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We no longer live in a democracy when a President can commit crimes and brag about how they can get away with them.
FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
61–70 of 90 posts
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#62Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
All we can hope is that we keep enough people with integrity and apolitical viewpoints as a buffer between the political parties and the White House. This raid was certainly signed off by Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI. Wray was appointed by Trump. Feel free to call it a witch hunt, but you don't go into a warrant like this unless you are fairly certain of the outcome.
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Examples of similar raids?
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#64Quoted post unavailable.
The current FBI director (Christopher Wray, a republican) was appointed by Trump in 2017 after he fired James Comey (also republican), ostensibly for also investigating potential crime.
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#65Probable cause?
Whatever evidence was presented, it’s damning, based on a the approval chain to execute such a search (DOJ + a federal judge). Most likely it was the National Archives. Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations.
Surely the President has the power to authorize locations and/or declassify documents.
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
All we can hope is that we keep enough people with integrity and apolitical viewpoints as a buffer between the political parties and the White House. This raid was certainly signed off by Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI. Wray was appointed by Trump. Feel free to call it a witch hunt, but you don't go into a warrant like this unless you are fairly certain of the outcome.
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"and we have seen time and time again that they're fishing expeditions which achieve nothing"
You sure about that? There are at least eight Trump administration individuals convicted of crimes because of those "fishing expeditions", with many more under indictment. And there are others that are still in contempt of congressional subpoenas.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-bannon-associat...
And I think it's been made really clear that you don't get permits for "fishing expeditions" easily. It needs approval on many levels, including judges and magistrates installed by both parties.
Funny thing, these "fishing expeditions" have been deployed against Democratic officials but come out with way less indictments and convictions. How many hours of testimony did Clinton sit down for over Bengazhi? 11? Did that result in anything? Why not?
Oh yeah, and she showed up when subpoenaed.
The party of "law and order" needs to put up or shut up.
(PS: If this search of Mar-A-Lago was an abuse of power, Trump is more than free to release a copy of the warrant which shows exactly what the FBI was searching for. Let's see if that happens.)
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whatever evidence was presented, it’s damning, based on a the approval chain to execute such a search (DOJ + a federal judge). Most likely it was the National Archives. Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations.
Surely the President has the power to authorize locations and/or declassify documents.
Probably (not a legal scholar) but I'm sure it applies to sitting presidents, not former presidents.
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surely the President has the power to authorize locations and/or declassify documents.
Probably (not a legal scholar) but I'm sure it applies to sitting presidents, not former presidents.
But wasn't he President when he took the documents to MAL, or at the very least, when he packed them to go to MAL?
Or did he somehow take them after leaving the White House?
I don't know what charges the FBI will bring in this case, but for the sake of the nation, I hope they are something more serious than just failing to write a note saying "I authorize myself to take these documents."
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whatever evidence was presented, it’s damning, based on a the approval chain to execute such a search (DOJ + a federal judge). Most likely it was the National Archives. Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations.
Surely the President has the power to authorize locations and/or declassify documents.
For example, from the Presidential Records Act:
> Allows the incumbent President to dispose of records that no longer have administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value, once the views of the Archivist of the United States on the proposed disposal have been obtained in writing. (emphasis mine)
> Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.
https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/laws/1978-ac...
I'm hesitant to entertain the idea of a chief executive who could do anything with impunity.
Re: FBI Searches Trump’s Home in Florida
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably (not a legal scholar) but I'm sure it applies to sitting presidents, not former presidents.
But wasn't he President when he took the documents to MAL, or at the very least, when he packed them to go to MAL? Or did he somehow take them after leaving the White House? I don't know what charges the FBI will bring in this case, but for the sake of the nation, I hope they are something more serious than just failing to write a note saying "I authorize myself to take these documents."
@renato_mariotti: "James Comey was right when he testified that the DOJ typically does not prosecute cases involving the mishandling of classified material unless that material was deliberately transferred to a third party. That suggests to me that there is something we don't know here."