Dear Former President Trump.
We understand from the world of reality and common decency that you feel persecuted because the Special Council, Jack Smith, and his team have indicted you for keeping sensitive documents in unsecured locations at your home at Mar A Largo including one of the bathrooms.
You are also perplexed that they have also indicted you for your refusing to turn over those documents in a timely manner like the day you left office and do not understand why they raided your home for the documents after you and your team stonewalled the government for over a year when your predecessors turned over their documents on day one.
You are probably further dismayed and feel cornered that former buddies like your Attorney General, Bill Barr, former lawyer Ty Cobb, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have said on numerous occasions that your actions were very very bad.
Barr, as relayed in a recent op-ed by the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin, stated to CBS News last month and last week.
“In May, he told CBS News, “It’s very clear that he had no business having those documents.” He explained, “He was given a long time to send them back. And they were subpoenaed. And I’ve said all along that he wouldn’t get in trouble, probably, just for taking them, just as [President] Biden I don’t think is going to get in trouble or [former vice president Mike] Pence is not going to get in trouble.” Barr added, “The problem is what did he do after the government asked for them back and subpoenaed them. And if there’s any games being played there, he’s going to be very exposed.”
After you were indicted, Mr. Barr said of your actions:
“This is not a case of the Department of Justice conducting a witch hunt. … This would have gone nowhere had the president just returned the documents, but he jerked them around for a year and a half. … There is no excuse for what he did here.”
Your former lawyer, Mr. Cobb, cited in the same Rubin piece, offered:
“I think Trump is in an enormous amount of trouble. This indictment is about as carefully structured and evidentially supported as any indictment in history.”
Your former Transition Chairperson (before vindictive son-in-law Jared Kushner fired him) Chris Christie, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, stated:
“The fact is that these facts are devastating…The facts that are laid out here are damning in terms of Donald Trump’s conduct, and that’s what I think we as a party should be looking at…The bigger issue for our country is, is this the type of conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?”
These are not the words of your political enemies, Donald.
These are the words of the people who once supported and worked for you.
We also understand that you think there is a double standard being applied to you because Hillary, Joe, and Mike have not been indicted.
That is because as your former Attorney General said and history has recorded, Hillary, Joe, and Mike all cooperated with the Justice Department when their document retention cases unfolded.
It is worth repeating that Mr. Barr is right when he said to CBS after you were indicted:
“This would have gone nowhere had the president just returned the documents, but he jerked them around for a year and a half. … There is no excuse for what he did here.”
You are also, surprise surprise, lying about the 1,850 boxes then-Senator Biden donated to the University of Delaware after he left that upper chamber to become Vice President.
Newsflash: there is nothing wrong with what Senator Biden did with the documents from his Senate Career.
So, Donald, you have no one to blame for this except yourself.
You created this mess and no amount of lying and distractions will change that reality.
Be an adult for the first time in your life and for once take responsibility for your latest transgression.
While you are at it, take responsibility for all the proven allegations against you like knowingly spreading the Big Lie about the 2020 Presidential Elections and encouraging the gullible-deluded MAGA minions that followed you (even though you were not with them) on their domestic terrorist attack on the Nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021.
For once, do what is in the best interests of the country and not the Donald.
Withdraw your candidacy for the 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination, make a plea deal with the Special Counsel, spend some quality time (six months to two years) in a government-paid room with minimum security where you can have visitors like Melania and Stormy, and then go away and never be heard from again.
Sincerely
The World of Reality and Common Decency
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Jeffrey Blehar writes at the conservative National Review, “Trump’s Indictment Is Worse Than You Think It Is”, https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/06/trumps-indictment-is-worse-than-you-think-it-is/
“The [indictment] text is lucid, the case is made with a minimum of jargon, and it hits like multiple icepick blows to the skull. Do not willingly keep yourself ignorant of its enormity because you would prefer to huddle in a tortoise-shell defensive crouch. There aren’t merely claims, there are evidentiary submissions, including remarkable photographs and excerpts of recorded conversations.
Trump is nailed dead to rights, and what matters most of all is that it’s not on some technical offense. What he was doing, before only a physical raid on Mar-a-Lago stopped this madness, turns out to have been less an act of mere carelessness than an active threat to United States national security, one fueled solely by Trump’s demented behavior and sense of self-entitlement.
“Trump is nailed dead to rights, and what matters most of all is that it’s not on some technical offense.” In a rational justice system you’re absolutely correct. However, with his winning the judge lottery embodied by Aileen Cannon, he would most assuredly be convicted but her past rulings on him indicate the most he would get is a slap on the wrist, if that. If she has no other choice than to pass a harsh sentence I wouldn’t put it past her to look the other way as he flees the country.
Cannon may not remain the trial judge. TBD.
“According to reporting from the New York Times, the clerk for the federal court system for the Southern District of Florida has confirmed two things:
1) The choice was random and not chosen or decided by anyone.
"Under the district court’s procedures, new cases are randomly delegated to a judge who sits in the division where the matter arose or a neighboring one, even if it relates to a previous case.”
In terms of the actual procedure of judges being randomly assigned in the Southern District: as someone who’s covered stories of cases during my writing career, I’ve seen many situations where judges with at least a perceived bias in a particular case were, in fact, randomly assigned, as it’s most often done with software/algorithms and not by individuals. Now, in terms of the DOJ investigating whether there were any shenanigans involved in this assignment, well – I wouldn’t expect it, as an investigation itself would essentially be throwing shade on the entire South Florida court system, which would be a political firestorm.
2) Cannon’s assignment to the case is not temporary — she will preside over the entire case.
This information removes any speculation or hope, that Cannon was simply assigned to the arraignment and that another judge would be assigned to the trial. It’s Cannon all the way.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/11/2174776/-SF-Chief-Clerk-Aileen-Cannon-s-Appointment-to-Docs-Case-is-PERMANENT-and-NOT-Temporary
Legal ethics experts Norm Eisen, Richard Painter and Fred Wertheimer write at Slate, “Aileen Cannon’s Previous Rulings About Trump Demand Her Recusal”, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/trump-indictment-remove-judge-aileen-cannon.html
[J]udge Aileen Cannon is scheduled to oversee the case. In our view as experts with more than a century of collective experience in judicial and other ethics questions, that cannot stand. She must recuse herself from the case or, if she refuses, be reassigned by the appropriate judicial oversight authorities.
[J]udge Cannon’s prior, fundamentally erroneous approach casts a shadow over the proceedings. Because her earlier handling of this case went well outside the judicial norm and was roundly criticized by the Court of Appeals, reasonable observers of this case could question her impartiality. Federal law has a way to deal with this challenge: under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a), a judge “shall disqualify himself [or herself] in any proceeding in which his [or her] impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Judge Cannon’s situation clearly fits that test, and she is obligated to recuse herself in Trump’s case.
Recusal is necessary here to avoid serious concerns about Judge Cannon’s impartiality in the public eye. The judicial recusal rule is about preserving the public’s confidence in the judicial system; it does not require a showing of actual bias. Rather, as the Supreme Court has explained, it simply asks whether “an objective observer” in the public “would have questioned [the judge’s] impartiality.” That is clearly the case with Judge Cannon. It is irrelevant whether a judge subjectively believes herself to be impartial. Because the statute aims at ensuring both justice and “the appearance of justice,” a federal judge must recuse if facts connected to the judge’s actions in the case would cause an objective observer to doubt the fairness of the proceedings.
[First, Judge Cannon should never have exercised jurisdiction in the earlier case as another judge already had the case.]
Second, Judge Cannon’s other statements and actions in the prior proceedings made clear her view that Trump is entitled to differential treatment than any other criminal defendant … As the ultra-conservative panel of the 11th Circuit forcefully explained when finally dismissing Trump’s civil action in its entirety, it was Judge Cannon’s attempt to “carve out an unprecedented exception in our law for former presidents” that was in a league of its own.
Third, federal courts have explained in related contexts that prior reversals of a judge’s decisions in a case can support the conclusions that the judge “would have difficulty putting [her] previous views and findings aside,” and that another judge taking the case would be “appropriate to preserve the appearance of justice.” Here, Judge Cannon has issued a repeated series of decisions that were harshly criticized by the appellate authorities as far outside the law. That is a pattern that leads to the ineluctable appearance of bias.
Notably, the prior erroneous rulings had to do with the treatment of classified documents, and she had to be schooled by the DOJ and then 11th Circuit on her cavalier attitude. These decisions are directly related to the current charges … Add all this on top of the fact that she is the only judge in her division of Fort Pierce and that, for security reasons, the U.S. Marshal with likely insist the case be tried in Miami where the arraignment will occur, there are also substantial logistical reasons for her to step aside. That provides Judge Cannon with an elegant exit opportunity, should she choose to take it, without having to even address the significant conflict issues.
To be clear, our concern is not that Judge Cannon is a Trump appointee. The conflict of interest is that she has already issued unusual and profoundly wrong decisions favoring the defendant in this case that have been severely criticized and overturned, again by conservative or Trump-appointed judges.
[B]ut what if Judge Cannon does not recuse herself? One possibility that should be explored is for the chief judge of the district court, Chief Judge Cecilia Altonaga, to reassign the case pursuant to the court’s power under federal law to “assign [ ] cases so far as [local] rules and orders do not otherwise prescribe.” Nothing in the Southern District of Florida’s local rules or Internal Operating Procedures is to the contrary. Those local procedures provide for Judge Cannon and her colleagues to agree to transfer the case to another judge. The chief judge should have a vigorous discussion with her under that provision. If Judge Cannon demurs, though, the rules are silent about what happens next and so the federal statute comes into play for the chief judge to reassign the case. She too can point to logistical concerns, including the security ones, in reassigning it to a judge in Miami— saving face for Judge Cannon.
We recognize that such intervention by the chief judge is not an everyday occurrence. If it doesn’t happen, though, there are other options. The more likely possibility here if the Southern District of Florida chooses not to deal with this issue is that the 11th Circuit should be called upon to reassign the case to a different judge at the earliest opportunity. As the case is lodged at the trial court level and is not before the circuit at the moment, that reassignment would likely come only as part of a reversal on appeal of one of Judge Cannon’s decisions.
Under binding 11th Circuit precedents a case should be reassigned to a different judge if, among other reasons, the original judge would have “difficulty” setting aside her previous views and findings and reassignment would not result in a waste of judicial resources. Those factors clearly weigh in favor of reassignment here, due to the difficulties that Judge Cannon will likely face in diverging from her previous, unorthodox, and wrongful rulings benefitting Trump.
This is the path that appears most likely to be pursued if Judge Cannon is to be removed because her approach thus far suggests that it unlikely that the judge will recuse herself. DOJ might choose to make the case in a recusal motion that it would be better for her and everyone concerned if she stepped aside.
[B]ut the Department may, as they often do, take the more conservative approach to recusal. If so, they may instead wait for the judge to overstep once more and at that point ask her, and if she refuses, the 11th Circuit to act. They could do so as part of the appeal of that particular issue if it is available pretrial, as are all CIPA rulings on classified document handling (the general area where she stumbled before). Or, if a Cannon ruling is sufficiently outrageous on an issue that is not normally appealable before trial, they could seek mandamus (available in unusual situations when a district judge is failing to perform their duty).
If seeking reassignment by the 11th Circuit is the outcome here, that will require a bit of patience by all of us. Still, if the special master case is any indication, we should not have a long wait for an erroneous decision by Judge Cannon (although we would be pleased to be proven wrong).
Ultimately, Judge Cannon should do the ethical thing and recuse herself. If she chooses not to, DOJ should be watchful for the first opportunity to seek reassignment by the 11th Circuit. The reputation of the 11th circuit and the ability of their judges, both trial and appellate, to handle sensitive cases with an absence of bias are at stake here. So is the public’s confidence in the outcome of one of the most important criminal trials in the history of our republic. Not to mention the American people’s faith in the entire criminal justice system. Ultimately, a failure to recuse or reassign could well do great damage to the core American principle that no one—not even a former president—is above the law.
More from Michael Popok of Legal AF on why Aileen Cannon will likely not be the presiding judge in the Trump Mar a Lago criminal case, either because she removes herself from the case or her boss at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals chief judge Pryor does it for her.
https://youtu.be/Yn0L67s9iWg
AZBM, I hope you’re right. As the saying goes I’m expecting the worst and hoping for the best.
For the well informed, Just Security has an explainer, “National Security Implications of Trump’s Indictment: A Damage Assessment”, https://www.justsecurity.org/86887/national-security-implications-of-trumps-indictment-a-damage-assessment/
Trump’s own Attorney General and former “fixer” Bill Barr says “‘He’s toast’: Bill Barr ‘shocked’ by Trump’s ‘damning’ Espionage Act charges”, https://www.rawstory.com/bill-barr-trump-toast/
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said former President Donald Trump could be “toast” after being charged under the Espionage Act.
During an interview on Fox News, Barr was asked about Trump’s recent federal indictment.
“What about this chief argument that comes up for the president’s allies and his legal team that this should have been handled under the Presidential Records Act, not this Espionage Act charge and other federal statutes that were used here?” host Shannon Bream wondered.
“It started out under the Presidential Records Act and the archives trying to retrieve documents that Trump had no right to have,” Barr replied. “But it quickly became clear that what the government was really worried about were these classified and very sensitive documents.”
Barr said he was “shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were.”
“And so the government’s agenda was to get those, protect those documents, and get them out,” he continued. “And I think it was perfectly appropriate to do that. It was the right thing to do.”
“And I think the counts under the Espionage Act that he willfully retained those documents are solid counts,” Barr added. “But I do think that even half of what Andy McCarthy said, which is if even half of it is true, then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a pretty, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning.”
Nobody disputes the facts of what Hillary did but a Dem admin chose not to prosecute. Ok, but apply the same hands off standard to everyone. It is called equal justice under the law.
FBI Director James Comey was a life-long Republican. When he reopened the Clinton email investigation over the Anthony Weiner laptop days just before the election, he effectively gave an assist to the election of Donald Trump (after the Access Hollywood tape came out).
As Comey explained in his statement: “All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct … or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.”
The Trump indictment lays out these chargeable elements in spades. Read the damn indictment!
Hillary cooperated? You have got to be kidding. When Hillary saw the investigation coming she erased all of her classified documents from her personal server using a program called bit bleach. In addition, Hillary smashed hard drives and sim cards. And let us not forget that not one classified document in Trump’s possession ever got outside of the closet where he store them, while some of Hillary’s classified documents wound up on a laptop belonging to disgraced former New York City council member Anthony Weiner, who used that same laptop to engage in sex-related conversations with minors girls.
“Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Use of a Personal E-Mail System”, https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system
(conclusion)
“Finally, with respect to our recommendation to the Department of Justice:
In our system, the prosecutors make the decisions about whether charges are appropriate based on evidence the FBI has helped collect. Although we don’t normally make public our recommendations to the prosecutors, we frequently make recommendations and engage in productive conversations with prosecutors about what resolution may be appropriate, given the evidence. In this case, given the importance of the matter, I think unusual transparency is in order.
Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before bringing charges. There are obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent. Responsible decisions also consider the context of a person’s actions, and how similar situations have been handled in the past.
In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.
To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.
As a result, although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.”
Regardless of what Comey said, you are saying that destroying the evidence by “bit bleaching” the hard drive the classified documents were on was not obstructing ? Wow!
Now do Mitt Romney, John Government Checks Kavanagh.
He had 150 government hard drives crushed when his term as Massachusetts governor ended.
Destroyed government property, didn’t wipe and reuse, just destroyed.
See, whataboutism is stupid, we can go back and forth all day if you want. Learn to argue on the merits, please.
Plus, OMG, you use Anthony Weiner in your whataboutism tantrum to defend T4ump?
T4ump is a convicted sex offender who brags about being backstage at the Teenage Miss America pageant.
He brags about sexually assaulting women and laughs about it.
Please, FFS, start thinking things through.
A 2018 report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general ultimately observed that Clinton’s case demonstrated “a lack of intent to communicate classified information on unclassified systems,” given that “[n]one of the emails Clinton received were properly marked to inform her of the classified status of the information,” and investigators found evidence that Clinton and her aides “worded emails carefully in an attempt to ‘talk around’ classified information.”
Trump Fluffer Sen. Lindsey Graham said almost exactly the same thing on ABC This Week. YouTube: https://youtu.be/aAewaHG04Xw
After all these years it is still “But her emails!”
Wait … “And let us not forget that not one classified document in Trump’s possession ever got outside of the closet where he store them”. Really? The indictment includes two instances where Trump showed classified documents to persons without a security clearance. And that doesn’t include showing Kid Rock classified maps of North Korea and asking that idiot for advice. “Social media is ablaze as old Kid Rock interview with Tucker Carlson resurfaces with the star telling him that Trump ‘showed him maps of North Korea’ during 2017 White House visit”,https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12179531/Kid-Rock-interview-resurfaces-saying-Trump-showed-maps-North-Korea-asked-advice.html
No, I am not kidding John. She went to the investigator’s office before Comey issued his first public statement to respond to questions. Did Donald do that? No. The emails on the Weiner laptop. You forget to mention John that those emails found on that laptop yielded nothing. Peddling MAGA talking points to make your case is not befitting someone who was formerly law enforcement. Also, remember Donald created his own problem by not turning over the documents. If he had done that like the others including Mike Pence has done, we would not be having this lovely correspondence right now. It is always the obstruction and cover up that gets these people in trouble. Look at Richard Nixon. Look at Bill Clinton. Look at Donald Trump. Take care.
I think Clinton’s “bit bleaching” the evidence was obstructing and even greater obstructing than Trump is charged with. Regarding the emails on Weiner’s laptop not getting out, which may or may not be true, what difference does that make? The documents that Trump had also never got out, so is he innocent as was Hillary???
Sorry, John. The F.B.I., in its final analysis, said the bit bleaching that occurred did not rise to obstruction. If that was the case, Trump’s Justice Department underlings would have found some way to make a case when they were at the helm. They did not. Again your boy would not be in trouble if he had been a mature adult, cooperated, and did not drag out the process for a year and a half. Trump is many things. Innocent is not one of them.
Good lord, John Government Checks Kavanagh, where are Weiner and Hillary now?
Nancy ran Weiner out of DC before we even knew the really bad stuff, and Hillary is taking long walks in the woods.
We’re not running them for POTUS.
See the difference?
I don’t see anyone storming the Capital because Hillary lost, but I see you guys supporting Gym “I see no molesting” Jordan, Matt the Pedo Gaetz, and FFS looks up what Kitara Ravanch, aka George Santos, did to that homesless vets dog.
Go clean up your own house, you sundowning old fool.
Whataboutism, your favorite Soviet style response when you’re losing, doesn’t hold up. You keep making the liberal case stronger.
RaicesTexasDotOrg, please donate in Honor of John Government Checks Kavanagh, and do something good for some new Americans.
Going back into retirement from the internet now, it’s just too stupid out here.
“I don’t see anyone storming the Capital because Hillary lost….” The last bit of “political violence” from the left was crowds lobbing eggs at Bush the Lesser’s motorcade while in transit from the inauguration to the White House. And rightfully so as his campaign ran crying to the Supreme Court to stop counting valid Florida votes. A count that ultimately showed Al Gore won Florida and should have been inaugurated instead.
Calling all Sharpsters! Calling all Sharpsters! Despite the stupidity oozing from the likes of Government Check’s keyboards, your retirement is not an option.
Eggs! Cheaper to throw shoes at America’s war criminals these days!
Just trying to limit my screen time and cut down on the doomscrolling, contrary to cable news there is not Breaking News every two minutes.
I only jumped into this Government Checks Kavanagh thing to keep training the algorithm to send people to RAICES when they google “what’s the name of that racist POS in Arizona”?
He tries the whataboutism thing in every other comment and I just can’t believe he’s that obtuse.
Here’s some fun examples:
If I was in a meeting with my boss and he said “you’re project is late”, and I replied “yeah, well, so, Jerry’s project is later” I’d get shitcanned in a second.
If my wife thought I was cheating and I said “well, I don’t cheat half as much as that Jerry” I’d be paying alimony out the ass.
I suppose that when JGCK was a transit cop, and he caught a guy littering, if the guy said “yeah, well, so, you should see the mess Jerry made” John Government Checks Kavanagh would have to let the guy go.
Those are the rules!
Let’s try to guide JGCK away from whataboutism and get him to try some logical fallacies for a change.
It won’t make his comments any smarter, but it would break up the monotony.