Trump’s lawyer doesn’t “believe” secret nuclear documents were found at Mar-a-Lago
In June, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump told the Department of Justice (DOJ) that all classified material at Mar-a-Lago had been returned.
At least one member of Trump’s legal team signed a written statement earlier this summer claiming that all classified materials that were stored in boxes at the club and at Trump’s private home in Florida had been turned over to the government, according to four people. who spoke to The New York Times.
The new defense coming out of Donald Trump’s office in response to the raid on his home is that the documents found at Mar-a-Lago had already been declassified.
Right-wing writer John Solomon shared a statement on Fox News Friday advocating for keeping the documents in the former president’s private club.
“As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to carry their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, to prepare for work the next day, often brought documents including classified documents from the Oval Office to the residence,” the statement said.
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What is the Espionage Act under which Trump is being investigated?
What do transgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning, 1950s Soviet spy Julius Rosenberg and former President Donald Trump have in common?
The answer, according to a now-public search warrant for the FBI’s extraordinary raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday, is that all four have been investigated on suspicion of violating Espionage Act of 1917.
Documents released Friday by a federal judge say the FBI was looking for items that could violate the Act, which regulates the handling of confidential documents related to national security.
The Espionage Act, which is most often used against spies, whistleblowers and government employees who leak documents to journalists, carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.
So why exactly is Mr. Trump being investigated?
What is the Espionage Act under which Trump is being investigated?
The former president’s home was searched under a controversial law passed in 1917 to prevent espionage and the leaking of government documents.
Io Dodds August 14, 2022 02:30 am
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Caught in legal trouble, Trump talks to allies about 757 jet in possible 2024 gesture
Gustaf Kilander August 14, 2022 1:30 am
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Trump team’s new defense: The documents were already declassified
The new defense coming out of Trump’s office is that the documents had already been declassified.
Some of the documents were marked “Miscellaneous Classified/TS/SCI Documents,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Right-wing writer John Solomon shared a statement on Fox News Friday advocating for keeping the documents in the former president’s private club.
“As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to carry their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, to prepare for work the next day, often brought documents including classified documents from the Oval Office to the residence,” the statement said. “He had a standing order that documents removed from the Office Oval and brought to the residence were considered declassified.”
Gustaf Kilander 14 August 2022 00:30
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Former president contacts attorney general to say country is ‘on fire’ over Florida property attack
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he had approved the search at Mar-a-Lago and hinted that the DOJ would not have done so without first trying less intrusive actions.
Just before Mr. Garland’s statement, a person in Mr. Trump’s inner circle contacted a DOJ official to deliver a message from Mr. Trump to Mr. Garland.
The former president wanted the attorney general to realize that he had been talking to people across the US and that they were furious about the attack.
“The country is on fire,” Trump said, according to a person familiar with the message, The New York Times reported. “What can I do to reduce the heat?”
Gustaf Kilander August 13, 2022 11:30 pm
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Conspiracies complicate the voting machine debate in Louisiana
The need for Louisiana to replace its voting machines is not debatable.
They are very outdated, deployed in 2006, the year after Hurricane Katrina struck, and do not produce paper ballots that are critical to ensuring that election results are accurate.
What to do with them is another story.
The long-running drama includes past allegations of bid-rigging, voting machine companies claiming favoritism and a secretary of state who won’t commit to a new system for the 2024 presidential election.
Local election officials also worry about the influence of conspiracy theorists who have made unfounded claims about voting equipment and been welcomed into the debate over the new machines.
Conspiracies complicate the voting machine debate in Louisiana
There is no doubt that Louisiana needs to replace its voting machines
The Associated Press August 13, 2022 10:30 p.m
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Sinema took money from Wall Street while taxing investors
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat who only thwarted her party’s longtime goal of raising taxes on wealthy investors, received nearly $1 million in the past year from equity professionals private equity, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists taxes would have increased under the plan.
For years, Democrats have promised to raise taxes on these investors, who pay a significantly lower rate on their income than ordinary workers. But just as they were closing in on that goal last week, Sinema forced through a series of changes to his party’s $740 billion election-year spending package, scrapping a proposed tax increase from ” carried interest” on private equity gains while securing a $35 billion exemption that would spare much of the industry a separate tax hike that other large corporations must now pay.
The bill, with Sinema’s alterations intact, received final approval from Congress on Friday and is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden next week.
Sinema took money from Wall Street while taxing investors
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema received a $1 million boost in campaign cash over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose interests she has staunchly championed in Congress.
The Associated Press August 13, 2022 9:30 p.m
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Monkeypox? climate? Decide what is a national emergency
In November 1979, just over a week after student militants seized control of the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 US citizens hostage, President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12170 declaring a national emergency against Iran.
That order remains in place today, most recently renewed in the weeks before last Thanksgiving by President Joe Biden, who noted at the time that “our relations with Iran have not yet been normalized.”
The Biden administration’s Aug. 4 declaration of a public health emergency over monkeypox frees up federal money and resources to fight a virus that has already infected more than 10,000 people in the United States. But public health emergencies expire every 90 days, unless extended by the Department of Health and Human Services.
They are different from national emergency declarations, which give presidents wide leeway to make policies and tap federal funds without congressional approval. That’s what activists have been clamoring for to better fight climate change, but Biden has held on despite energy shortages in much of the world and high gas prices at home.
“This is really the true test of whether President Biden is serious about the climate crisis,” Karen Orenstein, climate director for Friends of the Earth. “There couldn’t be a more crucial move.”
Monkeypox? climate? Decide what is a national emergency
Climate activists are pressing President Joe Biden to declare a national climate emergency, something the White House has yet to do.
The Associated Press August 13, 2022 8:30 p.m
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Marjorie Taylor Greene files articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland for “blatant attempt to stalk” Trump
Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Merrick Garland over the Mar-a-Lago raid.
The Georgia Republican announced the resolution Friday after Republicans shared their outrage over the investigation into former President Donald Trump.
Greene’s resolution states that “Mr. Garland’s personal approval of seeking a search warrant to raid the home of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J Trump, constitutes a blatant attempt to persecute an opponent politician”.
The search warrant, authorized by a federal judge, was unsealed Friday after the move received approval from both the Justice Department and Trump’s legal team.
The warrant revealed that the FBI located classified documents that had been taken to Mar-a-Lago, and showed that the former president is under investigation for possibly violating the Espionage Act.
Marjorie Taylor Greene files articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland
Greene claims the search warrant is an attempt to “intimidate, harass and potentially disqualify a political opponent” of Joe Biden.
Gustaf Kilander August 13, 2022 7:30 p.m
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Trump leaked Mar-a-Lago order to release names of FBI agents as threats against bureau mount?
Donald Trump is under fire for allegedly leaking the entire unredacted warrant and endangering FBI agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago home as part of an investigation into the deletion of official records of the white house
A judge released a redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant documents, which show the Justice Department recovered 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked with the highest levels of…