THREE RING CIRCUS

Actually, “three rings" is an understatement. Trump is everywhere. Let’s remember:

One: The Atlanta criminal investigation into the efforts of Trump's acolytes to corrupt the Georgia vote count in 2020.

Two: The January 6 committee revelations concerning the Trump/Eastman/Meadows effort to send fake electors to the Congress.

Three: The conspiracy to march on the Capitol, intimidate the Vice President who was to count electors, and break into the building, threatening the safety of the assembled Congressmen and Senators.

Four: The failure of the President to stop the violence, and his suggestion that Pence deserved hanging because he refused to ignore the will of the voters.

Five: The grand jury investigation in New York County which the pusillanimous D.A. Bragg aborted.

Six: The civil investigation by the New York State Attorney General, in which Trump ate his words, and took the Fifth Amendment some 400 times with respect to questions about his defrauding banks, and other inquiries about his shady business practices.

Seven: Lots of other stuff that doesn't come to mind at the moment, so let's get down to today's headlines. What is going on?

Here is what we know, despite the bleatings of the lunatic Right-wingnuts:

When he left the White House on the morning of January 20, and perhaps in the days just before that, Trump took a truckload of White House documents and apparently stored them at his home in Florida. The government was upset. The National Archives complained that many, if not all of the documents were the property of the federal government, not the personal property of the former president, and sought the return of the documents. Negotiations were pursued, and Trump returned 15 boxes of documents to the government.

Apparently, the government was not satisfied that Trump had fully complied with the agreement, if any, reached in those discussions, and, in June 2022, a grand jury issued a subpoena for the remaining documents.

It is clear the government believed that Trump failed to comply with that grand jury subpoena (that, of course, would be a separate crime,) and the DOJ went to court and procured a search warrant. The warrant remains under seal. We do know from press reports quoting a Trump spokesperson, that the warrant directed the seizure of evidence from Trump’s Florida home and that FBI agents removed a number of documents. Trump was not present during the search, but his lawyer was.

The Trump team went ballistic in the media. It accused the FBI of political foul play, it accused the FBI head, Christopher Wray (appointed by  President Donald Trump) of playing politics, and even accused the FBI of planting documents. 

We do not know what documents the FBI took. All we know from Trump-team public complaints is that the feebs broke into a safe in the Trump residence, and they messed up Melania's clothes closet.

In response to days of Republican outrage at this “unjustified raid,” Attorney General Garland made a statement assuring the public that this was really a big deal and that he personally approved the warrant. To spike the Republican conspiracy claims, Garland moved the court to unseal two of the three documents involved in the execution of the search warrant.

First, Garland asked the court to allow him to unseal the warrant itself, (the document signed by a judge that designated the place to be searched and what the searchers should look for).

 Second, Garland asked the court to unseal the receipt that specified everything the FBI searchers took in executing the warrant. (Trump, of course, had both documents and was free to publish them anytime he wanted, but he failed to do so.)

Presumably, we will know by 3 PM today whether Trump consents to the Department of Justice application to unseal the warrant and the receipt. If Trump doesn't consent the matter will be litigated. If he does consent the documents will become public and we will get some facts and hints as to why Trump “stole” the documents.

So far, we know nothing as to the content of the seized documents. The press is rife with rumors, and the leading one so far is the documents relate, in one manner or another, to America's nuclear secrets. There is even speculation that they have something to do with a reported 2019 negotiation to turn our secrets over to Saudi Arabia as part of a business deal in which Jared Kushner was involved.

But the most important document in the process was not part of the government’s unsealing request. That is the affidavit the government was required to submit to the court in order to obtain the warrant. That affidavit presumably would reveal not only what the government was looking for, but it would contain facts that supported the judicial finding that there was “probable cause" to believe that i) a crime had been committed, and that ii) evidence of that crime was likely to be found at the premises to be searched. 

It is also likely the affidavit would supply information as to which member or members of the Trump team ratted him out and informed the government that Trump not only violated his assurances earlier given to the government but that he had violated his obligation to comply with the grand jury subpoena served on him in June. The net result is we may not learn the really good stuff unless and until Trump is indicted.

Finally, I cannot help but let my imagination go to the limit of its capacity. The motion to unseal the warrant is signed by two government lawyers. The first is the United States attorney for the District of Columbia. No surprise there, he is the chief federal criminal prosecutor for the district. 

The second signatory however raises an interesting question. He is Jay L. Bratt, and his title is Chief of the "Counter-intelligence" section of the National Security Division of the United States Department of Justice. 

Have you ever really looked into the definition of “Counter-intelligence”? I always assumed that it involved resisting foreign countries’ efforts to spy or perpetrate espionage on the United States. But to be certain, this morning I went to the Department of Justice website and looked it up. Here is how the DOJ defines "Counter-intelligence":

 “The objectives of counter-intelligence are to assess the country’s vulnerability to foreign espionage, to watch for sabotage, and to identify those determined to undermine the established system of government …… The function of the counterintelligence activity proper is solely the production of knowledge about the plans, operations, and capabilities of organizations intent on subversive activities."

Hmm…. "Identify those determined to undermine the established system of government"? …”The production of knowledge about the plans, operations, and capability of organizations intent on subversive activities"?

Does that ring a bell? Doesn’t “determined to undermine our established system of government” include interference with the orderly transition of power? Does anyone come to mind who might have "knowledge about the plans, operations, and capabilities of organizations intent on subversive activities"?

Do the names of individuals and organizations such as Trump, Eastman, Giuliani, Oath Keepers, and Proud Boys come to mind?

If it doesn’t, it should. 

A bientot.

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