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real-human
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 Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/game-over-expert-says-trump-attorney-just-landed-a-bullseye-for-prosecutors/ar-AA1kNB5L?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=034da374b7f646f18e69f8756f64c421&ei=64
'Game over': Expert says Trump attorney just landed a 'bullseye for prosecutors'
| Quote: | ADonald Trump attorney provided damning evidence against the former president in the Mar-a-Lago documents case — and a legal analyst said it will almost certainly lead to a conviction once the case finally goes to trial.
ABC News reported that Trump attorney Jennifer Little told a grand jury that she "very clearly" warned the ex-president that he must comply with a federal subpoena for the classified documents he took home from the White House, and she's "absolutely" certain that he understood that failure to do so would be a "crime" — testimony that stunned CNN legal analyst Elie Honig Thursday.
"Let's remember that it's the federal Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, part of the indictment relates to the mishandling of classified documents, part of it relates to obstruction of justice.
"If you're a prosecutor and you have to prove obstruction, you have to show that the defendant, in this case Donald Trump, knew he had a subpoena, knew he had to comply and intentionally did not do so, and this witness, Trump's former and, by the way, current lawyer, has told the grand jury straight up, no ambiguity, 'You have to comply, if you don't, it's a crime,' and he said, 'I got it, I understand.'" |
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/i-watched-him-show-documents-to-people-at-mar-a-lago-ex-white-house-press-secretary-stephanie-grisham-on-trump/ss-AA1kNG01?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=034da374b7f646f18e69f8756f64c421&ei=67#image=9
“I watched him show documents to people at Mar-a-Lago:” Ex-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Trump
| Quote: | “Vital to our country and our national security”
©Provided by BuzzLoving
The longtime Republican found it “offensive” that Trump allegedly showed the classified documents to individuals, “I can’t stress enough how by being so loose with this stuff,” she continued. “And yeah, I had a top security clearance, and it’s very hard to obtain. So it’s very important, and it’s vital to our country and our national security. The only people with these clearances have access to any of these documents.” |
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real-human
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| Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 4:42 am Post subject: |
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a very good read...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/special-counsel-alleges-trump-sent-supporters-on-path-to-jan-6-violence/ar-AA1l30Ry?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=622b2cb894bf4c90920289f4a35eb558&ei=18
Special counsel alleges Trump ‘sent’ supporters on path to Jan. 6 violence
| Quote: | Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused former president Donald Trump of a long pattern of lying about elections and encouraging violence, saying he “sent” supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to criminally block the election results.
In a new court filing, prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith went further than they did in their August indictment in attempting to tie Trump to the riot. They said that at Trump’s criminal trial in Washington, currently scheduled for early March, they intend to introduce evidence of his acts before the November 2020 presidential election, and his subsequent alleged threats, to establish his motive, intent and preparation for attempting to subvert Joe Biden’s legitimate election victory.
“Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6 — that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” prosecutors alleged in a nine-page filing.
“At trial, the Government will introduce evidence of this conduct — including the defendant’s public endorsement and encouragement of violence — and further will elicit testimony from witnesses about the threats and harassment they received after the defendant targeted them in relation to the 2020 election.”
In a written statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung accused Smith of trying to interfere in next year’s presidential election, in which Trump is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination. Even though it is not unusual for prosecutors to make public new evidence and allegations as a trial approaches, Cheung criticized the government for “trying to include claims that weren’t anywhere to be found” in the August indictment.
Trump “will not be deterred and will continue speaking truth to corrupt, weaponized power and law enforcement,” Cheung said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the four charges he faces in D.C. He is accused of plotting to defraud the federal election process, obstructing Congress’s certification of the vote in the 2021 Capitol attack and depriving Americans of their civil right to have their votes counted.
The former president separately faces a federal indictment in Florida over his alleged retention and mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House and alleged obstruction of government efforts to get them back; a state trial in Georgia on charges of trying to obstruct that state’s election results; and a New York state business fraud prosecution accusing Trump of covering up a hush money payment made during his 2016 election campaign. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Trial courts generally don’t let prosecutors introduce evidence of crimes that a defendant has not been charged with. But judges make exceptions for evidence that the government can show is closely tied to the alleged offense or a person’s intent, motive and knowledge. Trump’s attorneys can respond to the prosecutors’ filing by arguing to exclude such evidence as inflammatory or irrelevant.
In their notice to the court, parts of which were redacted under court rules to prevent the public release of sensitive investigation information, prosecutors argued that Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud and vote-rigging have been part of his political playbook since before his 2016 election. Trump deployed false accusations to dismiss past defeats and undermine future ones, they said, laying the “foundation” for his criminal plan to unlawfully retain power in 2020.
As early as November 2012, the filing said, Trump baselessly tweeted that voting machines had switched votes from that year’s Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, to President Barack Obama. During the 2016 presidential nominating contests, Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed there was “large scale fraud,” senior assistant special counsels Molly Gaston and Thomas Windom wrote.
After losing the Iowa caucuses that February, Trump said on Twitter, the social media platform now called X, that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) “didn’t win Iowa, he illegally stole it.” If Trump wasn’t the clear winner by the GOP convention in July, he told CNN, “I think you’d have riots.”
Prosecutors noted that in August 2016, Trump said his race against the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, would be “rigged,” and he refused to say in the final presidential debate whether he would accept the election’s result. Prosecutors said he allegedly pursued the same strategy in 2020 when he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, saying at a Sept. 23 news conference: “There won’t be a transfer, frankly; there’ll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control.”
In another part of the filing, prosecutors accused Trump and his campaign of retaliating against those who rejected his election lies.
Meet the team Jack Smith built to try to convict Donald Trump
On Election Day, they said, when an unnamed Trump “Campaign Employee” learned that vote counting in Detroit was trending against the president, the employee sent messages to a campaign lawyer there that encouraged “rioting and other methods of obstruction.” The next passage in the indictment is redacted, apparently to protect investigative details.
Prosecutors also said they would show that on Nov. 4, 2020, as Biden began to take the lead, “a large number of untrained individuals flooded” the TCF Center in Detroit, where votes were being counted, making “illegitimate and aggressive challenges.” Trump made repeated false claims regarding what was happening, while “in truth his agent was seeking to cause a riot to disrupt the count,” prosecutors claimed.
In the other example that also included a redacted passage, prosecutors cited an effort by Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani — identified only as Co-Conspirator 1 in court filings — to retaliate against an unnamed former Republican National Committee chief counsel who publicly refuted Trump’s false claims of election fraud. News accounts have identified the RNC counsel as Justin Riemer, who called Trump’s legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results a “joke” that was “misleading millions of people.”
In addition, prosecutors said they would introduce evidence of Trump’s attacks against two unnamed Georgia election workers despite being on notice that his claims about them were false and had subjected them to “vile, racist, and violent threats and harassment,” including death threats. Prosecutors did not name the workers but cited Trump’s January 2023 tweets about election temporary workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss; a federal judge, ruling in their 2021 lawsuit, found this summer that they were defamed by Giuliani.
Several co-defendants charged with Trump in his state election fraud case in Fulton County, Ga., are accused of harassing Freeman after Giuliani and others falsely accused her and Moss of counting phony ballots.
In defending 2020 fraud claims, Trump turns to fringe theories on Jan. 6
Prosecutors said they are seeking to show that Trump and his unindicted co-conspirators planned to “silence” those who spoke out against Trump’s false election claims, along with evidence of his “full knowledge” that his repeated choice to verbally attack public officials such as former vice president Mike Pence could “foreseeably lead to threats, harassment, and violence.”
In the filing, prosecutors also pointed to an interview Trump gave to NBC’s “Meet the Press” in September that, they argued, showed he has embraced the violence of the Capitol attack. In that interview, Trump said members of the Proud Boys — whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot — were “treated horribly.”
Trump’s defense had sought to purge references to the attack from his indictment, arguing that he is not charged with criminal incitement. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan rejected that request, saying jurors would not be shown the indictment.
And in their filing, prosecutors argued that Trump’s financial support for, celebration of and offers to pardon some of the most violent and notorious actors in the riot evinced his “encouragement of violence.”
“Perhaps most importantly,” prosecutors concluded, Trump’s actions showed “that these individuals acted as he directed them to act” and that the violent disruption of Congress “is exactly what the defendant intended on January 6.” |
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real-human
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| Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2023 4:42 am Post subject: |
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jack-smith-drops-bombshell-filing-promising-proof-of-trump-encouragement-of-violence-and-knowledge-of-consequences/ar-AA1l69qL?cvid=14113f2ccaec4445802257025573f9ad&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&ei=19
Jack Smith Drops Bombshell Filing Promising Proof Of Trump ‘Encouragement of Violence’ — And Knowledge Of ‘Consequences’
| Quote: | Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped a bombshell filing in which he promised to introduce evidence against former President Donald Trump that includes his “encouragement of violence” and his knowledge of “foreseeable consequences.”
On Tuesday, Smith filed a notice detailing evidence he’ll be introducing at Trump’s trial on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. The filing shows that the government plans to aggressively tie Trump to the violence and threats that followed his false election fraud claims.
The filing begins by noting that the evidence is being offered “not to show the defendant’s criminal propensity, but to establish his motive, intent, preparation, knowledge, absence of mistake, and common plan.”
Smith details evidence he will present in six categories:
A. Historical Evidence of the Defendant’s Consistent Plan of Baselessly Claiming Election Fraud
B. Historical Evidence of the Defendant’s Common Plan to Refuse to Commit to a Peaceful Transition of Power
C. Evidence of the Defendant and Co-Conspirators’ Knowledge of the Unfavorable Election Results and Motive and Intent to Subvert Them
D. Pre- and Post-Conspiracy Evidence That the Defendant and Co-Conspirators Suppressed Proof Their Fraud Claims Were False and Retaliated Against Officials Who Undermined Their Criminal Plans
E. Pre- and Post-Conspiracy Evidence of the Defendant’s Public Attacks on Individuals, Encouragement of Violence, and Knowledge of the Foreseeable Consequences
F. Post-Conspiracy Evidence of the Defendant’s Steadfast Support and Endorsement of Rioters
In the fifth category, Smith writes that “At trial, the Government will introduce evidence of this conduct—including the defendant’s public endorsement and encouragement of violence—and further will elicit testimony from witnesses about the threats and harassment they received after the defendant targeted them in relation to the 2020 election.”
Examples included Trump’s encouragement of the Proud Boys and his attacks on Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, among others:
(I)n response to a question during the September 29, 2020, presidential debate asking him to denounce the extremist group the Proud Boys, the defendant instead spoke publicly to them and told them to “stand back and stand by.” Members of the group embraced the defendant’s words as an endorsement and printed merchandise with them as a rallying cry. As discussed below, after the Proud Boys and other extremist groups participated in obstructing the congressional certification on January 6, the defendant made clear that they were acting consistent with his intent and direction in doing so.
Long after the charged conduct, the defendant continued to falsely attack two Georgia election workers despite being on notice that his claims about them in 2020 were false and had subjected them to vile, racist, and violent threats and harassment. As set forth in the indictment, during the charged conspiracy, the defendant and his co-conspirators spread knowing lies about the election workers and inspired death threats against them.
In late December 2022, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol published transcripts of its interviews with the election workers, in which the women provided graphic testimony about the threats and harassment they endured after the defendant and his agents falsely accused them. In apparent response, the defendant then doubled down and recommenced his attacks on the election workers in posts on Truth Social. He even zeroed in on one of the election workers, falsely writing that she was an election fraudster, a liar, and one of the “treacher[ous] . . . monsters” who stole the country, and that she would be in legal trouble.
The Government will introduce such evidence to further establish the defendant and his co-conspirators’ plan of silencing, and intent to silence, those who spoke out against the defendant’s false election fraud claims; the defendant’s knowledge that his public attacks on officials—like those on his Vice President as described in the indictment—could foreseeably lead to threats, harassment, and violence; and the defendant’s repeated choice to attack individuals with full knowledge of this effect. It also constitutes after-the-fact corroboration of the defendant’s intent, because even after it was incontrovertibly clear that the defendant’s public false claims targeting individuals caused them harassment and threats, the defendant persisted—meaning that the jury may properly infer that he intended that result. Finally, evidence of the defendant’s encouragement of violence and the consequences of his public attacks is admissible to allow the jury to consider the credibility and motives of witnesses who may be the continuing victims of the defendant’s attacks.
And in the final section, Smith calls out Trump’s support for the Jan. 6 rioters — and his influence over them:
, the Government plans to introduce evidence at trial showing that in the years since the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the defendant has openly and proudly supported individuals who criminally participated in obstructing the congressional certification that day, including by suggesting that he will pardon them if re-elected, even as he has conceded that he had the ability to influence their actions during the attack.
Of particular note are the specific January 6 offenders whom the defendant has supported— namely, individuals convicted of some of the most serious crimes charged in relation to January 6, such as seditious conspiracy and violent assaults on police officers. During a September 17, 2023, appearance on Meet the Press, for instance, the defendant said regarding Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio—who was convicted of seditious conspiracy—“I want to tell you, he and other people have been treated horribly.” The defendant then criticized the kinds of lengthy sentences received only by defendants who, like Tarrio, committed the most serious crimes on January 6. Similarly, the defendant has chosen to publicly and vocally support the “January 6 Choir,” a group of defendants held at the District of Columbia jail, many of whose criminal history and/or crimes on January 6 were so violent that their pretrial release would pose a danger to the public. The defendant nonetheless has financially supported and celebrated these offenders—many of whom assaulted law enforcement on January 6—by promoting and playing their recording of the National Anthem at political rallies and calling them “hostages.”
Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6—that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls “patriots,” to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification. In addition, his statements in this time period agreeing that he then held, and still holds, enormous influence over his supporters’ actions is evidence of his knowledge and intent to obstruct the certification, as he chose not to exercise that influence to mitigate the violence on January 6. Perhaps most importantly, the defendant’s embrace of January 6 rioters is evidence of his intent during the charged conspiracies, because it shows that these individuals acted as he directed them to act; indeed, this evidence shows that the rioters’ disruption of the certification proceeding is exactly what the defendant intended on January 6.
And finally, evidence of the defendant’s statements regarding possible pardons for January 6 offenders is admissible to help the jury assess the credibility and motives of trial witnesses, because through such comments, the defendant is publicly signaling that the law does not apply to those who act at his urging regardless of the legality of their actions. |
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real-human
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| Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2023 1:18 am Post subject: |
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ie to show trump knew what was going on minute by minute by what he was viewing and switching to and could have taken action.
https://www.rawstory.com/jack-smith-trump-cellphone/
Jack Smith plans to call Trump cellphone tracker as expert in Jan. 6 case: report
| Quote: | Special counsel Jack Smith plans to call an expert who tracked former President Donald Trump's cell phone use, including his activity on Twitter, during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, reports the Messenger.
This information was revealed Monday in a three-page filing in Smith's federal Washington D.C. election interference case against the former president, the Messenger reports.
The expert has "knowledge, skill, experience, training, and education beyond the ordinary lay person regarding the analysis of cellular phone data, including the use of Twitter and other applications on cell phones," according to the report.
The expert crunched data from Trump's White House cell phone and that of another person unnamed in the filing, the Messenger reports.
Data included images and visited websites to determine how the phones were used throughout the post-election period through Jan. 6, according to the Messenger.
The prosecution team also wants to call an expert who specializes in geographic location data and location history data, including Google location history data, according to the Messenger.
"Cell phones have now become evidentiary bonanzas," Honig said. "They can tell you virtually about everything a person is doing." |
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real-human
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| Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2023 1:26 am Post subject: |
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https://www.alternet.org/jack-smith-data-trumps-phone/
Jack Smith 'extracted data' from Trump’s phone and plans to use it during trial: report
| Quote: | In former President Donald Trump's March 4, 2024 Washington, D.C. election interference trial, U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith plans to use the MAGA hopeful's phone data as evidence according to a Monday filing, Axios reports.
According to Politico, "Smith has extracted data from the cell phone Donald Trump used while in the White House," however, the news outlet notes it's "unclear, though, what the extent of Smith's access to Trump's phone was. While Smith described in the filing using the data to view images, websites and locations, it’s unclear if he accessed the substance of Trump's communications or if anything was shielded due to executive privilege or other limits.
This comes as the Supreme Court agreed Monday to Smith's request for the justices "to expedite" the decision of whether Trump is immune from prosecution.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?
Axios notes, "Smith plans to call an expert witness who has 'extracted and processed data,' from the phones of the former president and another unnamed person."
Data from the ex-president's phone, Politico reports, "could reveal day-to-day details of his final weeks in office, including his daily movements, his Twitter habits and any other aides who had access to his accounts and devices. The data, for example, could help show whether Trump personally approved or sent a fateful tweet attacking his vice president, Mike Pence, during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol."
Poltico also notes, "The filing is the latest glimpse into the extraordinary evidence Smith has amassed in his probe, including testimony from dozens of Trump's closest aides and advisers, including" Pence. |
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real-human
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| Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2023 1:29 am Post subject: |
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jack-smith-reveals-sweeping-scope-of-bid-to-debunk-trump-election-machine-claims/ar-AA1lgIHa?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=5c400da5bb374392b3bac7cb70c34474&ei=35
Jack Smith reveals sweeping scope of bid to debunk Trump election machine claims
| Quote: | Special counsel Jack Smith on Saturday sharply rejected Donald Trump’s contention that foreign governments may have changed votes in the 2020 election, laying bare new details about his team’s extensive probe of the matter and its access to a vast array of senior intelligence officials in Trump’s administration.
In a 45-page filing, Smith’s team describes interviewing more than a dozen of the top intelligence officials in Trump’s administration — from his director of national intelligence to the administrator of the NSA to Trump’s personal intelligence briefer — about any evidence that foreign governments had penetrated systems that counted votes in 2020.
“The answer from every single official was no,” senior assistant special counsel Thomas Windom writes in the filing.
The filing was part of the special counsel’s opposition to a bid by Trump to access a broad swath of classified intelligence as part of his defense against charges that he conspired to subvert the 2020 election and disenfranchise millions of voters, culminating in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump has argued that foreign governments fueled his supporters’ concerns about election integrity and that some classified evidence revealed potential meddling that justified his own professed fears about fraud. |
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real-human
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| Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2024 7:51 am Post subject: |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHdvr8kIke4
Trump In Court: Hear DOJ spar with Trump team in historic immunity clash I Full Hearing
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real-human
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:47 am Post subject: |
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what great points that will not be put out in the media....
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/turned-on-their-heads-legal-experts-say-jack-smith-just-used-trump-s-best-argument-against-him/ar-BB1ik3Xq?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=57882428ea2e4838f6f00d51750cbbbd&ei=13
“Turned on their heads”: Legal experts say Jack Smith just used Trump’s “best argument against him”
| Quote: |
Special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to let the prosecution of former President Donald Trump move forward, rejecting his immunity claim in the D.C. election subversion case.
Smith’s team in a filing asked the Supreme Court to let stand a unanimous ruling from a D.C. Circuit panel that shot down Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.
The prosecutors argued that Trump’s “alleged criminal scheme to overturn an election and thwart the peaceful transfer of power to his successor should be the last place to recognize a novel form of absolute immunity from federal criminal law.”
Trump asked for the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the case before the Supreme Court takes it up but Smith requested an expedited schedule with oral arguments in March if the court takes up the case, citing a public interest in a “speedy and fair verdict.”
Trump’s lawyers in their filing argued that prosecuting the leading Republican candidate would violate the First Amendment rights of millions of American voters.
“To the contrary, the charges here involve applicant’s alleged efforts to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters,” Smith’s filing said.
Smith’s team also pushed back on Trump’s claim that a former president cannot be prosecuted unless he is impeached and convicted first.
“The separation of powers involves checks and balances — not a blank check for crimes a President might commit through official acts so long as he resigns from office, avoids impeachment and conviction, or conceals his criminal conduct until after the expiration of his term,” Smith’s filing said.
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal told MSNBC that Smith’s team “did a very good job of taking Trump's best argument and using it against him.”
Katyal said Trump’s lawyers had seized on Smith’s argument that the Supreme Court does not need to hear the case after the court of appeals rejection after he previously asked the Supreme Court to bypass the appeals court and hear the case on an expedited basis.
"What Smith said is basically, 'No way,'" Katyal said. "The way the Supreme Court operates is they consider themselves a court of review, not a first view; that is to say, they like legal issues to percolate in the lower courts and get ventilated between the different judges before the U.S. Supreme Court gets involved.
"And what Smith said is, 'That's what's happened now. You had this unanimous decision in the Court of Appeals, our nation's second highest court and on that panel of judges was a really diverse group of judges. It wasn't just liberal judges, it was one very prominent conservative judge as well," he continued. "Everyone agreed Trump's claim was bogus. So you don't need the Supreme Court to rule."
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin agreed that Smith “effectively subverted and turned on their heads some of the arguments that former President Trump and his lawyers were making.”
"One of the things that echoes throughout the briefs that former President Trump has submitted is a president is special. He should be treated specially and differently. And Jack Smith sort of doesn't disagree with that. He just takes a different tack at it” by arguing that Trump’s alleged crimes are of "unparalleled gravity that necessitates trying this case as quickly as possible, not the delay that you are begging for,” Rubin explained.
Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.
Rubin noted that Trump also argued that American voters would be deprived of their First Amendment rights by not being able to hear his political messages.
"And again, Jack Smith and his team turned that on their head," Rubin said. "They say the public's interest in a speedy trial here is greater than any interest that Trump could have in delaying it, particularly given that what he is accused of doing here is subverting the democratic will of tens of millions of voters. In other words, you claim to stand for the interests of a certain segment of voters. But the accusations at the heart of this case are about your willingness to disenfranchise the tens of millions of people who never voted for you in the first instance." |
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real-human
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| Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:43 pm Post subject: |
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-hands-jack-smith-a-potential-gift/ar-BB1iDNjW?ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=5b16a0b2f53343dbe6c0a62255b7a756&ei=7
Donald Trump Hands Jack Smith a Potential Gift
| Quote: | Donald Trump's claim that he "didn't have to" hand over classified documents that were being sought under federal subpoena has been leaped upon as proof he is admitting wrongdoing.
In a Fox News town hall with Laura Ingraham, Trump was asked why he didn't save himself "a lot of trouble" by returning the sensitive and top secret materials the government had asked for, instead of retaining them at his Mar-a-Lago—resulting in the FBI search at his Florida home in August 2022.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges under Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation over allegations he illegally hoarded classified materials after he left office in January 2021, and then obstructed a federal attempt to retrieve them.
In response to Ingraham's question, Trump claimed that he did not need to hand over the documents that the federal government had subpoenaed, and also suggested they were safe at his Mar-a-Lago resort, unlike the sensitive materials discovered at President Joe Biden's Delaware home.
"First of all, I didn't have to hand them over. But second of all I would have done that, we were talking, and then all of a sudden they raided Mar-a-Lago," Trump said.
"They said could you put an extra lock on the door, we showed them where they were, unlike being under a Corvette and a little garage with the door open all the time. We were surrounded all the time by many secret service agents, we had secret service all over Mar-a-Lago, you couldn't take anything out."
A number of social media users have now suggested that Trump's claim that he "didn't have to" return the classified documents could be used by Smith's team as evidence against the former president at his trial, which is currently scheduled to begin in May.
Bradley P. Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security, posted on X, formerly Twitter, sharing a clip of Trump's remarks alongside the words: "Smith: Your Honor, the Government introduces Exhibit '1' for the record. [Judge Aileen] Cannon: Exhibit is admitted. Smith: Your Honor, the Government rests."
Allison Gill, who posts on X, using the account for the Mueller, She Wrote podcast, added: "Oh heyyyyy the Justice Department" while sharing Trump's comments.
Joanne Carducci, better known as the popular political social media account JoJo from Jerz, said: "So, we're just supposed to what, forget that he originally claimed the documents he says he knew he had and was allowed to keep, were 'planted by the FBI.'"
Trump's legal team has been contacted for comment via email.
The National Archives first informed Trump's legal team in May 2021 that some White House materials had not been handed back to the government as required when a president leaves office.
In January 2022, 15 boxes of Trump-era presidential records and other sensitive material were returned to the National Archives. A subpoena was then issued in May 2022 that required Trump to hand back all classified materials he still had in his possession.
In June 2022, the FBI arranged to attend Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the sought-after materials, where Trump's legal team are alleged to have "explicitly prohibited" federal agents from looking inside a storage room at the resort.
In August 2022 the FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and seized more than 100 classified and top secret documents, including some found in the storage room.
Trump is also alleged to have ordered his two co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, to move boxes of classified documents around Mar-a-Lago before the FBI came to retrieve them, and of conspiring to delete security footage that had been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors. Nauta and de Oliveira have pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them in the federal classified documents case.
Trump has made several other disputed claims while denying all wrongdoing in the case against him, including that he declassified all the materials found at his Mar-a-Lago resort before he left office. |
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real-human
Joined: 02 Jul 2011
Posts: 14892
Location: on earth
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| Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2024 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jack-smith-has-new-ammo-to-shoot-at-trump-in-classified-docs-case-filing/ar-BB1iVXSV?cvid=b8d6fd98eae94228c11d9f2c9ad4b467&ocid=winp2fptaskbar&ei=8&sc=shoreline
Jack Smith has new ammo to shoot at Trump in classified docs case: filing
| Quote: | Special counsel Jack Smith has a new source he says showcases the egregiousness of former President Donald Trump's concealment of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago: special counsel Robert Hur's report on President Joe Biden.
Hur's report, which concluded with no charges after investigating documents that were found at Biden's Delaware home and University of Pennsylvania office, attracted political attention for its attacks on Biden's age and memory. Less discussed was the fact that Hur, a Trump appointee, said Biden's conduct wasn't nearly as serious as the former president's.
Trump stands accused of breaking federal law by storing dozens of boxes of highly classified national defense information at his country club in South Florida, court records show.
Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.
In a new filing, Smith responds to moves by Trump and his co-defendants to collect evidence they believe will prove they've been the victims of a "selective prosecution."
Smith uses the Hur Report to counter their demands.
"The defendants have not identified anyone who has engaged in a remotely similar suite of willful and deceitful criminal conduct and not been prosecuted," wrote Smith in his new filing. "For example, their primary competitor is Joseph R. Biden ... But as the Hur Report itself recognizes, 'several material distinctions between Mr. Trump's case and Mr. Biden's are clear.'"
Smith argues that while the Hur Report notes there was no clear evidence that Biden were highly classified, Trump "engaged in extensive and repeated efforts to obstruct justice and thwart the return of documents bearing classification markings."
Ultimately, said Smith, "the defendants' request for discovery on a selective prosecution theory can be denied on this basis alone." |
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