Trump is Toast

[RFNK]

Re: Trump is Toast

He's always aimed to be a person of notes.

[Tom Montgomery]

Re: Trump is Toast

.
The CNN report yesterday is bad news for Trump.

Trump 'Will Be Charged' With Espionage, Former Special Counsel Predicts

BY AILA SLISCO ON 5/31/23 AT 7:45 PM EDT


Former President Donald Trump "will be charged" with federal crimes under the Espionage Act, according to Ryan Goodman, former special counsel to the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Goodman, a New York University law professor and co-editor-in-chief of the website Just Security, suggested in a series of tweets on Wednesday that a "bombshell" CNN report had changed the dynamics of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into issues surrounding Trump's post-presidency handling of classified documents.

A report published earlier in the day by the Cable News Network claimed that federal prosecutors had obtained an audio recording of Trump discussing, with several people who lacked the appropriate security clearances, his possession of a classified document detailing a potential attack on Iran, during a July 2021 meeting at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Goodman noted that "war plans are among the most highly classified documents," while arguing that the purported recording would put "pressure" on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to indict the former president and on a jury to eventually convict him of espionage.

"Make no mistake. This is squarely an Espionage Act case," Goodman tweeted. "It is not simply an 'obstruction' case. There is now every reason to expect former President Trump will be charged under 18 USC 793(e) of the Espionage Act. The law fits his reported conduct like a hand in glove."

The statute cited by Goodman says that a person in possession of information "relating to the national defense" that could "be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation" is in violation of the law if they "willfully" retain the information and fail "to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it."

Goodman said that while Trump merely possessing the document would be enough to convict him, the purported recording cited by CNN also indicates the former president's potential "motive" for not relinquishing the document to the appropriate authorities.

The recording reportedly captures Trump telling his associates that the document would undermine a contemporaneous New Yorker report about concerns expressed by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Mark Milley that Trump would launch an unjustified strike on Iran during the final days of his presidency.

"Prosecutors do not need to show motive for conviction, but it helps with a jury," tweeted Goodman. "CNN report suggests motives: To hold onto docs as trophies, to use to settle scores or try to retain control over the narrative."

The purported recording also "appears to knock a hole" in Trump's claim that he automatically "declassified" the documents he retained after leaving the White House, according to Goodman, as the former president is reportedly heard saying that the document was classified and that he had a limited ability to declassify records after leaving office.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the former president said in a statement emailed to Newsweek that "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," the spokesperson continued. "The DOJ's continued interference in the presidential election is shameful and this meritless investigation should cease wasting the American taxpayer's money on Democrat political objectives."

Goodman is not the only legal expert to suggest that the purported recording could spell serious trouble for the former president.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Weissmann said during an MSNBC appearance on Wednesday that it was "game over" for Trump if the CNN report is true, adding that there is "no way that he will not be charged."

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-will-...edicts-1803712

[ron ll]

Re: Trump is Toast

Git’er done.

[robm]

Re: Trump is Toast

I was reading the headlines on the tabloids at the checkout counter the other day. The National Enquirer is calling Trump a sex creep! He really is toast.

[John Smith]

Re: Trump is Toast

I was reading the headlines on the tabloids at the checkout counter the other day. The National Enquirer is calling Trump a sex creep! He really is toast.

That's what his supporters like about him.

[Tom Montgomery]

Re: Trump is Toast

[LeeG]

Re: Trump is Toast

You mean TFG can’t keep classified war plan scenarios as a keepsake? This is a witch hunt ten times worse than Benghazi and Watergate put together! What about Hillary’s emails!

[John Smith]

Re: Trump is Toast

I'll be glad when we get to look back at all this. While it does seem a bunch of legal shoes are about to drop on Trump, I'm not sure I'll believe until they drop.

[willin woodworks]

Re: Trump is Toast

I cant help but wondering if he is carefully preparing to mount an insanity plea when they finally nail him.
His rants and tweet of late are increasingly unhinged and deranged. I caught some of the Fox Town Hall last night and the stuff he was saying was really nuts. Biden is holding 1850 boxes of top secret documents, the audio tape is a hoax and he followed the presidential records act 100%. He's going to rescind naturalized birth on day one; will end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
It just gets crazier every day. His Memorial Day all caps tweet and the attacks on McAneny? All red meat to the MAGA idiots but no semblance of reality.
Either he really is batsheet crazy or he is laying the groundwork for an insanity defense.

[John Smith]

Re: Trump is Toast

I cant help but wondering if he is carefully preparing to mount an insanity plea when they finally nail him.
His rants and tweet of late are increasingly unhinged and deranged. I caught some of the Fox Town Hall last night and the stuff he was saying was really nuts. Biden is holding 1850 boxes of top secret documents, the audio tape is a hoax and he followed the presidential records act 100%. He's going to rescind naturalized birth on day one; will end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
It just gets crazier every day. His Memorial Day all caps tweet and the attacks on McAneny? All red meat to the MAGA idiots but no semblance of reality.
Either he really is batsheet crazy or he is laying the groundwork for an insanity defense.

One can be nuts and a genius at the same time. I can imagine his attorney's arguing he's not sane, but I can't see him doing so, or even accepting them doing so.

Meanwhile, he's not been put on trial yet. It keeps 'sounding' like we're getting close, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Hallam]

Re: Trump is Toast

This all goes to show how close the USA is to electing a man who is himself close to madness as their next president! In the backwash the alternative party in the two party system has been exposed as almost deranged as the close to insane presidential candidate hoping to gain office. This is the reality of the political moment you are in. Look at the ‘talent’ stepping into the spotlight, the alternate candidates for nomination and the extended partisan media! All together this is a very disturbing scenario. What will the moment of truth be and will it bring the nation back from the edge?
( In the absence of effective checks and balances the nation will flounder. )

[Mrleft88]

Re: Trump is Toast

The guy was insane in 2016. There's no need to ask if he's still insane. You don't get better from this kind of insanity, it only gets worse.
It is disappointing that the Democrats are just sitting and twiddling their thumbs (as usual), waiting for something to happen.
It's like the 6th grade school dance. Who'll be the first guy to cross the floor and ask someone to dance to an undancable song. Who'll be the first girl to jump up and shimmy shimmy shake until the chaperones take her aside and check her punch cup for vodka?

[John Smith]

Re: Trump is Toast

The guy was insane in 2016. There's no need to ask if he's still insane. You don't get better from this kind of insanity, it only gets worse.
It is disappointing that the Democrats are just sitting and twiddling their thumbs (as usual), waiting for something to happen.
It's like the 6th grade school dance. Who'll be the first guy to cross the floor and ask someone to dance to an undancable song. Who'll be the first girl to jump up and shimmy shimmy shake until the chaperones take her aside and check her punch cup for vodka?

Exactly what do you expect the dems to do? They did have the Jan 6 committee hearings.

[Mrleft88]

Re: Trump is Toast

I expect the Dems to twiddle their thumbs, and whine when they lose.
There's a reason that the same year my father traded in his Republican voter ID for Democratic, I registered as an Independent. I tried to register as Communist, but my town voter registrar told me that wasn't an option currently. (1979)

[Paul Pless]

Re: Trump is Toast

(1979)

dang you're old