The first article below is about a Federal judge in Texas giving the FBI 14 days from the end of September to turn over Seth Rich's laptop. The second article, also below, documents the FBI's refusal to turn over the laptop as ordered by the judge.

If Mr. Rich had nothing to do with the Hillary hack, then there would be no need for all this secrecy around his laptop/ communications. C'mon, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the FBI is hiding something very significant from the American people, so as to not disrupt the corporate media/deep state "narrative" that it was the Russians (i.e. Russia = Trump = both bad).

This whole sorry mess makes the FBI look exceedingly "dirty". Time for the FBI to come clean on this issue and many, many more (for example, Hunter's laptop and the Big Guy's escapades)...

Notice how much of the seeming FBI malfeasance revolves around laptops? If one listens closely, that sound you hear in the background is bleachbit getting loaded onto dusty laptops in the department lockup.

Court orders production of Seth Rich laptop
Techno Fog
Sep 29

Today, a federal judge ordered the FBI to “produce the information it possesses related to Seth Rich’s laptop.” This case involves a multi-year fight by attorney Ty Clevenger to obtain records relating to the FBI/DOJ investigation of Seth Rich, particularly whether Rich was involved in the hack of the DNC or had communicated with Wikileaks.

This fight dates back to 2017 and includes two FOIA lawsuit. In the first lawsuit, the FBI produced no responsive documents. The parties knew the FBI had something, and so this sparked a second lawsuit – where the FBI somehow found 20,000 pages of potentially responsive documents. The court explains:


Of those 20,000 pages, the government found 1,596 pages of responsive documents, of which the government withheld 1,469 pages under various FOIA exemptions (privacy, law enforcement exemption, etc.). The FBI also withheld the contents of Seth Rich’s personal laptop, which it possesses, in its entirety, alleging the privacy of Rich’s family in “preventing the public release of this information” outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

The court rejected that argument, stating “the FBI has not satisfied its burden of showing more than a de minimis privacy interest that would justify withholding information from Seth Rich’s laptop.”
-------------------------------- -----------------------
What will the laptop reveal? Time will tell. (Time is especially relevant because the DOJ will appeal and drag this out.) What might be more interesting is the FBI’s complete records on Seth Rich. The FBI has fought production of those records - first by failing to “find” its own documents, and now by alleging documents must be withheld due to “national security grounds” and the “basis that disclosure of the information would threaten intelligence-gathering efforts.”

-------------------------- --------------------------------
https://technofog.substack.com/p/court-orders-production-of-seth-rich

FBI Refuses to Hand Over Evidence on Seth Rich Murder, Violating Court Order
Posted on October 14, 2022 by Constitutional Nobody

The Corrupt FBI is refusing to hand over evidence it has related to murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich’s laptop. Last month, a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas ordered the lawless FBI to “produce the information it possesses related to Seth Rich’s laptop.” Judge Amos L. Mazzant gave the lawless FBI 14 days to surrender the evidence. However, the 14-day deadline has now passed and the lawless FBI is refusing to hand over the information, in direct violation of the court order.

This week, Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration asked for more time to respond to Judge Mazzant’s order. The bureau is also reportedly withholding three reports produced by CrowdStrike in 2016 regarding the alleged hack of the DNC servers.

Young Democratic Party aide Seth Rich’s murder has still left many questions unanswered. He was shot in the back twice in the early morning of July 10, 2016, near his home in Washington D.C. He died later in the hospital. The police recorded the event as a robbery and yet Rich’s phone, wallet, and personal items were with him when the police arrived. Police in Washington, D.C., never identified his killer, and there was a vacuum of reliable information.

Some people suspect Rich was the source of Crooked Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager John Podesta’s emails which were obtained by WikiLeaks before the 2016 Election. Rich was killed shortly after the emails were handed to WikiLeaks. These emails were ignored by the corporate mainstream media but were shared by Wikileaks and on social media at that time.

The Corrupt FBI had previously denied possessing any information or files related to the Seth Rich murder. However, that was not true and eventually, the information was discovered.

Attorney Ty Clevenger took the federal government to court and last month the lawless FBI was ordered to turn over information on Seth Rich’s computer that they possessed. The Corrupt FBI was also ordered to hand over documents pertaining to Crowdstrike and the purported hack of the DNC in 2016.

Despite the order, the lawless FBI is refusing to hand over the information. “The Corrupt FBI has cited only one narrow basis for withholding the records related to Seth’s laptop, namely his privacy,” Clevenger said.

“I’m not sure why it takes four weeks and an appellate lawyer to figure out why the judge did or didn’t get that issue right. In any event, I’m reminded of something that I learned almost thirty years ago when I was a newspaper reporter: People with nothing to hide don’t try to hide nothing.”

https://ussanews.com/2022/10/14/fbi...ce-on-seth-rich-murder-violating-court-order/

 

Trump supporters do not care about Trump breaking the law. They think his will is the law.

 

'This paragraph alone is why DOJ will win': Experts predict Trump Judge Aileen Cannon’s order doomed

Igor Derysh, Salon
October 17, 2022



Creative Commons


Legal experts predicted that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's order assigning a special master to review documents seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence would be struck down after an appeal from the Justice Department.

The DOJ in a 67-page filing asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn Cannon's order and end the special master review, arguing the Trump appointee "erred" by siding with the former president.

The DOJ argued that there was no threat to Trump's rights because the search of Mar-a-Lago was authorized by a federal judge and because Trump had no right to have the documents in the first place.

"The uncontested record demonstrates that the search was conducted in full accordance with a judicially authorized warrant, and there has been no violation of [Trump's] rights — let alone a 'callous disregard' for them," the DOJ said, adding that Trump had "failed to meet his burden in establishing any need for the seized records — indeed, a substantial number of them are not even his—or in establishing any irreparable injury in their absence, and Plaintiff does not lack an adequate alternative remedy at law."

Trump's attorneys had argued that a special master was necessary to protect his rights to claim attorney-client privilege and executive privilege. Trump has also claimed that he may have declassified secret documents before he left office, though his attorneys have refused to provide evidence to the court.

DOJ attorneys argue that Trump has produced no evidence that the documents were declassified and that he has not actually claimed privilege over any documents.

Cannon initially barred the DOJ from using about 100 documents marked classified that were seized from Mar-a-Lago in its criminal investigation but that part of her order was struck down by the 11th Circuit, which agreed with the DOJ that she had abused her authority in halting the probe. The Supreme Court last week rejected Trump's appeal to have the special master review the documents marked classified.

The DOJ in its new filing argued that it needs access to the remaining 11,000 documents in the special master review and asked the court to end the review altogether.

"The dates on unclassified records may prove highly probative in the government's investigation," the filing said. "For example, if any records comingled with the records bearing classification markings post-date Plaintiff's term of office, that could establish that these materials continued to be accessed after Plaintiff left the White House … The government may need to use unclassified records to conduct witness interviews and corroborate information."


The DOJ also rejected Trump's claim of executive privilege since the Justice Department and FBI are also part of the executive branch.

"Neither Plaintiff nor the district court has cited any instance in which executive privilege was successfully invoked to prohibit the sharing of records or information within the Executive Branch itself," the filing said.

Trump's response to the filing is due by November 10, though much of the special master review may be completed by then. Cannon ordered the review to be completed by December 16.

Legal experts predicted that the 11th Circuit would eventually rule in favor of the DOJ.

Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University, cited part of the DOJ brief laying out the core of its argument.

"Most fundamentally, the district court erred in exercising equitable jurisdiction to entertain [Trump's] action in the first place," the DOJ said, adding that Cannon acknowledged that there had been "no showing" that the government acted in "callous disregard" of Trump's rights.

"This paragraph alone is why DOJ will win hands down," Goodman predicted. "It was an essential condition for Cannon to have jurisdiction. Cannon admitted Trump made no showing to meet the condition. End of story."

Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe agreed that the DOJ filing is "as close to being conclusive and irrefutable as any brief I have ever read."

Former appellate lawyer Teri Kanefield said the DOJ filing shows that "none of the factors were met" to appoint a special master.

"There you go. End of story. If there is no jurisdiction, the case gets dismissed. The whole thing goes poof," she tweeted.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe noted that the DOJ has some "legal momentum" after the 11th Circuit and the Supreme Court both rejected Trump's arguments related to the documents marked classified.

"I think the Justice Department is kind of reading the weather here and realizing that they have the upper hand in challenging Judge Cannon's order, putting the special master in place," he told CNN, "and they're taking their shot to see if they can get that entire thing knocked out."



https://www.rawstory.com/this-parag...dict-trump-judge-aileen-cannons-order-doomed/

 

This makes Cannon eligible for the Coulda Shoulda Woulda Hall of Fame. She could have told Trump that the case was out of her jurisdiction. She should have. She would have avoided a career ending controversy.

All she has managed to do is delay the proceedings for about a month or so, and not changed the outcome at all.

 

Actually its looking like you might be right and jumping into try and protect Trump could be a CED. It is not looking too good for Cannon. Lots of people sniffing around now.

New questions raised over how Trump's Mar-a-Lago case ended up in the hands of Judge Aileen Cannon

Tom Boggioni
October 18, 2022



Donald Trump, Aileen Cannon (Photo by AFP/ Cannon photo via U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida)


According to a report from the Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery, more and more legal experts and observers are questioning the sequence of unusual events that led to Donald Trump's legal battle with the Department of Justice over the search and seizure of government documents he took with him to his Mar-a-Lago resort ended up under the watchful eye of one his hand-picked federal judges.

Since the day U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida was handed the case filed by the former president's lawyers, she has issued a series of pro-Trump rulings that have baffled -- and enraged -- legal scholars.

The DOJ, for its part, has been busy running to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which has consistently either overruled her or issued stays favorable to the government as investigators ponder Espionage Act or obstruction charges.

According to Pagleiry, recent information on how the suit was filed, far from Palm Beach where Trump lives, has led to more scrutiny of how Trump's people gamed the system.

RELATED: Judge Cannon 'has humiliated herself' as the Supreme Court refuses to step in

"When Donald Trump’s legal team filed their court paperwork protesting the Mar-a-Lago raid, a lawyer took the rare step of actually filing the paperwork in person. At a courthouse 44 miles from Mar-a-Lago. And they got a judge to oversee the case that was outside both West Palm Beach—where the raid took place—and the district where they filed," the Daily Beast reporter wrote. "Those incredible coincidences have led lawyers and legal experts to suggest that something may not be above board with how Trump’s team filed their lawsuit."

As he notes, the lawsuit was filed in person instead of using the electronic means put in place for just that purpose. Pagliery reports that the Trump legal team claims that they made the in-person filing because the system was suffering from "technical issues." However, the Beast report states that is no evidence the system was down according to other lawyers who were using it at that time.

The report adds, "For another, lawyers typically file lawsuits at the district where an issue took place. Trump’s lawyers filed at a courthouse in a neighboring division. And third, lawyers will mark a case as 'related' when it deals with a similar matter. Trump’s legal team did not—despite the fact that another magistrate judge at the right courthouse had approved the FBI’s search warrant to recover those classified government documents from Mar-a-Lago."

Law professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond admitted something seems off-kilter about the whole sequence of events, stating, "It’s clearly related. I don’t think there’s a plausible argument that it’s not related… it was related to another case in the district—in the same courthouse as a matter of fact."

ALSO IN THE NEWS: The door to remove Judge Aileen Cannon from the Trump case is now 'wide open': former prosecutor

Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson stated the case ending up in Cannon's hand was a big win for Trump and his lawyers.

“It was basically a home run to get her," she explained. "They clearly made the correct calculation, because Judge Cannon’s rulings legally don’t make sense. They only make sense if you’re trying to help the former president.”

Admitting there is no doubt that Trump's lawyers were "judge shopping," she continued, "They did not want the magistrate judge to make this decision. There was already a captain of this ship. They just didn’t like the direction this was taking.”

Lawyers in the area, who didn't want to give their names, also found the method of filing the lawsuit curious.

According to one, "I don’t know anybody who files in person. I didn’t even know you could do that anymore. It looks like this person was trying to select a particular judge,” while another suggested, "People don’t do this anymore. It’s extremely odd. I guess you could do this if you wanted to get a particular judge—or avoid getting a particular judge."

You can read more here.

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-aileen-cannon-2658465713/

 

DOJ prosecutors say there's enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction: report

Sky Palma
October 19, 2022



Gage Skidmore.


Prosecutors at the Justice Department say there is sufficient evidence to charge Donald Trump with obstruction of justice when it comes to allegations that he mishandled classified documents, although they're not quite sure on how to indict him, Bloomberg reports.

"The team that's part of the classified records probe has not yet made a formal recommendation to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who would ultimately approve or reject such a move, according to people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg's report stated. "It's also unlikely officials would bring only obstruction charges amid several other Trump investigations into potential crimes, the people said."

Some FBI agents are against the idea of charging Trump so close to an election, but others wants charges to move forward, sources close to the matter tell Bloomberg.

IN OTHER NEWS: 'Answer the question!' Herschel Walker faces angry crowd as campaign event goes off the rails

Obstruction is part of the Justice Department's investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents -- a charge that the DOJ announced in August that there is probable cause for. But Bloomberg noted that no charges are likely to be filed before the mid-terms.

The unprecedented FBI raid on Trump's Palm Beach, Florida Mar-a-Lago home saw thousands of government records, including the highly classified materials, retrieved.

Before the raid, the FBI uncovered "multiple sources of evidence" showing that "classified documents" remained at Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department said in a court filing earlier this year.

"The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed... and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation," the filing added.

"Even with overwhelming evidence, the potential indictment of a former president is unprecedented and would likely set off a firestorm in a nation already divided by political passions and mounting tensions," writes Bloomberg's Chris Strohm. "This decision is the most important task for Garland, 69, the former federal appeals court judge who must now be an arbiter of whether criminal law extends to former presidents. The stakes couldn't be greater for the judicial system, the nation and its citizens."

Trump, who is weighing another White House run in 2024, has accused the Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden of conducting a "witch hunt" and said the judge "should never have allowed the break-in of my home."

With additional reporting by AFP



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-obstruction/

 

Trump stashed Iran nuclear secrets and documents on spy operations against China at Mar-a-Lago: report

Travis Gettys
October 21, 2022



Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago (Photo by Jimm Watson for AFP)


Donald Trump reportedly stashed some of the most highly sensitive classified information in the world at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The former president kept at least one document describing Iran's missile program and documents detailing highly sensitive intelligence operations aimed at China, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to the Washington Post.

“The exceptional sensitivity of these documents, and the reckless exposure of invaluable sources and methods of U.S. intelligence capabilities concerning these foreign adversaries, will certainly influence the Justice Department’s determination of whether to charge Mr. Trump or others with willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act,” said David Laufman, a former senior Justice Department official, who worked on cases involving mishandled classified materials.

The documents posed multiple risks if they fell into the wrong hands, including endangering intelligence operations and collection methods, and other countries could potentially retaliate against the U.S. for those clandestine actions.

IN OTHER NEWS: Steve Bannon sentenced to four months in federal prison for contempt of Congress

The FBI seized numerous classified documents and other top-secret materials from Trump's private residence Aug. 8, when a search warrant was executed, and people familiar with the matter said the more sensitive documents are top-level analysis papers that don't reveal sources' names but could provide valuable clues about how the U.S. is gathering intelligence, and from whom.

Some of the materials are so top-secret that many senior national security officials aren't even told about them.



https://www.rawstory.com/mar-a-lago-nuclear-secrets-2658486735/

 

Prosecutors demand testimony from White House cook on Trump's handling of secret documents: report

Matthew Chapman
October 24, 2022



Trump gestures as he addresses a press conference at the Lotte Palace Hotel. (Shutterstock.com)


On Monday, The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors are trying to compel testimony about former President Donald Trump's classified document stash from Walt Nauta, a military valet and cook who served Trump at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, and bringing him bottles of Diet Coke.

"Prosecutors have indicated they are skeptical of an initial account Mr. Nauta gave investigators about moving documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and are using the specter of charges against him for misleading investigators to persuade him to sit again for questioning, according to two people briefed on the matter," reported Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman, and Alan Feuer.

This comes shortly after reports that among the documents seized from Trump by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago are Iranian missile secrets and knowledge about Chinese spy operations — some of the most heavily classified and compromising national security information in the government's possession.

"Proving intent is often a challenge for prosecutors, and that hurdle has repeatedly come up in various investigations into Mr. Trump. To that end, prosecutors are particularly focused on Mr. Nauta because he could provide insight into Mr. Trump’s intentions as he parried the Justice Department’s attempts to reclaim the documents from him at the same time the materials were moved around at Mar-a-Lago," said the report. "If the boxes were moved against the Justice Department’s wishes or to conceal them from the authorities, it could help prosecutors in developing the obstruction investigation."

Also in the crosshairs of the Justice Department is Kash Patel, who recently testified before a grand jury on the matter.

READ: Morning Joe stunned by focus group excusing Trump's role in Jan. 6: 'I really don't know where to start'

"Mr. Patel was designated by Mr. Trump this year as one of his representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration to deal with his presidential records, particularly in relation to materials from the investigation into whether Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign had ties to Russia," noted the report.



https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-cook/

 

An aide who once claimed he was with Trump when the former president declassified government records pleaded the fifth for the DOJ's Mar-a-Lago documents probe: report

Lloyd Lee
Mon, October 24, 2022 at 8:24 PM



Kash Patel, a former chief of staff to then-acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, is making the claim that Trump could have declassified documents over social media.Brandon Bell/Getty Images

• The DOJ is seeking testimonies from key witnesses for its Mar-a-Lago documents probe, per NYT.
  
  
• One witness is Kash Patel, a Trump ally who claimed the former president declassified records.
  
  
• Patel chose to plead the Fifth Amendment in his testimony before a grand jury this month, per NYT.
  

An aide and loyalist to Donald Trump had little to share in his testimony this month related to the Department of Justice's investigation into the former president's handling of highly sensitive government documents, The New York Times reported.

The aide, Kash Patel, was previously appointed by Trump in June as a representative to deal with the National Archives and Records Administration regarding access to presidential records.



He once claimed in an interview with Breitbart, just a few months before FBI agents seized thousands of documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, that Trump had declassified "whole sets of materials" before leaving office.

"I was there with President Trump when he said 'We are declassifying this information,'" Patel told Breitbart.

But this month, Patel largely chose to plead the Fifth Amendment in his grand jury testimony for the Justice Department's ongoing criminal probe, a person familiar with the situation told The Times.

Patel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNN first reported that Patel testified for several hours on October 13 before a grand jury in Washington, DC.

Federal prosecutors are now hoping to pressure Patel to testify, along with another key witness, Walt Nauta, Trump's former valet, according to The Times.

The Times previously reported that Nauta, who continued to work for Trump when he left the White House, was seen in security footage moving boxes out of a storage room in Mar-a-Lago.

Patel had made various claims about Trump's declassification of government records.

Shortly after FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago, Patel told Fox News that Trump made a "sweeping reclassification order" via social media.

Read the original article on Insider


https://www.yahoo.com/news/aide-once-claimed-trump-former-022452710.html

 

They have ways of making people talk, do the Nancy Antoinette star chamber minions ..........

 

Former FBI counsel says DOJ's Trump investigation appears much further along than previously thought

Sarah K. Burris
October 25, 2022



Donald Trump stands before his luxurious Florida compound, Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent many weekends of his young presidency (AFP Photo/Don EMMERT)


Andrew Weissmann, the former counsel of the FBI and prosecutor for Robert Mueller's special counsel team, said that recent reports that the FBI is questioning more and more people suggests that the investigation into the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago is moving much quicker than previously understood.

On a panel with former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, Weissmann explained that the fact that the Justice Department is seeking information from Trump's personal valet, Walt Nauta and the Presidential Records Act appointed aide Kash Patel "is a real sign that the investigation is way past the beginning stages."

"I'm particularly intrigued by the fact that the government appears to be seeking an order from the chief judge of the D.C. District Court compelling Mr. Patel to testify," Weissmann continued. "That is -- that's a very bold step to be taking at this point. It makes it clear that the government is not looking to bring a criminal case against Mr. Patel, but is willing to immunize him and put him in the grand jury, because they want to know the inside story of what he has to say, particularly, I would think, about the alleged declassification of documents. And the same with Mr. Nauta."

He explained that the "strong grand jury process" gives the government the ability to compel testimony from those aides closest to Trump.

IN OTHER NEWS: Bob Woodward says Trump told me something 'I've never heard' from any of the 10 presidents I've covered

"Obviously, if you're the target of an investigation, that is a difficult situation to be in because you're constantly guessing about what the government knows," Weissmann continued. "And I think in Donald Trump's case, trying to think how to thwart that — can be a form of obstruction if he engages in it."

Over the past several months since the document scandal began, Kash Patel has been all over the map when it comes to his defense of Donald Trump. At one point he falsely claimed that the former president can declassify documents by simply standing over them and saying "they're declassified." In another interview, he claimed that Trump will never get in trouble because the General Services Administration (GSA) packed up Trump's boxes and they were the ones who somehow forced Trump to steal the documents.

It isn't true, as Figliuzzi explained, noting that the GSA asked the White House to sign a form saying that they packed the boxes "and that whatever is in there is necessary for you when you move out of the office." It's unknown who signed that document from the White House, but it is likely available via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Figliuzzi also said that Patel can get out of trouble by saying he simply didn't know, despite his legal education, that Trump had no right to the documents and couldn't magically declassify them.

READ MORE: 'Absurd': Experts say Justice Clarence Thomas 'giving the finger to the court'

"But the key to Patel is whether he had direct conversations with Trump or those immediately around Trump about obstructing, by saying, 'Hey, I'm going to do this for you, boss. I'm going to say, you declassified these. And I'm going to make that argument that I somehow knew about that.' Maybe he's clairvoyant. I don't know. You and I talked about this before. There has to be a tangible process. There has to be a defensible process around the declassification of documents. And there's no evidence here. And Trump knows that, and Kash Patel knows that."

Figliuzzi also said that Patel might be someone, like many of those around Trump, who wants to take the fall and save Trump, regardless of what that means.

"Let's remember something, Trump was thinking about making Patel either the deputy director of the CIA or the deputy director of the FBI," he also recalled. "By the way, those are career positions. You just don't grab somebody off the street for those. But that is the influence that Patel had with Trump, and vice versa. So, he's the fascinating piece of this."

Watch video below or at this link.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-documents-investigation-further-along/

 

Trump’s lawyers and DOJ prosecutors spotted entering federal courthouse over ‘a secret dispute’: CNN

Sky Palma
October 27, 2022



Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the "Rally to Protect Our Elections" hosted by Turning Point Action. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)


Lawyers for Donald Trump and prosecutors handling the seized materials from Mar-a-Lago were spotted heading into a sealed proceeding with Chief Judge Beryl Howell at the federal courthouse in D.C. on Thursday, in what CNN described as "a secret dispute."

According to CNN, the development is an indication that prosecutors are moving forward with the probe into classified materials Trump took to Mar-a-Lago from the White House at the end of his presidency.

"Though Trump’s challenges to the search and seizure of Mar-a-Lago in August have been before judges in Florida, a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, appears to be handling the criminal investigation into obstruction of justice and mishandling of records, including national security secrets," CNN's report stated.

IN OTHER NEWS: 'He was your trophy': Judge shreds Capitol rioter's claim he was trying to protect cop who got brutally beaten

"Close Trump adviser Kash Patel, who is designated to work with his records post-presidency, previously appeared before this grand jury two weeks ago and took the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer questions, another sign of prosecutors continuing to build their case," according to CNN.

CNN speculates that the development could be related to the DOJ's efforts to conduct another search at Mar-a-Lago.

Read the full report over at CNN.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-doj-investigation-2658517366/

 

Its all just fun and games until the feds show up and haul your ass in front of a grand jury.

Outspoken Trump ally Kash Patel goes mum as Mar-a-Lago probe progresses

MIKE LEVINE and KATHERINE FAULDERS
Fri, October 28, 2022 at 8:45 AM



One of Donald Trump’s most outspoken defenders, Kash Patel, who in interviews and on social media has launched blistering attacks against the FBI and repeatedly insisted Trump did nothing wrong in keeping a cache of allegedly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, recently said he is no longer talking about the matter.

“I’m close to the former president, and because there’s a lot of legal matters going on surrounding the Mar-a-Lago [case], I just haven’t commented on that publicly in months,” Patel said on a right-wing radio show Thursday when asked if Trump was likely to be charged for mishandling government secrets.

Patel visited Trump in Florida the day before, he said.

Declining to comment is rarely enlightening. But for Patel, who typically opines about a wide array of legal matters and regularly defends Trump on TV and radio, the move could reflect the delicate position he now finds himself in, as federal investigators look into whether Trump or any of his aides violated federal laws when hundreds of documents marked classified were allegedly taken to Mar-a-Lago, stored in unsecured locations and then never returned, even after the National Archives and Justice Department pressed Trump to return them.



According to his own accounts, Patel was part of a two-person team that was in near-daily contact with the National Archives at that time.


Nevertheless, in late September, Patel told another right-wing radio host that he was not publicly commenting on the FBI's investigation anymore because "we're working on some things with the former president."

"We've agreed to just leave it there for now," he said.

It's unclear exactly what Patel meant by that. ABC News asked an attorney with the firm representing him if Patel and Trump were coordinating their responses to questions about the case, including inquiries from investigators, but the attorney declined to comment.

On Aug. 9, the day after FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and found scores of documents marked classified, Patel issued a statement calling the raid “unlawful” and saying “corrupt government gangsters” had engaged in “the blatant weaponization of our government for political gain.”

A few weeks later, Patel said on a podcast that the FBI had committed "an act of evil" when it mentioned him by name in court documents, which cited his previous claims online that Trump had declassified any documents at Mar-a-Lago.

"They did it for political effect because they wanted to try to silence me and President Trump and everybody else," he said on Aug. 29. "But that will not have the effect that they've desired," he told listeners.

Within a month, Patel began telling those who asked about the case that he couldn't comment.

“I can’t [comment] because of ongoing legal matters,” Patel said on Thursday's radio show. “But I have put out a lot of statements before … [and] I hope to come back with you someday very soon and do a deep-dive on that.”



In another radio interview more than a month ago, when he was still responding to questions about the case, Patel predicted that even if the Justice Department doesn't end up indicting Trump, "they will try and indict people around him."

Specifically, Patel said, prosecutors might "get one of those people near him on a process crime."

"We're familiar with this routine," he added, seemingly alluding to the many Trump associates who in the past several years have been charged for allegedly lying to federal investigators or refusing to cooperate with an investigation.

Appearing before a federal grand jury last week, Patel reportedly refused to answer many questions from investigators, citing his Fifth Amendment rights protecting him from self-incrimination.

According to The New York Times, investigators specifically want Patel to testify about his past claims that Trump had already declassified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.

The Justice Department has noted in court documents that Trump's legal team has offered no evidence supporting such claims. Still, Patel insisted in an interview two months ago that “it’s incumbent upon the DOJ and FBI to show that this material was not declassified."

In June, in the midst of the FBI's criminal investigation, Trump announced that he had designated Patel as one of his official representatives to the National Archives.

According to Patel, his "sole purpose" in that role was "to go and identify documents that should be made public for the American people," but the National Archives came up with "a new excuse everyday" to keep him away.

"Some of these details will probably intertwine into the ongoing [investigation]," he said on a recent radio show.


https://www.yahoo.com/gma/outspoken-trump-ally-kash-patel-144533635.html

 

It does not look like Kash is going to be mum for long. The sole purpose of a grand jury is to keep people from defying them. That is a crime in and of itself. And a witness can refuse to testify but then the judge can just throw them in jail for contempt of court until they change their mind. And I mean go directly to jail from the jury room and stay there until they agree to testify. That is why Patel exercised his fifth amendment rights the first time he testified claiming the answer might incriminate him in a crime. But once immunity is granted his right to not incriminate himself no longer exists. So he can either answer the questions or go to jail. And they can always lie of course but then they risk perjury and lose all immunity for any and all crimes.

So this will be interesting.

DOJ grants Kash Patel immunity to force his testimony about Mar-a-Lago docs

Bob Brigham
November 02, 2022



Composite image of Donald Trump and Kash Patel / Department of Defense photos


One of Donald Trump's official representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been granted criminal immunity and is set to "soon testify" before the federal grand jury investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Kash Patel, a former Devin Nunes aide who worked in the Trump administration, reportedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he testified before the grand jury in October.

"A federal judge recently decided the Justice Department couldn’t force Mr. Patel to testify without such protection against his statements being used against him in some future prosecution," the newspaper reported. "That ruling, the people said, opens the door for Mr. Patel, who says Mr. Trump broadly declassified White House documents while still president, to answer questions."

Trump announced Patel as one of his NARA representatives in June.



"The immunity grant leaves the government only able to charge Mr. Patel, if at all, using information obtained independently of his immunized testimony," the newspaper reported. "Other Trump associates involved in the Mar-a-Lago documents matter also have been offered some form of immunity, people familiar with the matter said, including one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Christina Bobb, who declined, saying she didn’t need it."

Eleven days after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Save America PAC paid Patel's consulting firm $7,500.

Read the full report.


https://www.rawstory.com/kash-patel-2658590086/


And by the record for being in jail for contempt of court is 14 years.

 

And again we have to winder if Kash Patel is willing to risk going to prison for Traitor Trump.

Prosecutors focus on Trump declassification claims in Kash Patel testimony: report

Julia Shapero
Fri, November 4, 2022 at 8:06 AM



Federal prosecutors questioned former Trump aide Kash Patel on Thursday about his previous claims that former President Trump had declassified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago, The Washington Post reported.

Patel appeared for the second time in a month before a federal grand jury investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents after the Department of Justice agreed on Wednesday to grant him immunity for any information he provided.

The former Trump aide was also asked about how and why the former president took classified records with him to Mar-a-Lago, according to the Post.

Patel previously said in media interviews that he had witnessed Trump issue declassification orders near the end of his presidency, particularly on the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.



His comments mirror the former president’s own claims that the more than 300 classified documents recovered from his Florida home in the last year had already been declassified. However, Trump’s lawyers have stopped short of making such assertions in court filings and resisted a request to elaborate on claims that the former president could have declassified the documents.

Patel initially appeared before the grand jury last month but refused to answer any questions, instead opting to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. After a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department could not force Patel to testify without a grant of immunity, the agency agreed to such a grant, allowing for Patel’s testimony on Thursday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/prosecutors-focus-trump-declassification-claims-140646471.html

 

For the second night in a row, Trump admitted his guilt over secret documents: legal experts

Sarah K. Burris
November 06, 2022



Donald Trump shows passion while delivering a campaign rally speech at the Mohegan Sun Arena. (Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com)


Legal experts claimed Sunday that Donald Trump had admitted his guilt in the classified White House documents case for the second night in a row.

In his Miami rally on Sunday, Trump mentioned "the very famous raid on Mar-a-Lago — the document-hoax case."

"No other president has ever done this. Presidents leave. They take things. They take documents. They read them," said Trump. "Nobody else has ever gone through this. This is a charade."

According to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, "the Constitution (Article I, Section 9) prohibits anyone in the US Government from receiving a personal gift from a foreign head of state without the consent of Congress. Today, the handling of gifts from a foreign official to any Federal Government employee, including the President, is largely governed by the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act of 1966 and further legislation passed in 1977."

The way the system works is that "gifts" and documents pertaining to the administration are displayed in presidential libraries under the purview of the National Archives. Presidents are allowed to access their documents for up to 12 years after their presidencies for the purpose of writing books etc. They can work with the Archives to get access to those documents. So, if Trump wanted to see that information, he would call his person at the Archives and he could read them at the Archives or any secure facility that is set up anywhere in the country.

What Trump did that is different from every other president is that he skipped those steps and simply took everything with him, telling his aides "they're mine."

Hearing the audio of the speech in Miami, anchor and legal contributor Katie Phang called it "More and more admissions…"

"Here's Trump apparently admitting to illegally taking top secret documents when he left the White House," said CREW, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Legal Affairs Editor at Condé Nast, Luke Zaleski, characterized it like this: "So Trump stole state secrets and evidence of his crimes in a dual act of obstruction and espionage after committing obstruction and treason and abuse of power after taking office with criminal foreign interference he solicited/accepted after committing fraud and money-laundering?"

Andrew Weissmann, the former FBI counsel and prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller, said earlier this week that "Trump publicized the Mar-a-Lago search to boost his sagging Republican fortunes. He will do the same when he is indicted by DOJ and GA. That is why these prosecutors must build a bulletproof case and carefully lay out facts to convince the *sliver* of persuadable Rs of Trump guilt."

The comments from Trump are similar to those made in Pennsylvania the previous evening. Stumping for Mehmet Oz, Trump explained, "I can't even tell you what is on those planes. It might be top-secret, they might say, he violated a document. Every other President takes their documents. I’m the only one. I can’t have a document."

National security lawyer Brad Moss encouraged Trump, "keep talking. Just keep talking."

 

The latest despicable attack on trump is that when he declares his candidacy for President the DOJ will
indict him for ..................... something.

Other despicable groups intend to challenge his qualifications to even run based on ................... something.

The point will be to stop him from even running.
No matter what it takes.

So much for democaracy, eh?

 

Trump team urges court to leave Mar-a-Lago arbiter in place

Former President Donald Trump greets guests at Mar-a-lago on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
ERIC TUCKER
Thu, November 10, 2022 at 6:36 PM



WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court Thursday to leave in place an independent arbiter who was assigned to review documents seized by the FBI in an August search of the former president's Florida estate.

The Trump team said in a filing that veteran Brooklyn judge Raymond Dearie should continue in his role as a so-called special master in order to ensure public confidence in an investigation involving a “political rival” of the Biden administration.

“Given the significance of this investigation, it must be conducted in a manner that gives the public confidence in its outcome,” Trump's lawyers wrote. “The Court should simply not allow the Government to cloak these proceedings from public view based on its unverified assertions.”

The scope of Dearie's duties, and the basis for his appointment, have been points of contention between the Justice Department and the Trump legal team since he was named to the job in September.

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He was assigned by a Trump-appointed judge to inspect the thousands of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago and weed out from the investigation any records that might be covered by claims of executive privilege and attorney-client privilege.

The Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit had already curtailed part of Dearie's work, saying the Justice Department did not have to submit for his review the roughly 100 documents with classification markings that taken during the search. The court limited his review instead to non-classified records, which the Justice Department says totals about 13,000 documents, that the FBI seized.

The Justice Department last month asked the appeals court to shut down the entire special master review process, saying it was an unnecessary impediment to its investigation. The government argued that Trump had no credible basis to claim that the seized documents were protected either by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

But the Trump team pushed back on those arguments, asserting Thursday that a special master was essential both to evaluate any claims of privilege and to determine which of the seized records are personal documents that should be returned to him.

“The Government has not proffered any evidence its criminal investigation has been hampered during the Special Master review process,” the lawyers wrote. “There is thus no compelling reason to permit the continuation of an investigation of President Trump by the administration of his political rival without the District Court’s limited judicial oversight.”

Meanwhile, the criminal investigation into the handling of the documents is moving forward even as Trump makes plans to announce another bid for the White House.

Last week, Kash Patel, a close ally who has claimed he was present with Trump as Trump declassified certain documents as president, testified before a federal grand jury after being given immunity by the Justice Department.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-team-urges-court-leave-013643745.html