity in an unlocked room at his resort—then persuade a federal judge to prevent the FBI from ascertaining how much danger they’re in because of the president’s negligence.
Here, then, is the chief distinction between Cannon and the two Trump nominees who ruled against her, Andrew Brasher and Britt Grant. All three judges are extraordinarily conservative. All three might even bend the rules to favor Trump. But Brasher and Grant were not willing to fully break the rules, at least when doing so could subvert the U.S. government’s ability to protect itself from foreign threats. Cannon’s conduct places her in a separate class of hard-right judges—you might call them ultra-MAGA—who will do anything to further their political and ideological agenda. There’s an analogy here to the conservative judges who ordered the Navy to deploy unvaccinated SEALs and attempted to keep an insubordinate anti-vaxxer in command of a naval warship. There is no limit to the lunacy these judges will unleash in furtherance of their agenda. And so the somewhat less radical adults in the room must step in. Much like Justice Brett Kavanaugh shot down conservative judges who inserted themselves into the Navy’s chain of command, Brasher and Grant had to stop Cannon from wresting control over the FBI.
If Trump dares appeal the 11th Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court, he will lose, perhaps unanimously. The appeals court made it abundantly clear that judicial interference in the government’s review of these classified documents crossed the line into lawlessness. Cannon’s wildly disruptive reign of madness is finally drawing to a close.
1. There will be pressure brought to bear upon Ms. Cannon to recuse herself from this proceeding. The optics she created from her previous rulings in the very investigations that led to these indictments place a very harsh spotlight on not just her, but also the court over which she presides. She will be getting a lot of phone calls in the next few days.
Her reputation/vitae before this appointment was that of a 3rd-tier talent. The legal equivalent of Spurgeon Wynn. One would hope that she's self-aware enough to realize that's she's not ready for this level of prime time. She might jump at the chance to not be in the middle of the circus that's about to break out.
I predict that we'll see a recusal and reassignment before this case comes to trial.
I could be wrong, but that's how things look to me at present. .02
I am not making light of the charges, but don't get too hung up on the number of charges. DA's like to stack charges to keep getting a crack at basically the same charge.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
On one hand, I think any judge appointed by trump would have a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves. Seems like the judge in the Disney case did so for significantly less (something like a 3rd degree relative owned Disney stock or something like that).
On the other hand, if trump were to be convicted, I wouldn't want there to be any excuses.
I hear what your saying. And I agree..,
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
1. There will be pressure brought to bear upon Ms. Cannon to recuse herself from this proceeding. The optics she created from her previous rulings in the very investigations that led to these indictments place a very harsh spotlight on not just her, but also the court over which she presides. She will be getting a lot of phone calls in the next few days.
Her reputation/vitae before this appointment was that of a 3rd-tier talent. The legal equivalent of Spurgeon Wynn. One would hope that she's self-aware enough to realize that's she's not ready for this level of prime time. She might jump at the chance to not be in the middle of the circus that's about to break out.
I predict that we'll see a recusal and reassignment before this case comes to trial.
I could be wrong, but that's how things look to me at present. .02
That's almost the way it has to happen. She has shown a "love" of all things Trump.
The good news is that the appeals court that slapped her rulings down before is made up of 3 judges.. Two of which were appointed by Trump. So in the end, that didn't work out for Trump..
I wonder if she has the stomach for another beat down?
As Jester put it, it's a double edged sword.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
I am not making light of the charges, but don't get too hung up on the number of charges. DA's like to stack charges to keep getting a crack at basically the same charge.
Dropping 37 charges on trump isn’t stacking charges. Just a drop in the bucket. He deserves much more than he’s charged with here. And ya’ll know it. Yet he’s still the Goper candidate of choice. smh. Pffft.
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. – Jackie Robinson
I am not making light of the charges, but don't get too hung up on the number of charges. DA's like to stack charges to keep getting a crack at basically the same charge.
Dropping 37 charges on trump isn’t stacking charges. Just a drop in the bucket. He deserves much more than he’s charged with here. And ya’ll know it. Yet he’s still the Goper candidate of choice. smh. Pffft.
Hey man, I am not trying to be political, I am just trying to educate you and tell you how it is. I do know what I am talking about, so take it or leave it.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
I am not making light of the charges, but don't get too hung up on the number of charges. DA's like to stack charges to keep getting a crack at basically the same charge.
Dropping 37 charges on trump isn’t stacking charges. Just a drop in the bucket. He deserves much more than he’s charged with here. And ya’ll know it. Yet he’s still the Goper candidate of choice. smh. Pffft.
Hey man, I am not trying to be political, I am just trying to educate you and tell you how it is. I do know what I am talking about, so take it or leave it.
I pretty much agree with you. I'm not a huge fan of the strategy of prosecutors in general. First off they are elected officials and as such their political future is dependent on getting a very high conviction rate at all costs. Secondly, many times they will bring charges that are far beyond the actual infraction which they know they can't convict someone on. I call that overcharging. The reason for this is that many people simply can't afford to hire an adequate defense attorney for a felony trial and will make a plea deal to much lesser charges out of desperation. They know that and use it as a tool to scare the hell out of people in order to garner that plea deal to add to their conviction rate.
I think it's only fair to be honest about how our system actually works, or does not work as the case may be and realize that isn't so much a political issue as it is a systemic issue.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
On one hand, I think any judge appointed by trump would have a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves. Seems like the judge in the Disney case did so for significantly less (something like a 3rd degree relative owned Disney stock or something like that).
On the other hand, if trump were to be convicted, I wouldn't want there to be any excuses.
So do you actually believe that using this trump appointed judge means they will not make excuses? They already know this will be the judge and are making up excuses now anyway. That isn't going to change.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I am not making light of the charges, but don't get too hung up on the number of charges. DA's like to stack charges to keep getting a crack at basically the same charge.
Dropping 37 charges on trump isn’t stacking charges. Just a drop in the bucket. He deserves much more than he’s charged with here. And ya’ll know it. Yet he’s still the Goper candidate of choice. smh. Pffft.
Hey man, I am not trying to be political, I am just trying to educate you and tell you how it is. I do know what I am talking about, so take it or leave it.
I pretty much agree with you. I'm not a huge fan of the strategy of prosecutors in general. First off they are elected officials and as such their political future is dependent on getting a very high conviction rate at all costs. Secondly, many times they will bring charges that are far beyond the actual infraction which they know they can't convict someone on. I call that overcharging. The reason for this is that many people simply can't afford to hire an adequate defense attorney for a felony trial and will make a plea deal to much lesser charges out of desperation. They know that and use it as a tool to scare the hell out of people in order to garner that plea deal to add to their conviction rate.
I think it's only fair to be honest about how our system actually works, or does not work as the case may be and realize that isn't so much a political issue as it is a systemic issue.
You get it. I might not agree with overchagring...or at least the idea that it can't be defended. Any at least half way decent public attorney can defend against that, and most are at least half way decent. You can't pass the bar exam if you don't have a good understand of the law.
We'll see how it plays out.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
From my understanding they still haven't located the Iran document which he was recorded discussing at that Bedminster meeting. I'm not 100% sure on the accuracy of that however.............
Exclusive: Trump attorneys haven’t found classified document former president referred to on tape following subpoena
Former President Trump's indictment paints an astonishing picture: U.S. government secrets — about its nuclear program, military plans, intelligence briefings and more — were stuffed into cardboard boxes at Mar-a-Lago where "tens of thousands" of people might have come across them.
Why it matters: The 49-page indictment details how boxes were kept on a ballroom stage, in an office, a bedroom, a bathroom and even a shower at Trump's club.
It also alleges he tried to hide documents and mislead federal investigators who sought to retrieve them. "Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?" Trump allegedly asked one of his attorneys, as they discussed a grand jury subpoena last May.
Zoom in: The 37-count indictment — roundly praised by legal analysts and former prosecutors Friday for its detail — uses photos, interview transcripts and detailed timelines to describe the haphazard ways the documents were moved from one room to another.
Secret documents alongside other papers and news clippings were photographed strewn across the floor of a basement storage room — documents marked "FVEY," for Five Eyes . That means they include intelligence meant to be shared only among U.S. officials and those from four close allies — Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Dozens of boxes were shown stacked on a stage in Mar-a-Lago's White and Gold ballroom at one point; some later were moved to a business center and then a bathroom and shower, the indictment said.
With the help of Trump "body man" Walt Nauta — who also was charged in the case — papers that included classified information allegedly were shuffled between a Mar-a-Lago storage room, Trump's residence and even his summer home in Bedminster, N.J.
In Bedminster, the indictment alleges, Trump showed a writer a classified military attack plan and Trump showed a PAC official a classified map involving a country where the U.S. has ongoing military operations.
During that meeting — which was recorded — Trump said he could have declassified the document while he was president, but that "now, I can't."
That recorded acknowledgement could help prosecutors seeking to show that Trump was showing documents that he knew were classified.
By the numbers: After leaving the White House, the indictment says, Trump held on to classified documents created by the departments of State and Defense, the CIA, the NSA, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and others.
When asked to return them, Trump initially turned over 15 boxes to the National Archives, including 197 classified documents.
30 were marked "top secret" 98 were marked "secret"
The rest were "confidential," except for some that had even higher levels of classifications than "top secret" — some of them meant to be viewed only in a secure setting.
After a grand jury subpoena, another 38 documents were handed over.
When the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago last August, an additional 102 classified documents were found in a storage room and Trump's office.
17 were "top secret" 54 were "secret" 31 were "confidential"
On one hand, I think any judge appointed by trump would have a conflict of interest and should recuse themselves. Seems like the judge in the Disney case did so for significantly less (something like a 3rd degree relative owned Disney stock or something like that).
On the other hand, if trump were to be convicted, I wouldn't want there to be any excuses.
So do you actually believe that using this trump appointed judge means they will not make excuses? They already know this will be the judge and are making up excuses now anyway. That isn't going to change.
Oh there will be excuses. A trump appointed judge is just 1 less thing to complain about, and a big one. If there was an obama appointed judge, trumpians would have a field day with that.
Don't blame the clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.
You know trump still has classified documents stashed some where.
Probably behind Biden's ear. He'll bring them out during the debates as a magic trick... Biden will act like he knew they were there all along.
Yeah that damned Biden! Told them he found documents. Allowed them to look for additional documents.
I know you're smart enough to know that all of the charges listed in the indictment against trump were for refusing to turn them over, sharing them with people not legally allowed to view them and conspiring to hide them along with things that happened AFTER he refused to turn them over. Had he turned them over in the beginning, none of these charges would apply. But don't allow facts to get in the way of the propaganda.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
You know trump still has classified documents stashed some where.
Probably behind Biden's ear. He'll bring them out during the debates as a magic trick... Biden will act like he knew they were there all along.
Yeah that damned Biden! Told them he found documents. Allowed them to look for additional documents.
I know you're smart enough to know that all of the charges listed in the indictment against trump were for refusing to turn them over, sharing them with people not legally allowed to view them and conspiring to hide them along with things that happened AFTER he refused to turn them over. Had he turned them over in the beginning, none of these charges would apply. But don't allow facts to get in the way of the propaganda.
You're definitely over-estimating my intellect.
It was a joke, you know... with all the classified docs falling out of everyone's a$$ like it's magic?
‘Devastating': Current and former officials shocked over military secrets found at Mar-a-Lago
The material in the former president’s possession include information on U.S. nuclear programs, according to an indictment.
The unsealed indictment on former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents has current and former national security officials claiming the case is “devastating” against him and that “damage” may have been done to U.S. national security.
Trump is facing 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act through “willful retention” of classified records and six counts related to his alleged effort to obstruct the investigation, according to the 49-page document released Friday. The indictment also alleges that Walt Nauta, a Trump aide during his presidency and now in private life, moved boxes with classified records to obscure them from investigators.
The indictment includes information about the kinds of documents in the former president’s possession, some of them “regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”
“This is a terrible thing,” said a senior Defense Department official. “If laws were broken, he must be accountable. Must. I think that’s where the majority of reasonable military and national security folks are, regardless of their political leaning.
“But it’s also a terrible thing for the nation to have to see a president go through the federal criminal process,” added the official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly on a sensitive issue.
The more than 100 documents seized from Trump’s office in a storage room at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida ranged from Confidential to Top Secret. Images released along with the indictment showed stacks of boxes in open areas, with one showing them lining the walls of a bathroom.
Those discoveries led special counsel Jack Smith to issue the first-ever federal indictment of a former president. It’s Trump’s second indictment in three months following charges from the Manhattan district attorney over alleged hush money payments to improve his 2016 election chances.
The latest legal woe for Trump has his former aides fuming. “The indictment is devastating. Those who defended Trump before the charges were made public, or those who have not yet spoken, should very carefully weigh how history will consider their statements,” John Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser, told POLITICO.
Others are more worried about what it means for the United States to have had such sensitive papers out in the open. “The classified documents described in the indictment are some of the most sensitive information we possess,” said Mick Mulroy, a senior Pentagon official in the Trump administration. “This type of information should never be removed from a secured facility and once discovered should have been immediately returned.”
Mulroy suspects that an intelligence and security review may be conducted alongside the criminal proceedings to discover “any potential damage that may have been done to our national security.”
Trump maintains his innocence, insisting without evidence that President Joe Biden has weaponized the Justice Department to keep him from winning the 2024 election. It’s “the greatest witch hunt of all time,” he told Fox News on Thursday.
Most of Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination have come to his defense, claiming that he has been improperly targeted while other wrongdoers have faced no consequences. While most have attacked the Department of Justice as a corrupt institution, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has already vowed to pardon Trump on his first day as president.
One European official wasn’t overly concerned by the contents. “I’m not that surprised,” the official said. “We learned to expect anything” when it comes to Trump.
I haven't read the indictment, but have seen snippets and other pundits reviews on tv and social media. I heard that they only went after the counts that were slam dunks. if they wanted to go after a bunch of charges, they could have hit him with a 1,000 plus counts on the documents. If you look at the picture of the bathroom, on the top right hand corner above the shower curtain, there are boxes stacked above the shower curtain in the shower. I am sure that not every item in every box was govt info or classified info or stuff he shouldn't have taken; but there sure seems like a bunch of stuff.
I think the only thing worse for trump is if they found out that he sold info to others. Then it is treason. Saw today that the max on all charges (which will never happen, not even close) is 536 years.
I have seen at least 3 repubs and trump calling for differing levels of protest/riot/civil war. I think after the 1,000+ convictions after Jan 6th, you would really be a fool to go to jail for this clown. Also, Didn't desantis just make it a felony to protest/riot. Also, didn't trump in going after Hillary make it 5 years to hold classified info?
Trump to speak Saturday as he and allies escalate attacks on law enforcement Story by Isaac Arnsdorf, Hannah Knowles • 5h ago
Trump encouraged supporters to assemble on Tuesday in Miami, where he is scheduled to appear in court. “SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!” he posted late Friday on his Truth Social platform. Specific plans for that day are still being developed, according to a Trump campaign aide.
The former president did not elaborate on his message. His social media messages have in the past inspired his supporters to action. On Dec. 19, 2020, he tweeted, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Evidence presented by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol showed that Trump’s tweet inspired extremist groups to plan to disrupt the certification of President Biden’s electoral victory. Leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were later convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Trump’s call on his supporters to protest his indictment in New York did not materialize in major demonstrations.
Advisers said the former president will use his speech on Saturday, appearing before the Georgia state Republican convention, to position himself as a victim and aggressively attack the FBI and the Justice Department for prosecuting him but not President Biden’s son, Hunter, who is under federal investigation on allegations of tax evasion and lying in the purchase of a gun. The campaign’s goal, one adviser said, is to use the indictment to solidify Trump’s political support among his base in coming weeks. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe strategy.
From Georgia Trump is set to travel to North Carolina for that state’s GOP convention. He’ll address the gathering of party activists hours after former vice president Mike Pence, who recently entered the 2024 presidential race, challenging his former boss in the GOP primary and arguing Trump is no longer qualified for the presidency.
The Trump campaign almost immediately started soliciting donations as soon as Trump announced on Thursday that he had been notified of the indictment, though a campaign official declined to reveal how much had been raised.
Ahead of Trump’s speech here, Arizona Republican Kari Lake delivered a keynote on Friday in which she suggested Trump’s prosecution could be met with violence. Lake has said she will go to Miami to “support” Trump on Tuesday.
“If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,” Lake told the GOP convention on Friday to roaring cheers and a standing ovation. “Most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA,” the National Rifle Association gun lobby. “That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”
The Secret Service, federal court marshals and Miami law enforcement have met to discuss security around Trump. Local police are preparing additional officers to deploy, amid the prospect of demonstration and a crush of media descending on the city.
Earlier in the day, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told convention-goers that Trump’s indictment was meant to distract from House Republicans’ claims that Biden and his son Hunter accepted bribes from a Russian oligarch — allegations that the FBI already concluded investigating without bringing charges.
“I don’t care how you feel about President Trump, you need to understand that what they’re doing to President Trump is exactly what they will do to any one of us when they deem us a threat,” she said. On Saturday Greene announced she was flying to the convention with Trump on his private plane.
Long-shot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who pledged that if elected he would pardon Trump, also spoke on Friday to decry the charges.
“We are not some banana republic, where the party in power uses the police to arrest its political opponents,” he said at the convention. “We are finally going to end that corrupt administrative police state in America, starting with the FBI.”
Trump picked up another congressional endorsement on Saturday from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.). “He will help save this nation from the radical left-wing wackos, from the socialists and the corrupt bureaucrats who want to eliminate our country,” Clyde said.
One Republican breaking ranks to call on Trump to withdraw his candidacy was former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson. Speaking to a breakfast here on Saturday, Hutchinson did not mention Trump, a tacit acknowledgment of his audience’s tilt.
The convention was notable for the absence of Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who split with Trump over his demands to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. That pressure campaign is now the subject of a separate criminal probe by an Atlanta-area district attorney.
Though Trump’s team had practice at responding to an indictment from the charges earlier this year in New York, arising from hush money payments to an adult film actress in 2016, and the campaign was expecting charges in the documents case after the former president’s lawyers met with prosecutors on Monday, advisers acknowledged surprise at the level of detail of the evidence against him in Friday’s indictment.
Some Trump supporters here also said they were rethinking their initial dismissiveness of the charges based on the specific allegations. Laurie Webster from Hull, Ga., said she grew more concerned after hearing some of the details on conservative host Erick Erickson’s radio show.
“It sounded worse than what they were saying last night,” she said. “If he runs and is more popular I’m going to vote for him and support him. If not Trump, we need somebody like Trump,” she said, explaining that she’s now deciding between him and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis and other rivals for the GOP presidential nomination have joined Trump in denouncing the alleged “weaponization” of the Justice Department but they’ve steered clear of the specifics of the case or commitments to pardon Trump.
“The weaponization of these agencies strikes at the heart of what it means to have a free society. It’s not just affecting people at the top, it’s affecting people all throughout our country,” DeSantis told the North Carolina GOP Convention on Friday night in Greensboro, repeating his promise to oust the FBI director right away if elected. DeSantis, who runs second to Trump in early primary polling, said presidents have long been “derelict in their duty” to rein in the federal bureaucracy.
Pence similarly accused the Justice Department of years-long “politicization” and told reporters on Friday that he still found officials’ search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last year “deeply troubling.” Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley made a vague statement on Friday that criticized the prosecution and called to “move beyond the endless drama and distractions.”
The other presidential hopeful who more forcefully criticized Trump was recent entrant Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and Trump adviser. Christie said blaming the prosecutors is to ignore Trump’s behavior at issue in the case.
“These facts are devastating,” he said in a CNN interview on Friday, drawing on his own experience as a federal prosecutor. “Is this the type of conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States? … This is irresponsible conduct.”
Evidence in Trump’s indictment came from inside Mar-a-Lago and those hired for him Story by Josh Dawsey, Jacqueline Alemany • 5h ago
The 37-count federal indictment of former president Donald Trump unsealed Friday provides a vivid account of Trump’s actions at his homes in South Florida and New Jersey, and is based on information from a coterie of close aides, household staffers and lawyers hired to serve Trump in his post-presidency.
The account from Trump insiders in the 49-page indictment provides a thorough rebuttal to many claims made by Trump about his handling of classified material, including that he may have kept some material by accident or may have considered the material declassified by him.
A secretary — identified in the indictment as “Trump Employee 2” — told prosecutors that Trump himself had been packing and looking through boxes, contrary to assertions from his own lawyers. A young political aide, referred to as “the PAC representative” in the indictment, told prosecutors that Trump showed him a classified map about a military operation in a foreign country and told him to stand back because it was a secret document. At a recent CNN town hall, Trump said he did not remember doing such a thing.
Key parts of the indictment are based on one of his lawyer’s detailed notes about Trump’s wishing to obstruct justice by not responding to a subpoena — contradicting the 45th president’s claims that he was always cooperative with the Justice Department and the National Archives and Records Administration. And Trump’s valet was indicted alongside him, after prosecutors obtained the aide’s text messages and accused him of lying about moving boxes at Trump’s request.
Trump never spoke to prosecutors in the case, but his actions, idiosyncrasies and thoughts were relayed in documents and text messages provided by staffers. Many accounts were provided reluctantly under subpoena, people familiar with those exchanges have said. Other aides’ phones were seized, giving prosecutors access to texts, photos and more.
Security video footage also was taken from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home and private club, showing the movements of boxes after prosecutors sent a subpoena demanding the return of documents marked classified. Photos in the indictment show Trump’s bathroom, complete with a dangling chandelier, where he stored dozens of boxes of documents. Additional photos show other places where documents were stored, including his ballroom and a storage room.
Phone records detailed calls between Trump and his valet that coincided with boxes being moved.
Read the full text of the indictment of Donald Trump and Walt Nauta Some of the most compelling testimony comes from people who were hired to help Trump.
Evan Corcoran, a lawyer brought onto Trump’s staff in 2022, is the person described as “Attorney 1” in the indictment, according to a person familiar with the situation. Corcoran, a Maryland lawyer, was a former U.S. attorney who represented Trump ally Stephen K. Bannon in the past and was introduced to Trump by Trump’s longtime aide and legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.
Corcoran fought vigorously against testifying in court, citing attorney-client privilege, but was compelled by a judge, who said prosecutors were entitled to Corcoran’s notes and recollections about conversations with Trump because the exchanges may have taken place in furtherance of a criminal act — in this case, withholding documents and deceiving the government.
His testimony rattled Trump.
Through his own lawyer, Corcoran declined to comment.
On the day Trump’s attorneys returned documents to the Justice Department in response to the grand jury subpoena, Trump told Corcoran to search through the material in a folder and indicated that he should remove any problematic documents before handing the folder over, the indictment alleges.
Corcoran provided a detailed summary of Trump’s comments that indicate he was looking to avoid returning documents. In Corcoran’s telling, Trump was determined to keep the boxes even though he knew he had received a grand jury subpoena.
“I really don’t want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don’t, I don’t want you looking through my boxes,” he said, according to Corcoran.
He allegedly also said: “Well, what if we, what happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them?” and “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything there?”
Information prosecutors appear to have obtained from Corcoran also indicates that Trump repeatedly claimed that a lawyer for Hillary Clinton, his 2016 presidential rival, had taken the blame for Clinton’s misuse of emails, and he allegedly said the lawyer’s willingness to do so was a trait he admired.
Another key aide, described in the indictment as “Trump Employee 2,” matches information confirmed to The Washington Post about former Trump executive assistant Molly Michael. Michael and a lawyer representing her did not respond to requests for comment.
Michael sat outside Trump’s office, connected his calls, kept his schedule and often translated his moods to visitors and other Trump advisers. She was deeply involved in all aspects of his life, Trump advisers said, until she left his employ last year. Michael was rattled by the extensive attention from federal authorities conducting the investigation, people familiar with the situation have said.
In sweeping indictment, Trump accused of lying, scheming to keep secret U.S. info Michael provided text messages and photos to federal investigators, the indictment shows, and kept close tabs on Trump’s packing of boxes himself — contrary to the claims made by some of his lawyers.
“Box answer will be wrenched out of him by tomorrow,” Michael said in a text message to Alex Cannon, a Trump lawyer trying to get him to return materials to the Archives. Cannon is referred to in the indictment as a “Trump Representative,” according to a person familiar with the situation. He declined to comment.
At another time, Michael updates another Trump aide on the former president’s efforts to sort through boxes and is said in the indictment to help Trump valet Walt Nauta move boxes. Her text messages appear frequently throughout the indictment, often in exchanges with Nauta.
Nauta was charged alongside Trump, but Michael was not, and people familiar with the matter have said she cooperated with the Justice Department. Nauta, on the other hand, is accused of lying during the investigation.
As Trump tried to avoid complying with a May 11, 2022, subpoena that required him to produce all documents with classification markings that were in his possession, Nauta was the person he relied on to help conceal the boxes he wanted to keep, the indictment alleges.
In the time between the issuing of the subpoena and Trump’s attorney’s review of boxes in the storage room on June 2, 2022, to find documents being sought, Nauta moved approximately 64 boxes to Trump’s residence at Trump’s request, according to the indictment.
The indictment shows the valet’s movements — along with phone calls he received from Trump.
On the afternoon of May 22, 2022, it says, Nauta entered the storage room and emerged 34 minutes later carrying one of Trump’s boxes. On May 24, 2022, “between 5:30 p.m. and 5:38 p.m., Nauta removed three boxes from the Storage Room” at Trump’s direction, the indictment reads.
A few days passed, and on May 30, 2022, after a 30-second phone call with Trump, Nauta removed 50 boxes from the storage room, according to the indictment. Later that day, a member of Trump’s family texted Nauta that the person had seen that he put boxes in Trump’s room.
“I think he wanted to pick from them,” Nauta wrote to the “Trump family member” in a text message obtained by prosecutors. The indictment does not identify the family member, but it would be a woman who has access to Trump’s private quarters at Mar-a-Lago.
“He told me to put them in the room and he was going to talk to you about them,” Nauta writes, after the “family member” says there will not be room for the boxes to go on the plane to Trump’s home in Bedminster, N.J., because the aircraft will be “full with luggage.”
On June 1, 2022, at 12:52 p.m., Nauta visited the storage room once again and removed 11 boxes, the indictment says.
Nauta made one more trip before Trump’s attorney arrived on June 2, 2022, to review the boxes in the storage room. After Trump and Nauta spoke on the phone at 9:29 a.m. that day, according to the indictment, Nauta, along with another club employee, moved 30 boxes from Trump’s residence back to the storage room.
The government alleges that Nauta lied in an interview with the FBI about moving boxes.
“Are you aware of any boxes being brought to his home — his suite?” the FBI agent asks.
Nauta responds decisively: “No.”
A lawyer for Nauta did not respond to a request for comment.
In two other instances in the indictment, unidentified Trump aides witness the former president’s mishandling of classified information. At Bedminster in 2021, the indictment says, Trump showed a picture of a classified map related to a military operation of another country to an unidentified aide working for his political action committee.
Trump “told the PAC representative that he should not be showing the map to the PAC representative and to not get too close,” the indictment says.
A recording mentioned in the indictment describes a different meeting at Bedminster during which the former president talks about knowing a document related to Iran is classified. “See as president I could have declassified it,” he says to an unidentified staffer.
“Now I can’t you know,” he says.
“Now we have a problem,” the unknown staffer says.
There is a real possibility that there were more than use 31 classified documents but they were not included in the indictment because they were an embarrassment to government to say. Yeah, Trump took that home and it was found on the stage.
There will be no playoffs. Can’t play with who we have out there and compounding it with garbage playcalling and worse execution. We don’t have good skill players on offense period. Browns 20 - Bears 17.
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