While Donald Trump awaits the executioner’s guillotine in New York, let’s go down south to Florida and visit his federal criminal case for stealing state secrets and obstructing the government’s efforts to recover them. (We still don’t know what his motive was there! Was it treason? Selling something to one of America’s enemies/his friends? Who knows!)
Trump likely thinks he’s already as good as escaped these charges, considering how the judge on the case is also the den mother for Eric’s Cub Scout troop, we’re pretty sure. (What, is she not? Are you trying to tell us Eric is a full-fledged Boy Scout now and not a Webelo? PFFFFFUCKOFF.)
But now we can read some newly unsealed filings from Special Counsel Jack Smith, to get more of an idea exactly what kind of evidence Judge Aileen Cannon has in front of her. It’s the kind of stuff that, in a reasonable world, would make it very hard for even a shitty judge like Cannon to choose to be derelict in her duty.
Specifically, we have the interview summary of “Person 16,” an unnamed associate of Trump’s who didn’t want their interview recorded, because even though that would be weird compared to other interviewees, it would be a “far bigger risk for him in the Trump world” to have that recording exist. (Not explicitly stated: because it’s a deranged crime family!)
According to the [heavily redacted] interview summary, this person had close access to Trump when he was president and after, and said he never knew Trump to declassify any records, except that time he declassified documents related to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane (Russia Russia Russia) investigation, and that there was “no standing declassification order.”
The summary says “multiple people” tried to convince Trump to return the documents he stole, when the problem was discovered. And it says they made their own appeal to Trump in fall of 2021 on a conference call:
“Whatever you have, give it all back.”
Person 16 inveighed upon multiple people around Trump to get him to give it all back, explaining again that these documents were the government’s property. This person knew Trump needed to hear the same thing from lots of people sometimes, in order to get things through his skull. He tried to impress it on one of the Trump children:
“There are issues with the boxes. They belong to the government, talk to your dad about giving them back. It’s not worth the aggravation.”
During a visit to Mar-a-Lago in November 2021, Person 16 told Trump, who was wearing his frumpy golf clothes at the time:
“Whatever you have, give everything back. Let them come here and get everything. Don’t give them a noble reason to indict you, because they will.”
The summary says Trump gave a “weird ‘you’re the man’ type of response,” and at that point Person 16 really thought Trump was going to give the stolen goods back. We all know that didn’t happen.
The summary also says that Trump told his co-indicted co-conspirator co-defendant Walt Nauta that even if he is charged with lying to the FBI, it’s fine, because Trump will just pardon him in 2024.
So that’s probably totally legal and totally cool.
Oh by the way, the code name for this investigation was PLASMIC ECHO, we guess because GALACTIC CUM SCALLION was taken by some other investigation we don’t know about yet.
FBI codenames are weird.
Evan Hurst on Twitter right here.
@evanjosephhurst on Threads!
I have profiles those other places but I think I forgot how to log on.
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OT, but I have to share, cause I know you'll appreciate this:
A friend of Mr. Demme's just called a Tesla Cybertruck a "Wankpanzer!"
Lol!
(Writing from Oaxaca, Mexico, where I am on a foodie/history tour.)
Bad as this new evidence is, it won't matter one whit to TFG's zombies or his Republican apologists. We are getting near treason, and when we do, that won't matter to them then, either.
Vote like your life and your country depend on it.