The Omnibus P01135809 Criminal Investigation Thread

Jack Smith wants details on Trump’s foreign business dealings since 2017.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/us/politics/trump-records-foreign-deals.html

Somebody's skeered.




Fearing indictment is imminent in classified docs probe, Trump team requests meeting with DOJ

To quote a reply I saw, it’s not required when representing a client to so entirely debase oneself professionally.

Y'know what I liked about Jeffrey Dahmer?
He owned up that he did that shit.
Sure, he tried get off on an insanity plea, but there was none of this "it's a twavisty!! A twavisty!! A twwwaaviiistyyy!!! " horseshit.
He took that shit like a man.
I miss Dahmer.
It was a better class of villain.

Seems a little premature. I mean Jackie boy hasn't done a damn thing yet, really.

Special counsel nears end of Trump classified documents probe (axios.com)


Proving that Trump deliberately took the documents and resisted giving them back — despite being told the law required him to — will be key to making Smith's case iron-clad.

• Trump appeared to hand prosecutors a gift by confirming in his CNN town hall this month that he knowingly "took the documents" because he was "allowed to" — citing an inaccurate interpretation of the Presidential Records Act.

• He also claimed the documents became "automatically declassified" when he took them.
• The National Archives recently gave the special counsel 16 records showing Trump and his top advisers were aware of "whether, why and how" he could declassify documents — potentially undercutting that defense.

The big picture: Trump's indictment in Manhattan led to a surge in GOP support and fundraising, as Republicans — including Trump's rivals for the nomination — rallied to defend the former president and attack Bragg.

• Some of Trump's associates are preparing to fundraise off of Smith's potential prosecution, according to the Journal, but it remains to be seen whether federal charges would elicit the same GOP rallying effect.
• Meanwhile, the judge presiding over Trump's criminal case in Manhattan today set a March 25, 2024, trial date — smack dab in the middle of the GOP's presidential primaries.

Buried in a story about Mark Meadows, is this:

You don't suppose one of the reasons why the DOJ opted not to charge Meadows is because he flipped, do you? I mean, I don't know if he did anything illegal on Jan 6th, but he was registered to vote in multiple states. That's pretty serious.

Mar-a-Lago Worker Provided Prosecutors New Details in Trump Documents Case
A maintenance worker for the former president recounted helping to move boxes into a storage room a day before a Justice Department official came seeking the return of classified material.

Could that be because Smith is white whilst Fani Willis and Alvin Bragg are...not?

Lordy! There’s more tapes!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-...rding-of-trump-and-a-witness/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...e-to-point-out-the-obvious-tell-in-this-photo

Normally I wouldn’t link to DailyKos at all, let alone a contributor piece, but I haven’t seen this covered elsewhere, and the form checks out. TL;DR the photo of the classified cover sheets may show evidence of classified info having been photocopied, vis a vis the lack of full bleed on the front and center cover sheet. There are some other cover sheets in that photo with full bleed and a brighter red, so I’m inclined to think this is accurate.

Oh shit....

Have you seen this photo?



Notice the white border on the one document, that he’s reading classified material (bet he doesn’t have a security clearance) on a plane, with electronic devices near and someone is taking the photo. All violations of the law.

Who is that? Is Air Force One not a SCIF (assuming that's which plane that is)?

Chris Miller and Kash Patel. Dunno if Air Force 1.

I don't know who the dude in front is, though he's certainly someone I've seen in connection to politics. The guy in the back with his feet up on the coffee table is Kash Patel.

Assuming that the plane is Air Force One (not unreasonable), I can't imagine any SCIF onboard the plane being nearly as secure as one on the ground. What with planes having to worry about weight and all. Patel appears to have two phones next to him, and possibly a tablet or laptop on the coffee table in front of him. You're not supposed to have such things anywhere near a SCIF. You remember when during one of Trump's impeachment how the Republicans posted pics from outside the SCIFs in the Capitol and intelligence experts went insane with anger, because even just having things like phones that close to the SCIF was a violation of safety standards and protocols, if not the fucking law? You've got a strictly controlled list of things that can and can't be near a SCIF, let alone in it. I've read accounts from reporters who happened to be on Air Force One when the President (various ones) was making a surprise trip somewhere. All of them said that they knew something was up when they were told to put their phones and electronics in Faraday bags that the flight crew had.

You know this computer stuff better than I do. Given that AF1, and anyone closely connected to POTUS is going to be a high-value target for intelligence information capture, I would think that they'd have to follow tighter protocols than others on the plane. So, one would think that they really wouldn't be allowed to get away with shit on AF1. I might be wrong, as, of course, the Secret Service did have trouble getting Trump to use a secured smartphone. But then again, those guys ain't Donnie, and even if they did get special permission from POTUS, what about the photographer? I doubt if that pic was taken with an old-fashioned 35 mm film camera. So, that likely would have been taken with a modern DSLR, with all kinds of fancy electronics, wifi, GPS, and possibly even cellular connections. Now, you tell me, if average folks with an understanding of computer security don't want certain Internet of Things devices because they know the security protocols on them are so weak that they can expect the thing to get hacked the moment it connects to the web, what's a top-of-the-line security expert charged with making sure that the POTUS doesn't get hacked going to do when some guy says he wants to take his digital camera into a SCIF to take some photos? If a $20 security cam from Amazon is an inviting enough target for hackers to create bots to find those things as soon as they're hooked to the network (because they can then use that device to get into the good stuff on the network), what kind of target do you think an electronic device that will be near the POTUS is worth? I don't know about you, man, but it doesn't matter if it's a Freedom Phone or a $6K Blackmagic camera, I ain't letting you take that into a SCIF. And if POTUS says I'm fired if I don't? Well, I really can't think of a better way to announce to the world that the POTUS is a security threat than by getting fired for not letting him violate security protocols.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House



https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/1664000967170244613?s=20

Federal prosecutors have Donald Trump on tape in 2021 acknowledging he kept a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, sources say

https://twitter.com/cnn/status/1663999803301195776

This follows another leak about another highly incriminating phone call from last week.

According to one analyst I listen to the information isn’t the important part. Most of what is in it has already been reported in the media, these tapes just confirm it.

The important part is who leaked them and why. According to this analyst (I think it was Ben Wittis of Lawfare on the Bulwark’s Thursday show but not positive) there isn’t really any good reason for the folks on the tape to leak as it is an admission of guilt if they aren’t on Team Good Guy or would piss off the prosecutor if they are cooperating.

Most plausible would be the investigation itself. Basically letting any hold outs know that they have the goods and are about to wrap up so if you want to switch to Team Good Guy this is your last chance.

Oops. Guess we know who I have on ignore.

When the hell is this asshole getting taken down, already?

If he were Joe Blow, he'd be in the prison infirmary with a bleeding asshole by now.

https://twitter.com/secretsandlaws/status/1664007615695708162?s=20

The document appears to still be missing.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/02/politics/donald-trump-iran-subpoena/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/poli...investigation-classified-documents/index.html

https://www.rawstory.com/jack-smith-trump-indictment/

Supposedly, twenty members of Trump’s Secret Service detail have testified before a grand jury.

It looks like former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has plead out and will testify against Trump. I put the over/under on Trump's indictment at 5 business days from today (Wednesday). Place your bets!

Edit: was misled, below image is a fake. Kept for reference.

Lol Trump is breaking down.

I've never been throughn under a bus before. Wonder how that works.

Meadows lawyer says the guilty plea comments are bullshit but refused to say anything more.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...t-espionage-prosecution-charges-b2353397.html

Smith appears to have made a tactical decision to not charge Trump with some of the things we might expect. Why? Because it means they don’t have to try and argue a case where people need to know the details of the documents that he stole.