“How could Trump do it? How could someone who sat in the Oval Office, responsible for national security, be so recklessly irresponsible with the nation’s defense secrets?
This was the sort of hair-on-fire stuff we heard from the media–Democratic complex for five months, beginning with last summer’s shocking FBI search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Did Trump sell classified information to China? Or did he just hand it off to his old pal Vlad Putin . . . or maybe even Nick Fuentes! It continued, day after day, court proceeding after court proceeding, Washington Post after New York Times after CNN. Right up until the calendar turned to 2023.
That’s when we suddenly learned . . . drumroll . . . that Joe Biden had been illegally hoarding classified information for decades, from his time in the Senate through his time as Obama administration vice president. He’d stored such information at location after location, from his private office to his private den to his private garage.
Only then did we hear that, well, whaddya know, it turns out to be very, very difficult to keep track of all these top-secret papers in a busy pol’s chaotic exit from high public office to the complex “private” world of leveraging political influence for Chinese cash. It’s not easy being “the big guy.”
Biden’s little problem prompted a major overhaul at the Justice Department, which had been cruising toward a Trump Espionage Act indictment (the lead crime — mishandling national-defense information — in its Mar-a-Lago search warrant).
Suddenly, there was no more chatter about how condemnable Trump was for keeping over 300 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, some of them at the highest levels of secrecy that could do grave damage to national security if mishandled — just like Biden’s haul. Suddenly, the Trump documents-retention case was no longer a documents-retention case.
Presto: The Trump documents case became the Trump grand-jury-obstruction case. We started pointing this out to you in February (see here and here), and have offered periodic reminders ever since (see, e.g., here, here, and here).
There are now signs that an indictment could be imminent. The Wall Street Journal reports that Special Counsel Jack Smith has completed the investigative phase of his Mar-a-Lago inquiry, and is at the point of deciding whether (more like when) to indict Trump. The former president’s lawyers have dashed off a letter to Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, demanding a meeting, which suggests they believe Smith is poised to file charges.
…At first, it seemed that Biden’s misadventures with classified intelligence might make it politically impossible to charge Trump with any crimes arising out of his document retention at Mar-a-Lago. But the Democrats’ progressive base zealously wants Trump to be charged, and Biden is not in the habit of denying the base. Smith has thus homed in on a narrow path for distinguishing the Biden and Pence situations from Trump’s: While they cooperated with the government’s efforts to locate and return the secret intelligence to its proper files, Trump fought the government all the way. Obstruction.
Consequently, the most important document in the Mar-a-Lago case does not bear classified markings; it bears the raised seal of a federal grand-jury subpoena. The Trump case is no longer about classified documents. It is about how Trump caused false information to be communicated to investigators and the grand jury — specifically, through the sworn claim provided by his lawyers on June 3, 2022, that, after a diligent search, the approximately 38 documents they surrendered to the FBI that day were the only ones bearing classified markings left at Mar-a-Lago. Since Biden’s little problem arose, Smith has spent his time amassing evidence that Trump knew this was untrue and spent the ensuing weeks overseeing the handling and hiding of documents he knew he should have turned over to the FBI pursuant to the subpoena — many of which were found in his personal office when the FBI executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in early August.
That’s what the Mar-a-Lago case is now about: lying about the documents and hiding the documents, not the content of the documents — which would hit too close to home for Biden.
The signs indicate that Smith thinks he has made that case. If so, Trump will say he is being persecuted by his political adversaries. The Biden administration will say that anyone in America would be prosecuted for willfully misleading a grand jury. And as ever, other Republican presidential candidates will have to spend their time talking about Trump rather than their own campaigns— a perfect execution of the Democrats’ 2024 plan.”
Here’s the juice: First, they’ll indict The Donald. Second, they’ll push off the trial until, they hope and pray, he secures the Republican nomination, then put him in the dock, preferably before a jury in Washington, D.C.
However, to borrow a phrase from the Bard, aye, there’s the rub! Were Trump being tried for mishandling classified documents or violating the Espionage Act, the prosecution could convincingly argue, as the crimes originated in the District, the trial should be held in the District. Unfortunately for the Progressive plan, Trump’s obstruction took place in Florida, thus his attorneys could similarly argue his trial should take place before a much friendlier jury in the Sunshine State. Stay tuned!
Since we’re on the subject of documents, FOX reports…
“President Biden’s administration failed to heed certain warnings from U.S. officials on the ground in Afghanistan prior to the president’s withdrawal operation in 2021, a top House Republican says. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, viewed a State Department document detailing the concerns diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul had at the time of the withdrawal. McCaul worked for months to access the document, known as a dissent cable, through subpoenas and a threat of contempt charges before viewing the document himself on Tuesday.
“The dissenters were absolutely right about everything they said, and it was a warning to the administration about what was going to happen and what they needed to do,” McCaul told Punchbowl News in an interview, adding that the dissenters “deserve a medal.” “Unfortunately, the administration didn’t heed all their warnings and we got what we got,” he added.
McCaul viewed a version of the document that had the names of the dissenters redacted. Only he and Rep. Greg Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the committee, were permitted to view the document. Meeks argued the document revealed no new information, however, it “puts to rest this whole thing about having a subpoena and the president is hiding something or whatever it is.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had for months stonewalled McCaul’s attempts to access the document, ignoring multiple subpoena deadlines and offering half measures such as a briefing on the document’s content rather than a look at the document itself. McCaul did not make any progress until earlier in May when he threatened to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress for blocking access. Even so, only he and Meeks were allowed to view the document Tuesday, despite McCaul’s wish for every member of the Foreign Affairs Committee to gain access.
It is unclear whether McCaul will continue to push for other members’ access after viewing the document itself. McCaul had initially threatened to go into the criminal contempt process on Wednesday. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.”
This is just another he said/she said without the sworn testimony of the dissenters, hence the redacting of their names and the continued refusal of the State Department to allow more than one set of eyes from each side of the aisle to view the evidence. If the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has oversight and jurisdiction relating to, among other things, “national security developments affecting foreign policy”, doesn’t go to the mattresses on this one, what’s the point of putting Republicans in power?!?
For more on the most corrupt Administration in the 21st century, which is saying something, Jim Geraghty observes their well-deserved reckoning may not come in this life, as the…
“On Wednesday this column expressed the hope that the flow of money from foreign tycoons to the Biden family would finally receive the investigation it deserves—and not just on the question of whether taxes were appropriately paid but on the particulars of the services rendered.
This column is going to be disappointed, according to an email today from a Wall Streeter who is also experienced in the ways of Washington:
Unfortunately, the likely outcome of all of this is that the Bidens’ ill-gotten wealth will go untouched. Biden seems almost assured, subject to further health or mental deterioration, to be the Democratic nominee. He will then likely lose the election, although there is some chance that he will win if his opponent is Donald Trump. If Biden should win, of course, the new Biden administration will continue to cover it all up. If he loses, the new Republican President will have no interest in following it up, because Biden is finished and the process undermines the legitimacy of the office the new President has just won. (We’re not so sure about that last point. It seems far likelier Biden would be dead or totally insensate before being brought to trial.)
Perhaps this will be a form of political justice. The Bidens have denied wrongdoing and when it comes to the law deserve the presumption of innocence just like everyone else.
But the president has told numerous falsehoods in the course of issuing his denials. And legal issues aside, it was flat-out wrong(We’d suggest bordering on treasonous!) for him to represent America overseas while allowing family members to trail along behind him with their hands out. Perhaps someday a memoir will help us understand how the Biden family enrichment schemes ever got past the Obama White House counsel’s office.
As for questions related to the taxation of Biden family income, more news arrived Wednesday evening from Jim Axelrod, Michael Kaplan and Andy Bast of CBS News:
A whistleblower from inside the Internal Revenue Service has spoken publicly for the first time about a highly sensitive political probe he has supervised, which CBS News has determined is the ongoing probe into the finances of President Biden’s son Hunter Biden…
“There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice,” said Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, who spoke exclusively to CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod on Tuesday. “When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”
Six months ago, a leak from the FBI revealed that agents there believed they had provided prosecutors with enough evidence to support criminal tax charges. No such charges have been brought as of this publication.
Shapley told CBS News he became increasingly concerned about measures being taken that he said appeared to shield the target of the investigation — which CBS News independently confirmed is Hunter Biden.
“Each and every time, it seemed to always benefit the subject,” Shapley said. “It just got to that point where that switch was turned on. And I just couldn’t silence my conscience anymore.”
Where was Joe Biden’s conscience when the family enrichment schemes were being hatched?”
Is that a serious question?
Conscience? WHAT conscience?!? Where was Joe’s conscience when he: (i) impugned the integrity of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas?; (ii) besmirched the character and reputation of the driver at the wheel of the semi his first wife collided with after she crossed over the centerline?; (iii) he said Republicans were “gonna put ya’ll back in chains”?; (iv) lied about his scholastic record?; (v) abandoned his biologic granddaughter?; or, (vi) disparaged The Donald over his illegal possession of classified materials when he himself was, at the time, in possession of far more than Trump?
Conscience? The man HAS NO conscience!!!
But take heart: As we’ve so often observed, those who escape due punishment for their sins in this life will most assuredly receive it in the next…though the fate described in Revelation 14:9-11 is one we’d wish on no one, not even a damned, demented deviant as evil as Biden.
And in today’s installment of the EnvironMental Moment, in a decision which doesn’t bode well for the future of Progressive rule-by-bureaucratic-fiat, Townhall.com‘s Spencer Brown tells us the…
“The Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday delivered another stinging rebuke of the Biden Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) overreach with a unanimous opinion essentially trashing the administration’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) policy that relies on an extremely broad interpretation of the Clean Water Act to restrict property owners’ activities on private land that’s deemed untouchable by EPA bureaucrats.
Justice Samuel Alito authored the opinion in the case, explaining more about how the Biden EPA ran afoul, specifically in the case of Idaho residents Chantell and Michael Sackett, from whom the case — Sackett v. EPA — originated.
“This case concerns a nagging question about the outer reaches of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the principal federal law regulating water pollution in the United States. By all accounts, the Act has been a great success. Before its enactment in 1972, many of the Nation’s rivers, lakes, and streams were severely polluted, and existing federal legislation had proved to be inadequate. Today, many formerly fetid bodies of water are safe for the use and enjoyment oft he people of this country. There is, however, an unfortunate footnote to this success story: the outer boundaries of the Act’s geographical reach have been uncertain from the start. The Act applies to “the waters of the United States,” but what does that phrase mean? Does the term encompass any backyard that is soggy enough for some minimum period of time? Does it reach “mudflats, sand flats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, [or] playa lakes?” How about ditches, swimming pools, and puddles?“
The lack of specificity in the Clean Water Act allowed the Biden administration to declare basically any waters as falling under its regulatory jurisdiction, even when said waters were separated from other water by dry land and entirely within private property. As Justice Alito further explained in his opinion, “this interpretation is inconsistent with the text and structure of the CWA,” and, “[b]eyond that, it clashes with ‘background principles of construction’ that apply to the interpretation of the relevant statutory provisions” under which “the EPA must provide clear evidence that it is authorized to regulate in the manner it proposes.”
“First, this Court ‘require[s] Congress to enact exceedingly clear language if it wishes to significantly alter the balance between federal and state power and the power of the Government over private property,” Alito continued, noting the “[r]egulation of land and water use lies at the core of traditional state authority.”…”
It must be emphasized this was a unanimous…yes, 9-0…vote, which means Elena Kagan, Sonja Sotomayor and the Black female who couldn’t define what a woman is all voted to curb federal overreach. It must also be noted the court split 5-4 (Good, old John Roberts: the gift from the Bush family that keeps on giving…until he dies!) in its analysis of how the federal government should define a water source under the CWA.
Moving on, here’s an octet of items specially selected to pique the curiosity of inquiring Conservative minds:
(3). John Stossel examines the positions staked out by the man who would be President DeSantis. We must state we don’t share Stossel’s perception DeSantis consistently siding with the rights of the individual to make choices concerning themselves somehow constitutes an authoritarian streak. In our view, if business owners want to remain open for business during a pandemic, they can mask up and get vaccinated, but shouldn’t be able to require their customers to do likewise.
(4). In a rare burst of common sense from the an otherwise generally insane jurisdiction, Montgomery County, MD authorities have determined, “as the classification of an arrestee/inmate will depend on whether the arrestee/inmate has male or female genitalia”, the “non-binary” but excessively effeminate cross-dressing Sam Brinton will be held in the men’s jail will awaiting transport to Virginia to face additional charges in connection with his preferred perversion, namely, stealing luggage in hopes of scoring designer dresses.
(5). Proving Republicans aren’t immune from the corruption which infests the Dimocratic Party, put a fork in Ken Paxton.
(6). We trust Target’s shareholders are happy as the company lost $9 billion in market value after “Conservatives called to boycott the retail giant upon learning its 2023“PRIDE” collection featured a “tuck-friendly” swimsuit to obscure male genitalia and other items designed by a brand that specializes in Satanist-inspired merchandise”. BTW, it’s not like the designers connection with Satanism wasn’t known to Target’s management.
(7). Speaking of $9 billion in wasted value, for those who don’t comprehend the parlous state of America’s Thoroughly Modern Milleytary, this photo of the U.S.S. James E. Williams (DDG-95) leaving the port of Toulon, France forwarded by Breeze Gould…
…as well as this photo of the U.S.S. Zumwalt (DDG-1000), the Navy’s brand-spankin’ new $9 billionstealth destroyer returning to San Diego…
…should provide you a better understanding of just how far we’ve fallen. “Old rust bucket” has heretofore been used a term of derision for aged naval vessels; Now, consider it the nautical equivalent of the broken windows theory. The ChiComs have got to be laughing their Communist a*ses off at the returns they’ve made on their investment in the Biden crime cartel.
(8). Since we’re offering cold doses of reality, here’s another regarding the cost-effectiveness of electric vehicles courtesy of energy correspondent Jeff Foutch:
Not to mention they don’t work in cold weather and tend to catch fire the whole year through!
Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:
Then there’s these from Balls Cotton…
…along with this one which deserves discussion:
We generally love whatever Margolis & Cox produce, but their latest begs a question: With an incredibly slim majority in the House, which includes the pathological liar George Santos, along with a hardcore element who would just as soon see the U.S. default on its debt as cut a deal with the opposition, what greater feats of political dexterity could Matt & Joe reasonably expect from Speaker McCarthy than the incredible compromise he’s already negotiated with his own caucus?
Finally, since we’re on the subject, we’ll call it a week with our Damned If You Do, Dead If You Don’t segment, courtesy of The Washington Times via James Patrick, as we learn an…
“A father in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, died in the hospital of a traumatic brain injury after a group of people assaulted him in lieu of his 14-year-old son. The group of suspects came to Christopher Wright’s address at around 5 p.m. Friday, looking for the unnamed 14-year-old in what they said was a continuation of an earlier fight at Brooklyn Park Middle School in Brooklyn Park. Anne Arundel County Public Schools confirmed the earlier fight, and is working with Anne Arundel County Police in the investigation.
Wright’s fiance Tracy Karopchinsky described the group as being three teens and two adults, while Anne Arundel County Police said the suspects were three to four males in their 20s and 30s. The suspects originally sought the 14-year-old, but when Wright said that he would not be coming out to fight, the group turned their attention to him. The suspects “threatened at one point to come in and get him, and then they said, ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight,’” Ms. Karopchinsky told WBAL-TV.
Wright suffered a seizure amid a flurry of kicks and punches and died in the hospital on Saturday night. Security footage from Wright’s home, as well as from a neighbor, captured the incident. All three of the family’s children were home at the time of the incident…”
Imagine, if you will, Mr. Wright pulled a gun and ordered the thugs to leave his property, and rather than retreating, had tried to enter his home, and Wright shoots one or all of them. Any question he’d be the one up on charges rather than the thugs who killed him? As we said, damned if you do, dead if you don’t. Which is why we’ll always take the option of being judged by 12 rather carried out by 6.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Wright’s fiancé and his children.
Magoo
Video of the Day
The great VDH lays out what the average Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Citizen can do to fight wokeness…besides writing a blog!
Tales of The Darkside
After listening to the conclusion, tell us the first thought that popped wasn’t,”You can say THAT again!”
On the Lighter Side
Ami Horowitz demonstrates how deeply Progressives have descended into insanity. We’d be willing to bet not a single one of the women or men, biologic or otherwise, EVER played a sport in their lives.
Loading ...
You must be logged in to post a comment.