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| Ominous Clouds Over Mar-a-Lago |
In an interview on Fox News with Bret Baier the other day, the defeated and indicted former president was imprecise in his language, most charitably reflecting the confused state of whatever is in his head. Here are some direct quotes … shown in red … from that interview. I see them as his intentional efforts at obfuscation and see no way of his getting away with such imprecise language in a courtroom, unless of course, he pleads insanity as a defense, or if a distant cousin of Marjorie Taylor Greene is slipped onto the jury.
Baier asked him about the document referred to in Counts 33, 34, and 35 of the indictment (see last two jackspotpourri postings for a link to a copy of the full indictment) dealing with sharing classified information with others. Here is his reply to Baier:
“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held up or may not but that was not a document. I didn't have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”
Elsewhere in his interview with Baier on Fox News, Trump claimed to have no more classified records and falsely cited the Presidential Records Act as giving him permission to take the government records with him when he left office.
Further on in his interview on Fox News, Trump said he took the documents, at last admitting that there were ‘documents’ after all because he was rushing during his move from the White House and wanted to go through his personal items. Apparently, this also referred to the subsequent moving of the material from Mar-a-Lago to Bedminister in New Jersey.
“So, like every other president, I take things out. And in my
case, I took it out pretty much in a hurry, but people packed it up and we left
and I had clothing in there. I had all sorts of personal items,”
"Because I had boxes — I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out,"
Asked about his combative attitude toward the press by Baier, Trump said ‘I find the press is extremely dishonest. And if I'm not combative, I don't get my word across. If I'm not combative, I don't know. I don't think you could win.’
So that means he is aware that if he is not combative,
he cannot win an election, solely based on facts. In a courtroom, that spells ‘Guilty,’ or as Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr said, ‘he’s toast.’
Of course, the indicted former president was oblivious to or simply ignored the fact that his even having the documents was illegal. But he must have at least suspected that. That’s why he initially denied their existence. He is not as dumb as he appears.
The use of pronouns (that, it, these, etc.)
without making clear what they represent, self-contradiction (may or may not),
and general terms (everything else, things, documents, 'talking about') without further
explanation is just his way of minimizing his acts and confusing viewers or
listeners. Such imprecise language works at a campaign rally but will sink Trump in a courtroom.
Any verdict other than guilty would be a miscarriage of justice, but certainly, the prosecution will succeed in at least one of their cases, regardless of how corrupted the jury selection process might be.
JL
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Here’s an editorial from Wednesday’s Palm Beach Post. It is well worth reading. (You might want to subscribe to the Post, even just the inexpensive digital version. They have an excellent 'opinion page' every day except Mondays and Tuesdays.) Here it is:
Focus on What Trump Did, Not What
GOP Says
Let’s set the record straight: There’s no evidence of federal government 'weaponization.' Aside from being the latest Republican talking point running up to the 2024 elections, it’s just not a thing.
President Biden didn’t indict Donald Trump. The federal government has not gone 'rogue,' and the U.S. Department of Justice isn’t coming after you. That is, unless you showed every indication that you broke the law by taking highly classified documents and obstructed government efforts to retrieve them, while lying to just about anyone who would listen.
Those are the facts that led to the indictment and arrest of former President
Trump. But, facts rarely get in the way of a good rant. Instead of talking
about what Trump did, Republican politicians are on a misinformation tear,
hoping their constituents will see government 'weaponization' instead of the
Trump’s apparent criminal wrongdoing. Unfortunately, those politicians include
some of our most prominent elected officials here in Florida:
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| Three guys on a misinformation tear. Don't believe a word they say! |
'The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat
to a free society,' Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted. 'We
have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon
political affiliation.'
'What it looks like to the American public is the fact that Joe Biden is
taking the opportunity as president using his Department of Justice to target
his No. 1 opponent,' Sen. Rick Scott said during a
press conference in Miami.
'This is a sad and terrible day, I know there are people in the press that
are giddy about it, Democrats and partisans that are giddy about it but this is
really bad for America, this indictment,' Sen.
Marco Rubio told Fox News. 'It was a bad decision to bring it. I don’t think it was
justified or merited and we are going to pay a terrible price for it.'
So much to unpack here. So many half-truths and outright distortions to correct.
Criminal justice might get ugly, Gov. DeSantis. But, taking a case to court after uncovering evidence that points to apparent violations of federal laws, including the 1917 Espionage Act, which had its penalties made even harsher under former President Trump. Current President Biden didn’t sic the Justice Department on Trump, as Sen. Scott would have you believe. Sen. Rubio, on the other hand, got some of it right. The arraignment is indeed a sad and terrible day but you’d think the ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence would be more concerned about the 'terrible price' the United States might pay over the pilfered classified documents.
House Republicans went so far as to form the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The panel is investigating allegations of federal abuse of power and the Biden administration but hasn’t come up with much. The subcommittee hearings have produced more far-right grievances that lack evidence for criminal charges.
This misdirection, misinformation and lying shouldn’t divert attention
from Trump’s actions. Evidence abounds that a crime was committed. Felony
charges have been filed and the former president will have his opportunity in
court to rebut the allegations.
Sensitive national secrets involving advanced weaponry, spy networks and
troop deployments shouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. They did with Trump but
you’d never know it, given all the noise coming from those who still believe
that publicly siding with the ex-president remains the best way to gain
political power.”
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Here’s a bonus for you! On that same page as that editorial, in a ‘Your Turn’ column, the following appeared under the headline ‘I Went to the Bathroom at Mar-a-Lago.’ (contributed by Mike Vogel, Guest Columnist.) Here it is:
“I have to confess, I was at Mar-a-Lago. I stood by the pool and chatted with Halle Berry. I ate a three-course meal in one of the dining rooms. And yes, I even used the opulent restroom. But alas, I found no top-secret documents to browse through. Maybe it’s because I chose the wrong bathroom. Or maybe because it was 20 years ago.
This was when I was a writer associated with a trade association that rented the place out for a large party. Since then, tns of thousands of people have traipsed through Donald Trump’s Florida home. Perhaps you are one of them or know one. When the media says 'Trump brought the stolen documents to his Mar-a-Lago home,' you might think of your own home, a private domain.
You couldn’t be more wrong.
'The Mar-a-Lago Club is the epicenter of the social scene in Palm Beach,' is how a sales blurb about the club leads off on Google, which ends: 'As a member of the Mar-a-Lago Club, members have access to explore the World of Trump.'
Do they ever.
And that’s only one of many realities that makes it beyond
ridiculous to compare Trump bringing highly classified documents home, to Joe
Biden and Mike Pence doing the same.
The top-secret documents that Trump took from the White
House would most likely not have led to his indictment if he had simply
returned them as Biden and Pence did, former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz
told the Washington Post. 'This is not about which documents were taken,' said
Mintz, 'but what former president Trump did after the government sought to
retrieve these boxes.'
Instead, many of the documents were subsequently found at Mar-a-Lago in a ballroom, a storage room, a bedroom and stacked up in a bathroom next to a toilet and shower, and in the shower.
Trump also showed some of the documents to those who had no clearance to see them, prosecutors allege.
Speaking of which, remember that woman who strolled into
Mar-a-Lago uninvited a few years ago? Her name was Yujing Zhang, and she turned
out to be a Chinese national who said she was just there to 'take a swim.' Zhang also was found to have in her
possession two passports, four cellphones, a laptop, an external hard drive and
a thumb drive containing some type of malware.
Many believe this was an attempt by Chinese intelligence to infiltrate
the club.
She was caught. How many haven’t been?
At any given time at Mar-a-Lago, you have club members,
hired help, business associates, assorted visitors and family.
You also have neo-Nazis, Russian spies and Saudi princes. With documents revealing such things as U.S. vulnerabilities to enemy attack piled up all over the club, whose members, as they put it, all 'have access to explore the World of Trump.'
Why does that give me the shivers?”
JL
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And if that isn’t enough for you, even fence-sitter David Brooks in a New York Times column a few days ago climbed down from his usual intellectual high horse and let the indicted and defeated former president have it with both barrels. Coming from Brooks, that’s almost like the Pope having a six-shooter under his papal robes.
Check it out at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/opinion/trump-indictment-president.html or Just Click Here .
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Similarly, the Times’ Nicholas Kristoff, recognizing that almost anything can happen in an American election, describes how the indicted former president, if victorious in 2024, would run his presidency from a prison cell. Lotsa Laffs! (But really not so funny because if elected, the first person he would pardon would be himself. Right now, the Vegas bookmakers have his chances of nomination and winning the presidency at about 22%. Ever bet on a 4 to 1 horse that ended up in the winner's circle?)
Check that out at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/opinion/trump-prison-convicted.html or Click Here.
JL
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Mi Vicino – My Neighborhood
In an effort to mobilize
the Latino and Latina vote, Democratic activist Alex Berrios is working with 'mivicinoflorida' to do exactly that. In
past elections, Democrats have forgotten about such minorities, much to the
pleasure of Republicans like Marco Rubio and the Cuban émigré community of
Miami, a group that blames everything on the Democrats since the Bay of Pigs, regardless of the facts.
Check what is happening at www.mivicinoflorida.com.
I am waiting for a
similar mobilization to appear, other than speeches by legislators and
ministers, aimed at persons of color.
JL
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