Trump’s Lies Are Going To Kill Someone

The FBI’s legal search of Donald Trump’s Florida swamp resort, Mar-a-Lago, has Republicans defending the indefensible. It’s amusing in a repulsive way. Trump’s story keeps changing — the FBI planted documents that he’d declassified anyway and they could’ve had whenever they wanted if they’d just asked politely. He’s a very exhausting psychopathic child.

The latest revelation is that one of Trump’s TV beauty school dropout lawyers signed a statement in June claiming that Trump had returned all documents marked as classified and held in boxes in Mar-a-Lago’s less-than-secure storage.

The New York Times reports:

The written declaration was made after a visit on June 3 to Mar-a-Lago by Jay I. Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in the Justice Department’s national security division.

The existence of the signed declaration, which has not previously been reported, is a possible indication that Mr. Trump or his team were not fully forthcoming with federal investigators about the material.

This is a Maggie Haberman special (with Glenn Thrush), so of course facts are stated as if the Times is Trump’s legal counsel: “Not fully forthcoming” is an extremely diplomatic way of saying “the asshole lied.” Trump generally faces less accountability for his actions than small children at Willy Wonka’s factory, but that doesn’t mean we have to pretend Trump hasn’t willingly broken serious laws … just this summer.

PREVIOUSLY:

Merrick Garland Strangely Unmoved By Trump Request To Do Us A Favor Though And Call Off The FBI

The Top 5 Best Excuses For Why Trump Was Hiding Those Top Secret Documents!

The Times still describes Monday’s FBI search as an “extraordinary step,” but it’s only “extraordinary” if we believe former presidents are above the law, including those who grudgingly left office after a failed coup. Otherwise, the search was remarkably routine.

Bratt and his team left with additional classified material in June. Bratt also advised Trump to get a better padlock for the storage area’s door. God knows what they were using previously, maybe one of the Trump kids’ old school locks.

The Justice Department also subpoenaed surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago recorded over a 60-day period, including views from outside the storage room. According to a person briefed on the matter, the footage showed that, after one instance in which Justice Department officials were in contact with Mr. Trump’s team, boxes were moved in and out of the room.

Oh, yeah, there are tapes!

Trump’s spokesperson Taylor Budowich said it was “no surprise that boxes may be moved in and out of a storage room.” However, why would a former president need to regularly access classified documents? There were concerns during Trump’s reign of terror about the half-assed way he handled classified information the Electoral College had entrusted with him. Actual President Joe Biden barred Trump from receiving intelligence briefings because his behavior was too “erratic.” This was usually a courtesy extended to former presidents in case their advice was needed one a pressing issue, but no serious person needs Trump’s advice.

Republicans have whined all week that the Department of Justice and the FBI unfairly targeted Trump, and the “witch hunt” chorus has resumed. This all seems fairly straightforward, but Trump’s faithful have taken to the streets in defense of dear leader.

Saturday, several armed Trump supporters turned up outside the FBI building in Phoenix. They remained alive and un-tear gassed.

“We’re here in support of Trump, for what happened to him, the unlawful search with the FBI at his Mar-a-Lago home,” one described. “We will not stand by and we will not stand down.”

The search was lawful. You can’t just dismiss something you don’t like as “unlawful.” I tried with gladiator sandals, and they threw my case out of court.

One of the armed cultists said, “We’re gonna take the fight to the FBI if need be.” This is what Republicans would decry as a direct threat against law enforcement if it was said at Black Lives Matter rally, where everyone is usually unarmed.

Trump doesn’t have supporters so much as domestic terrorists in waiting. He understands this when Breitbart doxxes the FBI agents who conducted the search, and when he tries to bribe Garland with reducing the heat on the fire he deliberately set. The federal judge who approved the warrant has received death threats.

Republicans have wallowed in Trump’s human garbage for so long they don’t notice the smell. They’re beyond shame and forgiveness.

[New York Times]

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