FBI raid on Trump's home

[therottedzombie]

I should make popcorn. This thread deserves it.

[SHAFT]

Well this discussion needs its own thread now.

So first the DOJ attempted to throw the FBI under the bus, claiming the DOJ had nothing to do with the raid and the FBI did it all on their own.

Now with the judge who signed the warrant pushing the government to make the search warrant public, Merrick Garland got in front of the story to say he personally approved of the FBI seeking permission to raid a former president's house.

This whole thing is so laughable now. Dumb ass dipshits such as Seran really thought they were about to see Trump led away in handcuffs, when in reality this is yet another non-story in regards to Trump, and yet another abuse of power by Democrats and their lapdogs.

You'd go to jail if you stole classified documents regarding nuclear weapons and foreign presidents.

Insane republicans want to champion a guy who takes classified documents back to his house after he leaves office.

[Tgo01]

I should make popcorn. This thread deserves it.

Nothing has really changed.

Trump admitted months ago he had declassified documents in his possession and the FBI knew about it and asked him to put an extra lock on the door where they were being stored, which he did.

The only thing that has changed is the FBI decided to raid his home and take these documents they already knew about and are claiming they are classified. The FBI hasn’t said yet whether or not they are indeed still classified or not.

[SHAFT]

I heavily doubt he gave them to Russia.

$20 says we learn sometime in the future he tried to sell the info or had discussions about it.

[ClydeR]

Trump's lawyers have already said (just as they have been saying for months now) that Trump declassified the documents while he was still president.

You think Trump declassified nuclear secrets and didn't tell anybody? That doesn't pass the straight face test. I guess anybody, even Russian spies, can just make a FOIA request and get a copy?

[therottedzombie]

Your boy is in trouuuuuuuuuble bwahahahaha

[Gelston]

You'd go to jail if you stole classified documents regarding nuclear weapons and foreign presidents.

Insane republicans want to champion a guy who takes classified documents back to his house after he leaves office.

Kind of a gray area. Stealing the items, yes. Trump didn't technically steal them though, as President he had full access to them. They were legally obtained.

Next we have mishandling or failure to return them. Those actually don't apply to him either, as he is neither an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States. Once his term ended he was a straight up civilian.

And thirdly, did he declassify them as President? If he did, then none of this matters in the first place.

Now, did the Government have authority to issue a warrant to retrieve the documents? If they were, infact, still classified, absolutely!

If they were no longer classified, they could run into legal issues.

Is Trump in and criminal danger over any of it? Nope, not unless there is something we don't know yet.

[time4fun]

Trump issued an official statement about the classified documents, which I quote in its entirety below.




Certain People are interpreting it as an admission that some of the classified documents retained by Trump were about nuclear secrets.

That's because that's literally what it is.

It's also a complete lie. National Archives has already refuted the claim about Obama.

So- to the people who are attacking those who are criticizing what Trump did and who are jumping up to defend him (not you Clyde!) are you ready to defend what he did? I see a lot of kneejerk reaction to people daring to criticize Trump (nice to know not much has changed I suppose). But this is a former President who took highly classified information- truck loads of it- home with him. And he has been refusing to turn it back over- even defying a court subpoena- instead opting to keep it in an extremely UNsecure place that every single enemy of the United States in the world knows about. He knowingly put our entire nation (and possibly other nations) at risk.

When he was finally raided (apparently this isn't actually the first time too), he proceeded to lie about the circumstances and to mischaracterize it as some political attack on him. And now he's just lied about another former US President, claiming he stole nuclear secrets from the US government too.

And for the sake of irony, he also happened to have signed a bill into law that made doing exactly what he's doing a felony. So it's not like he isn't perfectly aware what he's doing is illegal.

So let's hear it. Why should we *not* be criticizing what he did? Is this now going to be okay for every former President to do? Or is it just a Trump special?

No distractions, no ad hominem attacks, and no "BUT BUT what about this other thing someone else did!".

Because if you aren't willing to defend what he did, then you really need to ask yourself why you're jumping up to defend him. And then ask yourself if you'd jump up to defend anyone else who did this.

[time4fun]

The court warrant has been unsealed.

You can find copies of it here.

Trump is being investigated for potential violations of three primary statutes- one of which pertains to the Espionage Act.

[SHAFT]

Kind of a gray area. Stealing the items, yes. Trump didn't technically steal them though, as President he had full access to them. They were legally obtained.

Next we have mishandling or failure to return them. Those actually don't apply to him either, as he is neither an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States. Once his term ended he was a straight up civilian.

And thirdly, did he declassify them as President? If he did, then none of this matters in the first place.

Now, did the Government have authority to issue a warrant to retrieve the documents? If they were, infact, still classified, absolutely!

If they were no longer classified, they could run into legal issues.

Is Trump in and criminal danger over any of it? Nope, not unless there is something we don't know yet.

If he declassified them (he didn't), there would be a process to go through. There would be evidence of this and people to verify it.

If he didn't declassify them (he didn't), he fucking stole them and then told the government to fuck off when they subpoenaed him.

Of course he isn't in legal jeopardy. He's Donald Trump.