Legal expert expects 'Espionage Act charges' after Trump reportedly told staff to move documents

Sarah K. Burris
May 25, 2023, 3:52 PM ET



Donald Trump -- via AFP


The Washington Post revealed Thursday that the day prior to the execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump told his staff to move the documents the FBI were seeking.

The report has prompted legal experts to anticipate Espionage charges will be filed against the Republican.

National security analyst Marcy Wheeler pointed out the three classified documents in Trump's desk drawer included "one 'compiled' with docs that post-date Trump's White House departure."

"One of the most important details is that the grand jury hasn't sat since May 5; three Fridays ago," Wheeler explained. "That means two of the last live bodies the grand jury have seen are Matthews Calamari Sr. and Jr. They were asked why Walt Nauta called after DOJ sent a subpoena for surveillance footage. Want your additional instance of obstruction? There ya go!

It was also reported this week that the National Archives released information showing they talked to the White House about handling classified documents and packing them up.

Wheeler cited 18 USC 793(e), which says that showing people not cleared to see such documents is a more serious violation.

The Department of Justice has "evidence that even before Trump’s office received the subpoena in May, he had what some officials have dubbed a 'dress rehearsal' for moving government documents that he did not want to relinquish," the Post report said.

Ryan Goodman, former Department of Defense special counsel and NYU Law professor, agreed with Wheeler and cited 18 USC 793(e), which is about "willful retention," and 18 USC1519, which is obstruction.

He pointed out the Post report it was told "evidence showing that boxes of documents were moved into a storage area on June 2, just before senior Justice Department lawyer Jay Bratt arrived at Mar-a-Lago with agents."

"A second employee who helped Walt Nauta move boxes into (the) storage room a day before the FBI visit on June 3. The next day... 'the employee helped Nauta pack an SUV 'when former president Trump left for Bedminster,'" Goodman explained.

It's more than enough for obstruction, Goodman said. "Willfully disseminating to third parties is also easily distinguishable from [Mike] Pence, [Joe] Biden, other instances in which DOJ has declined to prosecute (e.g. Alberto Gonzales)."

He tweeted: "I expect this will result in Espionage Act charges. Dissemination is key."

Former US Attorney Harry Litman agreed with the others highlighting 793(e) saying it "makes disclosure of classified info a crime but evidence in WaPo story is far from well-developed and raises the issue of prosecutorial judgment whether Smith wants to now take on a whole separate charge. If so, he could really use an eyewitness to whom Trump disclosed."


https://www.rawstory.com/trump-documents-espionage/

 

+wrong story + stumbler = bullshit and lies.

 

'Increasingly solid every day': Ex-Trump White House lawyer hails Jack Smith's case against Trump

Matthew Chapman
May 25, 2023, 8:33 PM ET



Jack Smith, Donald Trump (Smith photo by Robin Van Lonkhuijsen for AFP/ Trump by Saul Loeb for AFP)


Former President Donald Trump's one-time White House attorney Ty Cobb warned that the former president is facing down serious legal jeopardy in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case on Wednesday's edition of CNN's "OutFront."

This comes amid a bombshell report in The Washington Post that not only were classified documents on display for many to see at Trump's country club, but that employees conducted a "dress rehearsal" at his demand to help him figure out which documents he wanted to conceal from authorities.

The evidence that Trump committed a crime here, said Cobb, is "increasingly solid every day."

"I think we had an exchange where I was commenting on it sounded like there was a lot of i-dotting and t-crossing, which suggests they're near the end," Cobb told anchor Erin Burnett. "I do believe that is the case. They have some compelling evidence. I think the evidence with regard to the moving of the boxes, the evidence that they're relying on primarily with regard to the movement of the boxes they received the day after those boxes were moved. There were tapes of this, you know, the access and to the storage room. They have known about that for a long time. The reporting is out on that for a long time. But as they zero in on that issue, you know, there are two witnesses. One of them is represented by John Irving. That is the source for the, you know, the Post quote. The statement they got about not not knowing what was going on."

IN OTHER NEWS: Liz Cheney takes apparent swipe at Ron DeSantis over January 6 pardons

Another aspect made more relevant by the new report, Cobb argued, "is the testimony of Evan Corcoran and Tim Parlatore. Two lawyers [whom] ... the court denied Trump's claim of attorney-client privilege and found that the crime-fraud doctrine overcame Trump's claim and forced them to testify."

"Keep in mind that, you know, Corcoran testified that he warned Trump that he could not retain any classified documents beyond the subpoena," said Cobb. "And Parlatore, you know, he subsequently resigned, you know, expressed great concerns about directions that were given by [Trump adviser] Boris Epshteyn, and the extent that Epshteyn was translating their advice faithfully."

Watch below or at the link:



https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-jack-smith-case/

 

18 U.S. Code § 1924 - Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material

• U.S. Code
• Notes

prev | next
(a)
Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.


18 U.S. Code § 798 - Disclosure of classified information

• U.S. Code
• Notes

prev | next
unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information— (1)


(1)
concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2)
concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3)
concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4)
obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(b) As used in subsection (a) of this section—The term “classified information” means information which, at the time of a violation of this section, is, for reasons of nation


Donald Trump Sometimes Showed Classified Docs to Mar-a-Lago Visitors, According to Witnesses

1.7k
Virginia Chamlee
Fri, May 26, 2023 at 10:42 AM MDT


Prosecutors have reportedly heard more than one testimony alleging that Trump was careless with classified documents, leaving them out in the open and at times showing them to people


Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Witnesses are telling prosecutors that Donald Trump had a habit of showing classified documents to visitors at his private Mar-a-Lago club, according to a new Washington Post report.

Sources tell the outlet that the former president — who is currently running for the office again — has been accused by witnesses of keeping classified documents in an area of his office where they were visible, at times showing them to people who visited him.

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The report comes as Trump, 76, is mired in an ongoing criminal investigation by the Department of Justice into whether he violated statutes related to national security by allegedly mishandling classified documents he allegedly removed from the White House at the end of his presidency.

RELATED: A Timeline of the DOJ's Investigation into How Donald Trump Has Handled Classified Documents

Trump's Mar-a-Lago home was searched by federal agents in August, following numerous attempts by the federal government to track down missing documents from Trump's time in office.

In January, after being contacted by the National Archives and Records Administration, Trump and his associates sent 184 documents from Mar-a-Lago to the archives. Then, in early June, FBI agents and a senior Justice Department national security supervisor reportedly visited the resort in regards to boxes of classified documents sitting in the property's basement. A Trump attorney handed over 38 documents at the time, and officials followed up with instructions to install a stronger lock on the storage room door.

According to the new Post report, two of Trump’s employees allegedly moved boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago the day before FBI's June visit — timing viewed as suspicious by investigators, per the outlet. One source told the Post that Trump and his aides even held a “dress rehearsal” for moving sensitive papers around the property.

Trump has disputed that he mishandled classified documents, and has claimed on social media that any documents in his possession had been declassified.

In a recent statement to the Post, a spokesperson for the former president called the classified documents investigation "a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump that is concocted to meddle in an election and prevent the American people from returning him to the White House."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

More than 300 classified documents have reportedly been found at Mar-a-Lago and recovered by the federal government since Trump left office.

A 38-page affidavit used to obtain the August warrant showed there was probable cause "to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed" would be found on the premises of Trump's home.

RELATED: Former White House Lawyer Told Trump to Return Classified Materials in 2021: Report

Federal prosecutors also released a photo of document folders found at Trump's home that were clearly marked "Top Secret."

"In some instances, even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents," officials said of the materials found by the FBI.

In their 36-page court filing submitted Aug. 30, 2022, U.S. prosecutors said that "efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation."



https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/donald-trump-sometimes-showed-classified-164208202.html

 

‘Likely to be indicted soon’: Trump might face seven different felonies, government watchdog says

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
May 27, 2023, 8:10 AM ET



Former President Donald Trump Drew Angerer/Getty Images


It's no secret the U.S. Dept. of Justice is investigating Donald Trump for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and for his likely unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return hundreds of documents with classified and top secret markings.

Earlier this week Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal reported, "Special counsel Jack Smith has all but finished obtaining testimony and other evidence in his criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump mishandled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort."

And while it's unknown if or when Trump will be indicted, a government watchdog says the ex-president who is once again staging a White House run is "likely to be indicted soon." The organization is offering details on what it claims could be seven felony charges he might face.

"The next criminal charges former President Donald Trump may face could well come from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s possession of nearly 300 classified documents — including some marked as top secret — at his Mar-a-Lago residence and business in the year and a half after he left office," Betsy Schick and Debra Perlin of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) state in a lengthy report published Friday.

"While Fani Willis’ Fulton County, Georgia investigation into election interference continues, as does a federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and Alvin Bragg has already indicted Trump in New York for his role in false statements connected to hush money payments to Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) during the 2016 presidential campaign, an indictment by Smith in the Mar-a-Lago investigation would yield the first federal charges against the former president," CREW notes.

"Trump may face charges ranging from obstruction of justice and criminal contempt to conversion of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material."

Here is a list of "possible crimes" Trump might be charged with, according to CREW:

Obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1519)

Criminal contempt (18 U.S.C. § 402)

False statements to federal authorities (18 U.S.C. § 1001)

Conversion of government property (18 U.S.C. § 641)

Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material (18 U.S.C. § 1924)

Removing and concealing government records (18 U.S.C. § 2071)

Gathering national defense information (18 U.S.C. § 793(e))

READ MORE: Republican Complaining It’s ‘Almost Impossible’ for Straight ‘White Guys’ to Get Appointed by Biden Has History of Bigotry

CREW also offers that Trump's attorneys may try to argue several different defenses, including:

No “knowing” removal

Deference to the intelligence community

Challenging the constitutionality of the Special Counsel regulations

Additionally, several reports this week also appear to suggest an indictment might be coming, and soon.

Citing a Washington Post report published Thursday, several top legal experts are predicting DOJ will charge Donald Trump, and those charges will include obstruction and violations of the Espionage Act.

Earlier this week NYU School of Law professor of law Ryan Goodman said Dept. of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith had struck “gold” after obtaining the contemporaneous notes of a Trump attorney who counseled the ex-president on his possibly unlawful handling of classified documents.



https://www.rawstory.com/likely-to-...-different-felonies-government-watchdog-says/

 

Trump lawyer said to have been waved off searching office for secret records

284
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Tue, May 30, 2023 at 4:00 AM MDT



Photograph: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s lawyer tasked with searching for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after the justice department issued a subpoena told associates that he was waved off from searching the former president’s office, where the FBI later found the most sensitive materials anywhere on the property.

The lawyer, Evan Corcoran, recounted that several Trump aides had told him to search the storage room because that was where all the materials that had been brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s presidency ended up being deposited.

Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room. He then asked whether he should search anywhere else but was steered away, he told associates. Corcoran never searched Trump’s office and told prosecutors that the 38 papers were the extent of the material at Mar-a-Lago.



The assertion that there were no classified documents in Trump’s office or elsewhere proved to be wrong when the FBI retrieved 101 classified documents months afterwards, including from the office, which was found to be where the most highly classified documents had been located.



Corcoran’s previously unreported account, as relayed to the Guardian by two people familiar with the matter, suggests he was materially misled as the special counsel Jack Smith examines whether his incomplete search was actually a ploy by Trump to retain classified documents.

It was not clear who waved off Corcoran from searching elsewhere at Mar-a-Lago – whether it was Trump himself or Trump employees who advised him to look for classified documents in the storage room, according to an account of his testimony to the grand jury.

Corcoran did not respond to a request for comment.

A Trump spokesperson said: “This is completely false and rooted in pure fantasy. The real story is the illegal weaponization of the justice department and their witch-hunts targeted to influence an election in order to try and prevent President Trump from returning to the White House.”

The criminal investigation, which appears to be nearing its end, has recently focused on why the subpoena was not complied with, including whether Trump might have arranged for boxes of classified documents to be moved out of the storage room so he could retain them.

In particular, prosecutors have examined why Trump ordered his valet, Walt Nauta, to move certain boxes out of the storage room before and after the subpoena was issued – as Nauta later told the justice department – and crucially where the boxes might have been taken.

The movement of boxes has taken on added significance for prosecutors after they saw on surveillance tapes that boxes were returned to the storage room on 2 June 2022, the day before the justice department travelled to Mar-a-Lago to collect what Corcoran had found, the Washington Post reported.

It was also not clear when Corcoran was waved off from searching other parts of Mar-a-Lago; it could be notable if it came before the boxes were brought back to the storage room, as it would raise questions as to whether he was held off while classified documents were moved back.

The Guardian has previously reported that prosecutors determined Trump and Nauta knew when and where Corcoran intended to search because Corcoran needed Nauta to unlock the storage room, according to Corcoran’s roughly 50 pages of notes that were turned over to the grand jury in the case.

Corcoran also memorialized how he told Trump he could not retain any classified documents at Mar-a-Lago when Trump asked what he was allowed to keep, as well as when he took breaks during the search by walking out to the pool deck nearby, and therefore leaving the storage room unattended.

To obtain Corcoran’s account, otherwise off-limits because of attorney-client privilege, prosecutors persuaded a US appeals court to pierce attorney-client privilege because Trump may have used Corcoran’s legal advice in furtherance of a crime, according to another lawyer briefed on the case.

While Corcoran testified that Trump did not personally mislead him about where to search at Mar-a-Lago, he also acknowledged that Trump did not suggest he look anywhere else. The New York Times earlier reported a summary of his testimony.

Corcoran appears to have been told the prevailing belief among Trump aides and employees at the time: that any classified documents would probably be in the storage room with the rest of the material brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s presidency.

Before he could start his search, Corcoran ended up telling Nauta about the subpoena, where at Mar-a-Lago he was searching and when he was searching, because Corcoran needed Nauta to unlock the storage room so he could gain access.

Once he gained entry, Corcoran realized he needed a deadline extension because he was the only Trump lawyer dealing with the subpoena and had underestimated the number of boxes there. The justice department agreed to a shorter extension that he wanted, and pushed the reply date to June.

As the new subpoena deadline approached, Corcoran asked around whether there were other locations at Mar-a-Lago that he should search to ensure the response would be complete. Corcoran was told just searching the storage room should be sufficient and he did not look anywhere else.

Corcoran completed his search of just the storage room and told the justice department on 2 June 2022 to collect some documents the next morning. When prosecutors arrived, he provided a certification letter signed – and caveated – by another Trump lawyer, Christina Bobb, which attested to a “diligent search”.

The subpoena had been issued to Trump’s political office, and Corcoran treated it as an administrative subpoena and assumed he would be in recurring contact with the justice department about the documents matter, he has told associates.

When Corcoran turned over the 38 classified documents, according to court filings, he told the department the “records that came from the White House were stored within one location at Mar-a-Lago, the storage room … [and] he was not advised there were any records in any private office space”.

But that advice turned out to be wrong. When the FBI returned with a warrant months later, agents found in Trump’s desk drawer two classified documents mixed together with three other documents dated after Trump left the presidency, the Guardian has reported.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-lawyer-said-waved-off-100034239.html

 

MAGA=Make Attorneys Get Attorneys. And legal experts say there is no worse sign than civil war between attorneys representing Trump. They have a lot to lose and it will turn into every attorney for themselves.



Trump Lawyers Consider Revenge for Former Colleague



Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters
Former President Donald Trump’s advisers are so furious over departing defense attorney Tim Parlatore’s recent CNN interview—an interview they feel potentially implicated them in a Mar-a-Lago classified documents case coverup—that they are now trying to ruin Parlatore’s reputation, according to two sources briefed on the situation.

So upset is the Trump team, one of the sources said, that his lawyers have floated the idea of suing Parlatore or filing a bar complaint to mar his professional credentials.

“He basically called into question the legal team’s ethical guidelines,” this source said. “So everyone who stayed…he put everyone in a very bad position.”


After Parlatore left the legal team defending the former president against Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith last month, he then appeared opposite CNN reporter Paula Reid on May 20. During that interview, Parlatore revealed that internal legal squabbles prompted his departure. But one particular disclosure during the interview irked Trump’s advisers more than any other: Parlatore said Trump’s right-hand legal and public affairs guy, Boris Epshteyn, used his authority to run interference and halt legal cooperation with the feds.

Trump’s Lawyers Start to Wonder if One Could Be a Snitch

“There were certain things like the searches that he had attempted to interfere with,” Parlatore told CNN’s senior legal affairs correspondent, adding that Epshteyn “had really done everything he could to try to block us—to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president.”

Epshteyn “served as kind of a filter to prevent us from getting information to the client,” he said.

“In my opinion,” Parlatore continued, “he was not very honest with us or with the client on certain things.”

Down at Mar-a-Lago, those comments were perceived as a betrayal, according to three people familiar with internal discussions. These sources noted that it was Epshteyn who initially brought Parlatore into the Mar-a-Lago classified documents legal team. Parlatore was already on Trump’s radar, given that the New York City defense lawyer represented the accused war criminal Eddie Gallagher, a chief petty officer and Navy SEAL who was convicted of posing for a picture with a dead captive’s body in Iraq and subsequently demoted—that is, until Trump used his executive authority to intervene and grant him clemency that essentially functioned as a pardon.

Parlatore’s comments about Epshteyn did more than offend the Trump adviser, who serves dual roles as a public affairs guru and something of a legal consigliere within Trump’s insular inner circle. According to two sources, Parlatore’s revelation was interpreted as an accusation that Epshteyn was using his position of influence to obstruct the DOJ special counsel’s investigation.

“He puts himself out there, goes on TV and motherfucks people,” said one of these sources. “To say Boris is obstructing—who gets hurt there? Trump gets hurt there. That’s a serious, serious, true ethical violation. It’s a fucked-up thing to do.”

Members of the Trump team began to wish that Parlatore had just remained quiet on his way out—and only come clean if pressured by the feds, who are increasingly turning the interrogation room spotlight onto Trump’s own defense lawyers.

“Just shut up, go on your way. And if you get asked under oath, then you testify,” this insider added.

Meanwhile, other Trumpworld insiders said Parlatore wasn’t exactly wrong about his assessment of Epshteyn—just that he should have simply kept it to himself.

“I agree that Boris is an asshole,” said another person, a Trump lawyer who has had their own run-ins with Epshteyn. “But I’ve never seen anybody quit and go on TV and discuss attorney-client matters. That’s pretty crazy. Do I think it was completely inappropriate? Of course!”

One of Trump’s many defense lawyers, Alina Habba, hinted at the simmering animosity during a recent CNN interview where she derided Parlatore’s comments as a “ridiculous, inappropriate, kind of butt-hurt move,” using internet slang that refers to when someone overreacts to a situation with a childish tantrum.


David 'Dee' Delgado/Reuters
Reached on Tuesday, Parlatore expressed surprise at the idea that his former colleagues would target him with retribution—or see anything he said as a threat.

“Nobody has discussed this with me, and I hope any professional attorney would beforehand,” he said. “I am completely and totally confident with the ethics and everything I’ve done in this case–and my departure. I was talking about Boris’ obstruction of other attorneys doing their job. I didn’t implicate anyone in any wrongdoing.”

And Parlatore, for the first time, revealed why he came out swinging against Boris on national TV: It was a way of knocking down rumors that he had quit due to the feds coming after him—and quashing any notion that he might flip as a result and turn into a government witness against his former client, the ex-president.

Meanwhile, in official statements, Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has used muted language to distance itself from its former teammate.

“Mr. Parlatore is no longer a member of the legal team. His statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false,” spokesman Steve Cheung said in a recent statement.

A person familiar with the situation noted that the wording of the statement falls just short of what could be considered a defamatory statement about Parlatore, seeking to push back against him without provoking him into speaking out further.

But more aggressive retaliation is afoot.

Several of Trump’s confidants allegedly viewed Parlatore’s comments about internal discussions as a “violation” of a lawyer’s duty to keep private what are called attorney-client communications, according to two people familiar with those discussions.

With that alleged violation in mind, they have apparently considered filing a bar complaint with the New York state courts’ Attorney Disciplinary Grievance Committee, one person said. Unlike a lawsuit, which would be public and immediately result in highly visible mudslinging, a bar complaint would in theory remain secret forever unless the lawyer is ultimately sanctioned. That professional review process could be weaponized to annoy him with minimal blowback.

But a lawyer familiar with the situation countered that a bar complaint could actually free Parlatore from any additional attorney-client obligations, opening him up to revealing even more dirt about the Trump team.

Still, there’s no sign that Parlatore did, in fact, say something that could be useful to the feds. Parlatore noted that Smith’s investigators have not yet reached out to him as of Tuesday night.

Smith is investigating how Trump took more than 100 classified documents with him when he left the White House in 2021 and hoarded them at his oceanside Florida estate at Mar-a-Lago. And defense lawyers working on that case have warned the former president he’ll likely get indicted, possibly for obstruction of justice, according to Rolling Stone.

As The Daily Beast revealed on Tuesday, these lawyers have started to turn on each other under the mounting pressure.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-lawyers-consider-revenge-former-081727385.html

 

Oh lordy there are tapes of Trump discussing classified information.

 

Well?
Lets hear em!

 

'This is game over': Former FBI top lawyer predicts 'conviction' of Trump after classified doc tape

Sarah K. Burris
May 31, 2023, 5:47 PM ET



Donald Trump holds a press conference at Trump Turnberry. (Shutterstock.com)



Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann warned that the new tape recording of Donald Trump bragging that he had classified documents that he wanted to show people, if verified, could be the final straw leading to Trump's conviction.

"If this reporting is true, and I'm trying not to use hyperbole, this is game over," said Weissmann. "There is no way that he will not be charged. One, it is a tape recording. Even though the reporting is there are also witnesses, so there could be a tape recording with witnesses, it involves not just possession of classified information, but the dissemination of classified information. That puts it into a completely different ballpark when you are at the Department of Justice examining the seriousness of the violation and whether to bring charges."

He explained that it also adds another crime, whereas before, it was simply the possession of the documents, refusal to give them over, and obstruction of an investigation. Now, a separate crime would be to disseminate.

"And it differentiates Joe Biden an Mike Pence," he continued. Both men were found to have documents, including some classified information. They responded by immediately handing it over. Trump did not. "So from a political perspective, it is huge because there is no evidence this happened with respect to President Biden or former Vice President Pence. The information is not just classified information. It is one of the most sensitive types of classified information, which is war plans involving a potential attack on Iran. So, from every single aspect of this, if this reporting is accurate and there is this tape recording, there will be an indictment and it is hard to see how given all the evidence that we've been talking about that there will not be a conviction here. I mean, this is a tape recording."

Weissmann went on to list all of the crimes that are involved based on the federal statutes, espionage charges, or a violation of the Espionage Act. Another is that it is a crime to possess national defense information and it is a crime to disseminate it.

"And here it apparently is shared with people who don't have clearance to get this information," he explained. "And again this — this is not like a foot fault. These are war plans given to people who have no clearance to get it. It is hard to imagine — this is their worst nightmare as to what they were thinking would happen with this information which is that Donald Trump was at the very least lax in how he was handling it and it is going to have huge repercussions within the intelligence community in terms of making sure that this is not the only thing that was disseminated."

See the explanation below or at the link here.


https://www.rawstory.com/trump-documents-classified-indictment-conviction/

 

FINALLY!!
WE GOT THAT BASTARD!!
HE WON'T GET AWAY THIS TIME!!
JUST YOU WAIT!!
JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!!
WE GOT HIM NOW, OH THE JOY, WE WILL GET OUR PERP WALK!!
WE WILL SEE TRUMP IN HANDCUFFS!!
JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE!!

They been trying for 8 years. About fucking time, eh?

 

I watched an ex prosecutor last night explain what Trump's lawyers are doing. They are playing a game on Not It because they fear one or more of them is going to be indicted. That's why all these stories are leaking.


Infighting Trump lawyers plotted 'murder-suicide pact': report

Travis Gettys
June 1, 2023, 8:54 AM ET



Donald Trump (Photo: White House photographer)


Donald Trump's defense lawyers reportedly engaged in a "murder-suicide pact" to protect themselves, much as top Justice Department officials allegedly had as he attempted to overturn his 2020 election loss.

The former president's legal team in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case have been embroiled in interpersonal conflict for months, and the bitterness and mistrust toward co-counsel and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn curdled so badly that some lawyers agreed to a pact where if one attorney was fired, the rest would quit in solidarity, reported The Guardian.

One top lawyer, Tim Parlatore, abruptly resigned last month over his disagreements with Epshteyn, whom he accused of attempting to interfere with the legal team's efforts to locate classified documents at Trump properties and lying to both other attorneys and the former president.

Epshteyn was recently questioned by special counsel Jack Smith, and Parlatore and Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran have testified before a grand jury in the classified documents case.

RELATED: 'Overwhelming and clear-cut' evidence will push DOJ to 'very quickly' indict Trump: Ex-Mueller prosecutor

The legal team feels confident that Parlatore won't turn on Trump, according to The Guardian, after a transcript showed he told a grand jury the ex-president had allowed him to search freely for any remaining documents last year at his properties.

But six sources familiar with the situation told the newspaper that efforts to remove Epshteyn from the case had failed after months of worsening relations, and he remains on the team while Parlatore had resigned.

Last year, former acting deputy attorney general Bill Donoghue told the Jan. 6 committee that top Justice Department officials, along with then- White House counsel Pat Cipollone, had agreed to resign en masse if Trump made Jeffrey Clarke, an environmental lawyer with the department, the acting attorney general and allowed him to send a letter to states about election fraud.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-lawyer-2660765316/

 

Trump regretted not declassifying retained military document in recording

662
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Wed, May 31, 2023 at 7:18 PM MDT



Photograph: James Devaney/GC Images

Federal prosecutors obtained audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting where Donald Trump suggested he should have declassified a military document about Iran he admitted retaining, according to people familiar with the criminal investigation into his retention of national security papers.

The recording was made at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in July 2021, when the former president met with people helping his former chief of staff Mark Meadows write a book, by his aide Margo Martin who regularly taped conversations with authors to ensure they accurately recounted his remarks.

Related: Special counsel reportedly examining Trump’s firing of cybersecurity official


For several minutes of the audio recording, the sources said, Trump talks about how he cannot discuss the document because he no longer possesses the sweeping presidential power to declassify now out of office, but suggests that he should have done so when he was still in the White House.

The previously unreported suggestion that he should have declassified the document presents a potentially perilous moment for Trump, as it indicates he knew he had retained material that was sensitive to national security – as well as the limitations about discussing it. CNN earlier reported that prosecutors had the recording.

The exact nature of the document Trump was referring to in the recording is unclear, though Trump’s lawyers believe a document classified at the “Secret” level, which referenced military action concerning Iran, had been returned to the National Archives months later, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith appear to have obtained the recording around March, as the criminal investigation targeting Trump intensified and numerous Trump aides were subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury hearing evidence in the case in Washington.

The tape was played to multiple witnesses, including Martin, when she testified in mid-March after having her laptop and phones imaged by prosecutors, the sources said. The first time the Trump lawyers learned about the tape was after Martin testified, one of the sources said.

In his book titled A Chief’s Chief, Meadows recounts how Trump once recalled a four-page report produced by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley that contained his plan to attack Iran, though it is unclear if that was the same meeting attended by his writers.

But the July 2021 meeting that was recorded came shortly after Trump was incensed about news reports that Milley had urged him not to attack Iran in the final weeks of his presidency.

Trump believed that the document outlining the report to attack Iran would undercut Milley’s reported assertions, though the report was actually written earlier in the Trump administration when Joseph Dunford was chairman of the joint chiefs, a person familiar with the document said.

A Trump spokesperson said in a statement: “Leaks from radical partisans behind this political persecution are designed to inflame tensions and continue the media’s harassment of President Trump and his supporters. It’s just more proof that when it comes to President Trump, there are absolutely no depths to which they will not sink as they pursue their witch hunts.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-regretted-not-declassifying-retained-011843290.html

 

Well?
Lets hear the tape.
What's the problem with releasing this one?

 

Trump's lawyers can't find classified document he bragged about in recently revealed recording: CNN

Brad Reed
June 2, 2023, 12:21 PM ET



Trump speaking at a rally in 2019. (Shutterstock.com)


Former President Donald Trump bragged about having a classified document that involved secret military plans to launch an attack on Iran -- but his lawyers could not find it when asked to retrieve it by the United States Department of Justice.

CNN reports that Trump lawyers in mid-March turned over materials "related to" the Iran document that Trump referenced in his recording, but they said they could not find the document itself.

According to CNN's sources, the subpoena was meant to encompass all materials related to Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Iran, including "maps or invasion plans."

"The sources say prosecutors made clear to Trump’s attorneys after issuing the subpoena that they specifically wanted the Iran document he talked about on tape as well as any material referencing classified information – like meeting notes, audio recordings or copies of the document – that may still be Trump’s possession," the network reports.

"The fact that Trump’s team was unable to produce the document underscores the challenges the government has faced in trying to recover classified material that Trump took when he left the White House and in understanding the movement of government records that Trump kept."

FROM EARLIER: 'It was dumb to follow him': MAGA rioter throws fellow Oath Keeper under the bus at sentencing

It is also entirely possible that Trump's boast about having the document was empty, much like his replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act that he never produced despite declaring it was two weeks away from release for several years.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-classified-documents-2660812675/

 

Here's a thought.
When the FBI releases the Hunter Biden conspiracy memo maybe that will give Trump's lawyers the incentive to return the Iran memo.

 

'Fasten your seat belts': Indictment rumors swirl amid report that Jack Smith’s grand jury is reconvening

Brandon Gage, Alternet
June 4, 2023, 8:13 AM ET



Donald Trump (Photo by Mandel Ngan for AFP)


Late Saturday night, NBC News dropped a potential bombshell when it reported that the federal grand jury that has been examining evidence in the United States Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into former President Donald Trump's mishandling of classified documents will reconvene this upcoming week.

"Prosecutors face two central legal questions: 1) Did Trump wrongfully retain classified documents after he left the White House? 2) Did he later obstruct the government’s efforts to retrieve them?" NBC noted. "If Smith decides to indict Trump, it would be the first time a former president has been charged with a federal crime. Though Trump has already been charged in New York with state crimes related to hush money payments, the cases differ dramatically."

Although NBC stressed that "it's unclear whether prosecutors are prepared to seek an indictment at this point," rumors nonetheless swirled amongst legal experts following the publication of NBC's story.

Ex-Deputy Attorney General Harry Litman tweeted that "the obvious inference-not the only one but the most obvious— is they're reconvening to vote out an indictment. Fasten your seat belts."

Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin responded that "the special counsel's recommendation has been made" and that Attorney General Merrick Garland "has decided to follow it."

Watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote that "Trump's first federal indictment could be just days away."

Law professor and author Jennifer Taub quipped, "I love it, especially later in summer," referring to possible charges filed against Trump by Smith.

Veteran Allison Gill stated that "this could be a number of things including: 1. He's ready to ask for indictments 2. He's got a new cooperating witness."

Former White House Ethics Czar Norm Eisen said that "reports that the Trump classified document grand jury is meeting again shortly, what can we expect? Charges! (If not this week, soon).

Ex-federal prosecutor and legal analyst Renato Mariotti, however, cautioned that the update "doesn’t tell us much about the timing of a potential indictment. The grand jury could be considering a proposed indictment, but prosecutors could just be presenting evidence to the grand jury."



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-grand-jury-2660899627/

 

JUST YOU WAIT!
WE GOT THAT FUCKER NOW!!

......... fuck it. Same story we've been hearing for 8 years.

 

Maggie Haberman Scoops NEW Tape That ‘Angered And Unnerved’ Trump Aides In Criminal Documents Probe
By Tommy ChristopherJun 3rd, 2023, 11:55 am
1362 comments




New York Times correspondent, best-selling author, and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman dropped a new scoop about another tape related to the criminal probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents, this one of Trump attorney Evan Corcoran.

Just days after blockbuster CNN reporting on Trump being caught on tape discussing a classified document that he had taken with him when he left the White House, Haberman and colleagues Alan Feuer and Ben Protess have news about a different tape, obtaining details of a lengthy recording Corcoran made about the docs probe that has Trumpworld shook:


Mr. Corcoran’s notes, which have not been previously described in such detail, will likely play a central role as Mr. Smith and his team move toward concluding their investigation and turn to the question of whether to bring charges against Mr. Trump. They could also show up as evidence in a courtroom if a criminal case is ultimately filed and goes to trial.

The level of detail in the recording is said to have angered and unnerved close aides to Mr. Trump who are worried they contain direct quotes from sensitive conversations.

The tape became part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe when U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell issued an order for Corcoran’s testimony and other evidence in March on the basis that Smith’s team has made a “prima facie showing that the former president had committed criminal violations.”

According to Haberman, the Corcoran tape is very lengthy and detailed and was recorded during a long car trip. The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell also broke detailed reporting on the Corcoran tape just over a week ago.


The news comes on the heels of the blockbuster reporting on a tape that reportedly depicts Trump reportedly acknowledging he can’t show the document — which outlines a plan to invade Iran — to his visitors at Bedminster because of the classification attached to it.

That tape is also now in the Justice Department’s possession.


https://www.mediaite.com/news/maggi...rved-trump-aides-in-criminal-documents-probe/

 

This is the best evidence yet Trump has been told he is going to be indicted. As soon as I saw the story about Trump's lawyers meeting with te DOJ today I knew if he was going to be indicted he would just flat freak the fuck out over it. Due to his mental illness its impossible for him to keep his mouth shut if he feels threatened.



Trump delivers all-caps Truth Social tirade as his lawyers plead with DOJ not to charge him

Brad Reed
June 5, 2023, 1:08 PM ET



Win McNamee/Getty Images


Former President Donald Trump on Monday uncorked a furious all-caps tirade on his Truth Social network as his lawyers reportedly were meeting with the United States Department of Justice to make their case against charging him with crimes.

Although Trump has not yet been charged with any crimes related to his alleged decision to both stash top-secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and to also refuse to return them after receiving a lawful subpoena for them, he nonetheless expressed bewilderment and fury that he could soon be indicted in the case.

"HOW CAN DOJ POSSIBLY CHARGE ME, WHO DID NOTHING WRONG, WHEN NO OTHER PRESIDENT’S WERE CHARGED, WHEN JOE BIDEN WON’T BE CHARGED FOR ANYTHING, INCLUDING THE FACT THAT HE HAS 1,850 BOXES, MUCH OF IT CLASSIFIED, AND SOME DATING BACK TO HIS SENATE DAY WHEN EVEN DEMOCRAT SENATORS ARE SHOCKED," Trump wrote. "ALSO, PRESIDENT CLINTON HAD DOCUMENTS, AND WON IN COURT. CROOKED HILLARY DELETED 33,000 EMAILS, MANY CLASSIFIED, AND WASN’T EVEN CLOSE TO BEING CHARGED! ONLY TRUMP - THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!"

RELATED: 'Green light': Legal expert suggests Jack Smith has been given the go-ahead to indict Trump

Although other prominent politicians, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence, have been found with classified documents at their personal properties, legal experts have said that Trump faces criminal exposure that the others did not given the evidence prosecutors have accumulated that he sought to obstruct efforts by the government to get them back.

Trump's possession of the documents first became public last summer when the FBI conducted executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago to retrieve boxes full of government documents, some of which reportedly included some highly sensitive national security secrets.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-truth-social-2660956120/