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real-human
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 Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2024 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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Allegations Surface of Trump’s Attempt to Bribe Lawyer in Classified Documents Investigation
| Quote: | Prosecutors alleged that ex-President Donald Trump attempted to corrupt his attorney by persuading them to hide classified documents. When the attorney declined, Trump reportedly enlisted two assistants to conceal the documents and suppress the CCTV video evidence in his Florida case.
The latest filing goes into details of Trump’s alleged hiding of classified documents to show that the case is not vindictive or based on political bias. It states that Trump only pretended to cooperate with a National Archive demand that he return classified documents that he stored in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving the White House in 2021.
“When presented with a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of the remaining documents bearing classification markings, Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government,” the document states.
After the attorney refused to cooperate, Trump then tried to deceive him, the prosecutors added.
“Failing in his effort to corrupt the attorney, Trump enlisted his trusted body man, codefendant Waltine Nauta, in a scheme to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his [Trump’s] continued possession of classified documents. As a result, Trump, through his attorney, again returned only a portion of the classified documents in his possession while falsely claiming that his production was complete,” the document states.
This filing, crafted in response to accusations from Trump’s legal team of “vindictive prosecution,” paints a picture of deliberate deception, further alleging that Trump and his co-defendants later attempted to destroy CCTV footage which potentially captured them hiding the documents.
Trump, who is facing 40 federal charges related to the classified documents case and has pleaded not guilty, finds himself in a precarious legal position. Not only is he contending with this case, but also with a separate federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, as well as potential charges in Georgia for similar reasons.
While the former President’s legal representatives have dismissed the prosecution’s claims as baseless and politically motivated, the detailed filing by prosecutors seeks to rebut these claims by laying out the extent of Trump’s alleged efforts to thwart the justice process.
Moreover, the gravity of the situation is compounded by the fact that Trump is currently the front-runner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race. The implications of these charges have the potential to influence the political landscape significantly. Trump and his two co-defendants, Nauta and De Oliveira, have entered not guilty pleas to all charges.
The case is under the supervision of US District Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump, and is led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, assigned to various Trump-related inquiries. The trial is expected to take place post the 2024 election because of intricate legal matters involving classified documents and presidential authority.
“The obstructive conduct even persisted from there. In June 2022, knowing that he had arranged for Nauta to move boxes to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, and knowing that the government had subpoenaed the security video footage that would reveal that surreptitious box movement, Trump, now joined by not only Nauta but also codefendant Carlos De Oliveira, attempted to have the information-technology manager at Mar-a- Lago delete the video footage that would show the movement of boxes,” the filing added. |
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/allegations-surface-of-trump-s-attempt-to-bribe-lawyer-in-classified-documents-investigation/ar-BB1jcUml?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=b33e6c6436884466bc19ca790457bcb2&ei=67[/b]
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real-human
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| Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-employee-5-tells-of-sleepy-mar-a-lago-grand-juror-with-eyes-shut-in-closet-like-room-reveals-special-counsel-was-interested-in-everything-during-interviews/ar-BB1kiqzX?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=47e2ad52a7f048bea7fe6229ae83f502&ei=69
Trump Employee 5 tells of sleepy Mar-a-Lago grand juror with 'eyes shut' in closet-like room, reveals special counsel was 'interested in everything' during interviews
| Quote: | The government witness known in court documents as “Trump Employee 5” and now known publicly to be longtime former Mar-a-Lago valet Brian Butler shed more light on what went on behind closed doors when he sat for interviews with the Special Counsel’s Office and testified before the grand jury that went on to indict the former president.
Revealing that he met with special counsel Jack Smith’s office up to five times over a period of months, Butler told NBC News that the grand jury setting was a “dark” closet-like room filled with roughly 20 grand jurors. Prosecutors “were interested in everything” he had to say during interviews, Butler added.
That may not have been the case for at least one of the grand jurors, however. Butler said he “could see their eyes shut.”
Butler also appeared Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber,” where he revealed that he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 but will not do so in 2024.
The erstwhile Mar-a-Lago employee of two decades, as he said in his first public interview with CNN, stated his belief that Trump wanted surveillance video deleted because he knew he wasn’t supposed to have national defense information and knew that the Presidential Records Act didn’t protect him.
Judge Aileen Cannon (inset left) (U.S. Senate via AP), Brian Butler, “Trump Employee 5,” appears on CNN on March 11, 2024 (CNN/screengrab)
“The way I see it, if these were his personal documents or he’s allowed to have these by the PRA, why would you need to ask questions about video footage?” Butler asked. “Why would you possibly move the documents when they are coming to retrieve them. To me, it just doesn’t make any sense. On top of that, why would you put two low-level employees in the position they’re in if he you did nothing wrong and these were your personal documents?”
Pressed as to whether he had witnessed “part of a cover-up,” Butler said: “I think it’s very possible.”
“From what I saw, the questions — why would they ask about video footage, how long it’s deleted for?” Butler asked. “Those are conversations Carlos [De Oliveira] told me he was asked with finding out prior to Walt [Nauta]’s arrival on a secret trip.”
Here, Butler was recounting the details as they appeared in the indictment.
Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira on June 25, 2022, allegedly told Trump Employee 5 that valet Walt Nauta was en route from Bedminster, N.J., to Mar-a-Lago but asked the witness not to tell anyone about the “secret” trip that related to surveillance camera footage.
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“DE OLIVEIRA also told Trump Employee 5 that NAUTA wanted DE OLIVEIRA to talk to Trump Employee 4 to see how long camera footage was stored,” the indictment said. “Shortly after arriving in Palm Beach on the evening of June 25, NAUTA went to The Mar-a-Lago Club and met with DE OLIVEIRA at 5:46 p.m. At The Mar-a-Lago Club, NAUTA and DE OLIVEIRA went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the Storage Room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras.”
Two days later, De Oliveira told another employee — “Trump Employee 4” — that “the boss” wanted the video footage server deleted, the indictment further alleged.
On CNN, Butler recalled helping Nauta load boxes of documents onto a Trump plane headed for New Jersey, documents the witness said he later realized “were the boxes that were in the indictment, the white bankers boxes.” Before he left Trump’s employ and became a witness for the prosecution, Butler counted De Oliveira as one of his “best friends.” Now, he said, they don’t talk anymore. |
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real-human
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| Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2024 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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Trump melts down on Truth Social over Jack Smith “attacking” Judge Aileen Cannon
| Quote: | Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said special counsel Jack Smith should be “sanctioned or censured” for “attacking” the Trump-appointed judge overseeing his classified documents case.
Smith this week pushed back on a recent order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that seemed to give credence to Trump’s legally dubious claim that the Presidential Records Act allowed him to take the documents home to Mar-a-Lago. Smith in a filing said that Cannon’s order to submit proposed jury instructions based on Trump’s interpretation of the law was based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise” that has “no bearing” on Trump’s charges and asked Cannon to rule before the trial so he can appeal if she rules against him.
“Deranged ‘Special’ Counsel Jack Smith, who has a long record of failure as a prosecutor, including a unanimous decision against him in the U.S. Supreme Court, should be sanctioned or censured for the way he is attacking a highly respected Judge, Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over his FAKE Documents Hoax case in Florida,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday morning.
“He is a lowlife who is nasty, rude, and condescending, and obviously trying to ‘play the ref,’” Trump claimed. “He shouldn’t even be allowed to participate in this sham case, where I, unlike Crooked Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and all the rest, come under the Presidential Records Act. I DID NOTHING WRONG, BUT BIDEN DID, AND THEY LET HIM OFF SCOT-FREE. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN, JACK? A TWO TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Legal experts widely say Smith is likely to prevail on appeal if Cannon rules against him and some even think the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals may remove her from the case after previously shooting down two of her rulings. But while Cannon has come under fire for potentially aiding Trump by delaying the trial, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warned that if Smith moves to remove Cannon, it "will delay this more than anything that’s happened so far." |
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real-human
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| Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2024 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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interesting what a retired federal judge has to say...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tensions-flare-between-special-counsel-jack-smith-and-judge-aileen-cannon/ar-BB1l87tg?cvid=20846f7afed145a0a8e1f397e183d8a4&ocid=winp2fptaskbar&ei=19&sc=shoreline
Tensions flare between special counsel Jack Smith and Judge Aileen Cannon
| Quote: | Special counsel Jack Smith is palpably frustrated with Judge Aileen Cannon after several confounding rulings — and lengthy bouts of judicial indecision — have threatened to derail his case against Donald Trump for stashing classified secrets at Mar-a-Lago.
The long-simmering tension came to a boil this week in a court filing in which Smith’s team sharply questioned the judge’s willingness to entertain a legal theory that Trump has advanced in a bid to dismiss the case. Prosecutors called the theory “pure fiction,” and their submission featured tartly worded threats to appeal any adverse decision. They also demanded that Cannon decide quickly to prevent her from hamstringing the prosecution on the eve of trial.
Cannon shot back Thursday, revealing her own frustrations with Smith’s team, saying in a prickly order that the demand for a hurried decision was “unprecedented and unjust.”
The strained dynamic between Smith and Cannon — a Trump nominee confirmed by the Senate in 2020 — has in some ways overshadowed the grave felony counts against Trump, who is facing dozens of charges that he hoarded military intelligence in his South Florida home and then tried to obstruct the government from reclaiming those records. The judge’s handling of the case has led to a furious public debate about her intentions and inexperience.
Smith’s supporters have railed against Cannon’s odd and sometimes inexplicable decisions, voicing their own frustrations that Smith hasn’t pushed to get the judge booted from the case.
“It’s clear that she is going in a ridiculous direction,” said Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge from Massachusetts, who says Smith should move for Cannon’s recusal from the case. “The government could be without recourse after a trial begins. … I don’t even know why they indulged her. … I think they need to stop playing games and move to disqualify her.”
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