One of my Republican colleagues just said the boxes containing national security secrets that were seized at Mar-a-Lago were stored in a safe manner. This is the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago with over a dozen boxes of national security secrets. You are living on Fantasy Island. That’s were cults live so that makes sense — Rep Eric Swalwell #quotes#quote@MAGAcult#HouseRepublicans#GOP#NationalSecurity#TrumpCrimes
Judge #AileenCannon said Thurs that she will hold a hearing for #Trump’s lawyers to challenge some of the #evidence gathered against him for alleged mishandling of #ClassifiedDocuments & #obstruction of government efforts to retrieve them.
In an 11-page order, the judge said that “further factual development is warranted” when it comes to Trump’s challenge to the #SearchWarrant for #MarALago.
#FBI agents searched #MarALago on Aug 8, 2022, finding 103 #ClassifiedDocuments that eventually led to his #indictment. #Trump is seeking to suppress much of that #evidence by arguing that the #SearchWarrant was faulty. #AileenCannon also said Trump’s defense lawyers were #entitled to a hearing on whether prosecutors had misused statements by one of Trump’s fmr lawyers.
Cannon said she would shortly issue a separate order on when she will hear those issues in court.
Coming soon, to a network near you,
"Hoarders : Mar-A-Lago"
This is how the felon stored our nation's most important secrets. With a copy machine very close by. Anyone, I mean anyone would be sitting in prison pretrial.
"Another trove of photographs, which were taken by the FBI during that 2022 search, have been made public as part of a new filing by Smith (all photographs in this post come from the CBS article on these developments in the case). These photos speak volumes about how Trump saw his power and role as president.
Authoritarian leaders have an entirely proprietary view of governance.
"They don't recognize boundaries between public and private. They believe that as head of state it is their right to possess and exploit for personal benefit anything in the nation, from natural resources to economic assets to information.
A sense of chaos and total disregard for national security pervade the storage room, shown below in another view."
"The U.S. presidency was always just a means to an end for Trump, who had autocratic, not democratic, goals for his time in the White House. Turning public office into a vehicle for private enrichment and making deals with others of his tribe were top priorities. 'Dictators? It's OK. Come on in. Whatever's good for America,' Trump declared in 2019, his intended audience of foreign autocrats likely getting the message."
The understanding, referred to as the Kennedy-Khrushchev understanding, is a verbal agreement, not a formal treaty. But its essence — that #Russia would not deploy #NuclearWeapons or systems capable of delivering #nuclear weapons in #Cuba — has held for 62 yrs. The Russians have honored their commitment on at least 2 past occasions, & the #UnitedStates must insist that they continue to do so.
#Trump doubled down Wed on his claim that, if he is elected again, he would use his relationship w/ Russia’s President Vladimir #Putin to free WSJ reporter #EvanGershkovich, who has been detained in Russia since March last year.
“EVAN GERSHKOVICH, the young Wall Street Journal reporter who is being harshly detained in Russia as his ESPIONAGE TRIAL is about to begin, will be released prior to my taking office if I WIN the Election on NOVEMBER 5th,” Trump posted.
Smith revealed new #photos in a filing that depict how haphazardly Trump stored #classified materials at his Florida property post-presidency, w/golf shirts stuffed into boxes alongside the sensitive materials, newspaper clippings & other mementos.
The images —a grab bag of #NationalSecurity secrets, souvenirs & various odds & ends—…show the dozens of boxes containing govt materials at #Trump’s …were so messy & disorganized investigators could not preserve the precise order of the contents retrieved.
In one, a doc w/redactions sits in a box on top of an edition of The WaPo w/a front-page story describing Trump’s difficult relationship w/the #FBI. Next to that box sit 2 cases of Diet Coke bottles.
Judge #AileenCannon is skeptical that #evidence from #MarALago should be thrown out – she was not receptive to the defense’s complaints about the 2022 search of #Trump’s home.
Her skepticism toward defense was unusual, as a Trump appointee who has issued many favorable rulings toward Trump & has often clashed w/special counsel #JackSmith’s team…
"Among the things disclosed by a new Jack Smith filing is that Trump stored a document about nuclear weapons under some bubble wrap and Christmas pillow."
This document was classified "Formerly Restricted under the Atomic Energy Act, meaning it pertains to US nuclear weapons."
James Pearce, atty for #SpecialCounsel#JackSmith's office, faced questions…on how the investigation into Trump is funded…. Trump's attys have argued that the charges…should be dropped bc Smith was improperly appointed …& the funding…is unconstitutional.
#Assange is preparing to plead #guilty to a single count of conspiring to obtain & disclose info related to the #NationalDefense in a US federal court in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands …this wk, acc/to newly filed court papers.
Under the terms of the agreement, #Assange faces a sentence of 62 months, equivalent to the time he has already served at Belmarsh Prison in the UK while fighting extradition to the #UnitedStates. He is expected to be released & to return to his home country of #Australia following the court proceeding.
When Judge #AileenCannon presides over a hearing on Fri in #Trump’s #ClassifiedDocuments case, she will spend the day considering well-trod arguments about an arcane #legal issue in an unorthodox manner.
The issue that will be discussed…is a motion by the defense to dismiss the charges…on the grounds that #SpecialCounsel#JackSmith was improperly funded & appointed.
Shortly after #AileenCannon drew the assignment in June 2023 to oversee #Trump’s classified documents case, 2 more experienced #Florida#judges on the federal bench urged her to pass it up & hand it off to another jurist.
The judges who approached Judge #AileenCannon —incl the #ChiefJudge in the So Dist of #Florida, Cecilia M. Altonaga— each asked her to consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case, allowing it to go to another judge.
But Cannon, who was appointed by #Trump, wanted the case & refused the #judges’ entreaties.
As Judge #AileenCannon’s handling of the case has come under intensifying scrutiny, her critics have suggested that she could be in over her head, in the tank for #Trump — or both.
Against that backdrop, word of the early efforts by her colleagues on the bench to persuade her to step aside — & the significance of her decision not to do so — has spread among other federal #judges & the people who know them.
Putin promised unspecified technological help to #NorthKorea, which could advance its #NuclearWeapons prgm.
As Putin’s #Russia & #Xi’s #China deepened confrontation w/the West over the past decade, they were united w/the #US on at least one #geopolitical project: dismantling or at least containing North Korea’s #nuclear arsenal.
#Putin did more than drop any semblance of a desire to ensure #nuclear restraint. He promised unspecified technological help that —if it includes the few critical technologies #Kim has sought to perfect— could help #NorthKorea design a #warhead that could survive re-entry into the atmosphere & threaten its many adversaries, starting w/the #UnitedStates.
Nowhere in the stmnts made Wed was there even a hint North Korea should give up any of its ~50 or 60 #NuclearWeapons.
To the contrary, #Putin declared: “Pyongyang has the right to take reasonable measures to strengthen its own #defense capability, ensure #NationalSecurity & protect sovereignty” — though he did not address whether those measures included further developing #NorthKorea’s #NuclearWeapons.