Shortly after 12:15 Eastern time today, the DOJ posted the agreed upon redacted search warrant affidavit for Mar-A-Lago on the court’s public facing docket. They weren’t milking the suspense either. Starting at 11:30, so many media sources were looking for the document that they crashed the site, the DOJ couldn’t upload it.
It was worth the wait. I wrote yesterday that getting a search warrant wasn’t like renewing your drivers license, a 1 or 2 page form. You have to convince a judge that a crime was committed, and that evidence of that crime can be found at the site you want to search. The DOJ’s affidavit for the search warrant was 38 pages long.
And Man!, was Merrick Garland an honest broker. Most analysts concluded that we’d be lucky if there were a cumulative total of about 3-4 pages of information that wasn’t black Sharpie. I predicted that there would be more, since if Garland was going to release information, he may as well post as much damaging shit for Trump as possible without risking the investigation. In fact, there were approximately 18 pages of largely readable content released.
As I predicted, it was all bad news for Traitor Tot. The DOJ confirmed that in the tranche of boxes Trump did return, there were 187 classified documents totalling more than 700 pages. That’s more classified material than many CIA employees see in their entire careers.
It also blew Trump’s previous excuses out o the water. Why did you search my private residence? Aw shit, I dunno, maybe because your lawyers lied to us in a letter stating there were no more classified documents left, and then we haul out another dozen boxes of the shit. Why didn’t you just ask for the stuff back? Please see the attached addendum of letters from first the Archives, and then the DOJ first asking, and then demanding their return, all of which you stonewalled.
And then the DOJ said something that had to send a chill down the spine of The Cheeto Prophet. They told the judge that There were several witnesses whose identities had to remain redacted, in order to protect them physically, as well as to protect the investigation. Since the DOJ was talking about searching Trump’s personal residence, Trump doesn’t just have 1 mole in Mar-A-Lago, he’s got a whole coven.
His Lowness has been strangely subdued. After the release, he made some crybaby noises on his platform, including one post where he angrily claimed that The affidavit had been CANCELED! I can only deduce that The Imbecile in Chief was trying to invoke cancel culture in regard to a federal court document. Moron.
But you know who’s Missing In action? Kreepy Kevin McCarthy and the rest of his big mouthed idjits in the GOP House caucus. They have brainlessly parroted Hair Twitlers every outraged bellow of bullshit from the start of this whole thing. Including screaming that the affidavit must be released totally unredacted! And now they’re so far down in the weeds that a landscaping company mower couldn’t find them.
Why? Oh, I think I know. For the same reason that The Trumpster Fire has finally figured out how to muzzle his big, fat New York mouth. The 18 pages of decipherable information in the affidavit is devastating for Trump, and makes it harder for them to continue to defend him.
But here’s the McGuffin. In addition to the 18 publicly available pages of the affidavit, there are still almost 20 redacted pages of information! The way I see it, the feds are basically done with the 18 pages they released, the witnesses are locked in, and the evidence memorialized. The 20 pages of redacted information are the items that the FBI and DOJ are still actively working on, along with witnesses they want to protect until they spring the trap.
Which has to give Trumpelthinskin and his merry band of freebooters night terrors. What do they have? What are they working on? What kind of evidence do they have? Who are they talking to? Has anybody mentioned mre?! For instance, Kreepy Kevin has made several junkets to Mar-A-Lago to palaver with Der Gropinfuror. Did Trump take McCarthy down to the basement, and show him all of the cool shit he took home with him? If he did, did anybody see them? And if they did, are they talking to the FBI?!
And it’s not just McCarthy. Laborious MTG, Matt Sugar Daddy Gaetz, Gym He groped me coach! Jordan, and GED Lauren Boebert have all made the pilgrimage to Mar-A-Lago. And being more compliant than McCarthy, it would only be natural for Trump to throw them a cookie. Did they say anything that was overheard? Was it overheard by anybody blabbing to the FBI?
Here’s one more thing guaranteed to drive Trump insane. Former FBI counter terrorism expert Clint Watts just told Joy Reid on MSNBC that, when you look at a security Swiss cheese like Mar-A-Lago, for any foreign adversary like Russia, Iran, or China not to have a Mar-A-Lago member who was either friendly or indebted to them, or at least a worker on the take to keep their eyes and ears open and report back, would be espionage malpractice.
Let’s say you’re a Mar-A-Lago member, paying all that long green for at least the illusion of access to Trump. How do you like the idea of the FBI suddenly doing a deep dive on your finances, contacts, and travel records to determine your loyalty to the United States? Once that starts to sink in, do you think that Traitor Tot may suffer a sudden rash of membership cancellations, and difficulty recruiting new blood?
There it is. The DOJ’s release of information was much more generous than I thought it would be, and the information released was more devastating for Trump than I had hoped. God, I love it when a plan comes together!
pro tip for Kevin McCarthy:
people with nothing to hide generally don’t refuse to cooperate
Great analysis as usual, Murfster! But more to the point, where can I get one of those cool Convict Trump Bobbleheads??!
Thanks David!!! And I’m trying to track those down meself…If I can find them, I’ll let you know…
ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/224198506731?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28
When the lights come on…the cockroaches scatter for the crevices to hide.
At the end you brought up what I find to be a quite fun to contemplate issue – Mar A Lago members. As in how they will react to FBI Special Agents showing up at say their workplace, or at the golf course or some fancy restaurant to “ask some basic questions about what you’ve witnessed at Trump’s club. (If they can toss in they’ve seen security footage of some of these asshats in areas where there were classified documents so much the better!) But none of this discreetly showing up at their homes shit. No, walk up to them in public where everyone can see it, with one of your own standing well back discreetly taking a wide angle view of the scene and using a directional mic to pick up the dialogue.
Sure, most if not all of them will respond with a “contact my lawyer” and give their lawyer’s name. But being made a public spectacle of will shake some things loose. Especially for those who saw things they shouldn’t have. Hey, this is Trump we are talking about and how many times has he sidled up to someone (or someone’s wife/girlfriend/high-priced escort) and did a “you wanna see something special” comment? I’m sure some couldn’t resist, and the thrill they got from being “in the know” is now evoking explosive anal discharge! Because THEY have no clue who has talked!
The fun is just beginning.
“Sure, most if not all of them will respond with a “contact my lawyer” and give their lawyer’s name.”
And that ends up with the public at large viewing the scene wondering, “What are they hiding?” Sure, we all know that people are “entitled to an attorney” but that only applies to actual suspects in a crime not people who are just being asked some routine questions that should NOT be self-incriminating.
I mean, it’s usually the folks who, when faced with law enforcement asking questions, automatically resort to the “talk to my lawyer” but they’re also the same folks who tend to follow the philosophy of “If you have nothing to hide, why do/would you need a lawyer” when it’s the “little people” dealing with law enforcement.
Think about it like you turn out to live next door to a serial killer. The cops go around the neighborhood wanting to ask people about their own interactions with the neighbor: “Were you ever in his home? Did you ever notice him acting oddly? Did you see anyone go in his house but you didn’t see them leave?” And, for some odd reason, you tell the cops “Talk to my lawyer.” Yeah. Nothing there that a reasonable person would think a little suspicious.
Trump Republicans after the release of the Mar-a-Lago affidavit:
😀
Nearly 90% of the benefits of the Biden Administration’s student loan debt relief will go to borrowers earning less than $75,000.
Meanwhile, 85% of the benefits of Congressional Republicans’ tax cut went to taxpayers earning more than $75,000.
When your only defense is denial, but no one else finds it plausible, that’s Delusional Deniability!