The Washington Post is reporting that there was a heated debate in the Justice Department over the decision to raid Mar-a-Lago in July 2022. The senior FBI agents objected that they believe that a consensual search was possible without the necessity of a raid. It was main Justice officials who overruled them and insisted on the raid. What is most striking about the account is that FBI agents were raising the very concerns that some of us voiced after the unprecedented raid on the home of a former president.
The Post describes a “tense showdown” a week before the raid. Jay Bratt, Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) of the National Security Division, joined other Justice officials to demand a raid. He was accompanied to the FBI by Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen as well as two counterintelligence officials, George Toscas and Alan E. Kohler Jr.
Toscas previously worked on the Crossfire Hurricane and Clinton email investigations. He reportedly pushed for a raid.
The FBI pushed back hard, according to the Post. Steven M. D’Antuono, then the head of the FBI Washington field office was running the investigation and said that he considered the raid to be unnecessary and overkill. He wanted to arrange a consensual search. He reportedly even refused to conduct the raid without a direct order.
D’Antuono wanted to reach out to Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, who is a former Justice Department prosecutor to arrange the search. Reportedly, the objections angered Bratt and the meeting became loud and heated.
Notably, the Post reports that D’Antuono “also questioned why the search would target presidential records as well as classified records, particularly because the May subpoena had only sought the latter.” It quotes him as objecting “we are not the presidential records police.”
Finally, D’Antuono reportedly demanded to know if Trump was officially the subject of the criminal investigation. As head of the FBI investigation, that was a telling question. Bratt reportedly replied “What does that matter?”
It mattered a great deal. A number of us expressed surprise later that presidential records were such a focus of a criminal indictment. Presidential record disputes are ordinarily administrative or civil matters. It turns out that the FBI itself shared that unease.
While it took long negotiations, the Trump team had previously turned over boxes of material to the National Archives. In January of that year, they returned 15 boxes of government records, including 184 classified documents consisting of 700 pages. The Trump team had also agreed to give the FBI access to the storage room and complied with directions on adding security to the room.
When classified documents were found by both Biden and Pence after the Trump raid, they were also not subject to search warrants but allowed to have counsel look for additional classified material. In all three cases, the FBI seemed to approach the controversies as collection rather than criminal efforts.
However, Bratt and the other main Justice officials were unwilling to seek a consensual raid and maintained that the Trump team might move to hide or destroy evidence. Such actions would, of course, constitute serious federal crimes.
The fact is that highly classified documents were found at Mar-a-Lago and past representations made by counsel were later challenged by the FBI as false. The Justice Department told the court that it believes that there was an effort to obstruct their investigation.
What is striking about the report is the preference, yet again, for the Justice Department to take the DEFCON 1 option over other alternatives in a matter involving Trump. If D’Antuono was allowed to seek a consensual search, any refusal would have largely blunted any later objections. Yet, the FBI General Counsel Jason Jones (who replaced the controversial James Baker at the Bureau) followed his predecessor’s more aggressive approach.
The report will only deepen the unease over how the Justice Department will handle the classified document controversy. Since the raid, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Michael Pence were both found to have classified material in their private homes. In the case of Biden, some of these documents go back over a decade to his time as a senator and were found in multiple locations from a university center office to his personal library to his garage.
While special counsels are investigating Trump and Biden on the matters, the ultimate decision will rest with Attorney General Merrick Garland who must decide if prosecution is in the public interest. Few people want to see Biden, Pence, and Trump indicted. Indeed, the Justice Department maintains that it cannot indict a sitting president like Biden. To prosecute only Trump for such unlawful possession would cause a public uproar.
Yet, some of us have long said that Trump’s greatest threat was the obstruction allegations out of Mar-a-Lago. One of his lawyers is reportedly cooperating with prosecutors. Those allegations do distinguish the Trump case, but it was also undermined by the Biden and Pence matters. In both cases, the FBI was also told that counsel or staff also conducted searches and found no additional documents before further discoveries were made. That does not mean that Trump’s conduct could not be found to be knowing and more culpable. That case will have to be made with undeniable clarity and evidence.
Garland may face this tough call within the year. Polls indicate a deepening distrust of the government and the Justice Department in particular. A fifth of Americans now view the government as the greatest threat facing the nation. Fifty percent of Americans only trust the FBI “some of the time” or “hardly ever.” These polls are consistent on roughly half of the country expressing distrust in the FBI. What is truly shocking is that 53% in one poll agreed with the statement that the FBI acts like “Biden’s Gestapo.”
I have previously testified that these views are unfair to the many agents who put their lives at risk to protect us and the rule of law. However, this deep distrust is only worsening as we head into what could prove the most divisive and potentially explosive election in modern history. Of course, Garland could channel Bratt’s reported approach and just say “what does it matter?” But it matters a lot if Garland is concerned about the public accepting that justice rather than politics is being done.
I have seen this story many times over the last 66 years. Nothing will happen and corrupt government officials suffer no criminal prosecution.
The National Socialist Democrat WOKE Party. The party of Lawlessness, Destruction and Tyranny!
Civil War is inevitable. A Constitutional Republic can not exists with Totalitarian Socialism.
Fortunately the “We the People” have 700 million guns in circulation according to the FBI.
Molon labe
Anyone who wants a civil war is anti-American.
Maybe, but even Thomas Jefferson, a founding father who saw more blood shed on US soil than you and I, once said, a little revolution once in a while is a good thing.
Actually, he said a “little rebellion” and was not referring to Civil War.
His quote:
“Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one. 3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it’s evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccesful rebellions indeed generally establish the incroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medecine necessary for the sound health of government.” – Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, January 30, 1787
The key word is “little.”
A civil war isn’t little.
Did he say anything about wanting a civil war?
I have stated on this blog many a time, we have to avoid a civil war.
However, I also am not ruling out the possibility it could occur.
@Upstate
We do, If we split the country we would have East/West Berlin with the combination of the Indian partition with people relocating, a la Pakistan. Ain’t gonna work, and anyone thinks it would needs to throw away their partisan 9and likely legitimately white) lens for a human one. I do not expect anyone under 40 to understand a word of what I just said (probably includes anonymous and gigi) . The rest of us: you can’t ignpre problems and expect to resolve them. Please direct your attention back to the fact that they are coming for your children, and to mature adults, that includes 18-25 year olds. If you don’t care, if you are still naive enough to believe that school provides something to your kids (again, kids can be 21+ for the older among us) you’d better start. And right now. You are the only thin barrier, and you’d better start taking responsibility unless you’d like covid food lines to be the norm for people that aren’t fortunate enough to be rich, like AOC is rich.
On topic: think what you will of him, there was zero justification fr doing this to Trump. Our government is a joke. They could give a s*** about you, but for your vote. We now, thanks to the Biden administration, are spending an extra $10,000 a year. whatever your position, you can’t honestly say you appreciate that, or that it is some kind of twisted progress. And trolls: I have bathroom breaks more significant than you.
Sorry, hasty typos. Am at work today.
James,
I was tracking you.
Good rant.
No worries about my kids. They saw the woke crazy when it was starting in earnest in college.
But they are the antithesis of woke. Responsible, hard working, save their money, stay out of debt and my daughter is a dang good shot.
@Upstate
Honestly, with the sense and thoughtfulness that is apparent in your comments, I can’t imagine they’d be anything else, whatever path they may have chosen. 👍🏼
Ditto. (but I don’t know what a good shot is)
Dems are too entrenched in the corruption and the globalist regime to ever face consequences. i am both shocked and pleased to know there were dissenters within the FBI. I have at this point gone fro previously thinking our dems were sort of arrogant to thinking that in the 21st century, they are a plague for all of humanity. Anyone here defending Biden needs to get real – they do not actually care about your support, only that you fall in line so they can have what they want. it actually elicits pity in me at this point, all of these stragglers thinking they are a part of or accomplishing anything whatsoever but the ends of their masters. You are sad, sad people, at least at present, whistling in the dark; and you aren’t going to triumph.
It could be the Washington Post is beginning to trend toward offering its readers truths that most always derive from unbiased reporting. As the Post comes to further appreciate the merits of impartiality, it will eventually consider contracting with Professor Turley to write columns for them. And the sooner the better too before the New York Times strikes first.
Roughly four weeks ago (late January 2023), NARA contacted ALL former presidents and vice-presidents/administrations to check for any classified materials they may still have in their possession(s). What does that say??? What does that tell you about NARA’s ability to not only diligently carry out its own protocol, but also about its record-keeping?
What does that tell you about the very pinnacle of national security operations entrusted with the safeguard and protection of America’s most precious information???–That Biden would still have classified docs from when he was still a Senator (decades ago) -and no one even discovered them as missing?????
It has been @20 years or so since I had a security clearance and I do not remember if, at the time, I had to sign any documents/affidavits when I left that I had tendered/returned all such materials to their rightful governmental entities before I left.
-If not, then I would suggest the signing of such a sworn statement would cause more due diligence in going through papers our ex-officials take with them; at least it would warrant an actionable (but rebuttable) conclusion that unauthorized retention of such documents constituted either intentional or at a minimum, negligently culpable fault. And since each agency/department has its own security office, that spreads out the responsibility throughout government to make the safe handling/retention/current status of each document more manageable.
Sorry, don’t trust the fbi. Show me the order or both justice and fbi agreed. They have 0 credibility after the last 7 years.
“To prosecute only Trump for such unlawful possession would cause a public uproar.”
Trump is not president. To prosecute him would be because he broke the law. He’s not special. He’s a private citizen who only has a title. Trump obstructed Justice and was found to be in possession of stolen government documents.
Your PHOTUS (Potato Head of the United States) made that very unlikely with his garage docs. Good luck with that.
Diogenes: I burst out laughing at your clever response, and if “PHOTUS” is your own creative acronym, extra-clever!
Thank you, Lin. Joe is a constant inspiration to us all. It’s mine but I’m glad to share it in the public domain 😉
FBI LEAKING TO WASHINGTON POST to try and protect themselves or fed up with DOJ?? Trying to put the Blame on DOJ, which rightfully should get the Blame as well as the FBI both have dirty hands. DOJ is politically corrupt and Garland and his team have been weaponized against all poetical opponents of the DEM/BIDEN/Social Justice causes. DOJ will try to charge Trump to try and force him out of the elections, we shall see, it would be a Big Mistake but Biden and DOJ don’t care what Americans think they are Left Wing Social Justice Radicals who are trying to maintain power.
Trying to put the Blame on DOJ, which rightfully should get the Blame as well as the FBI both have dirty hands.
Reading between the lines, it seems we are past 3 to 4 dozen FBI whistle blowers working with Congress. I am sure that motivation was instrumental, for field agents to push back on from DoJ, in order to give themselves cover. I have lost faith that enough field agents are willing to follow the law and do the right thing.
The Washington Post reported this leak? The Washington Post? That Washington Post? Maybe I need to clean my specs.
Is it possible the WaPo leadership took the occasion of staff reductions to can the DNC’s spies? Are they channeling Elon Musk? Wouldn’t that be wonderful! The bed monsters of the journalism having their heads handed to them for years of woke propaganda. We can only hope.
This is a leaked report, so I’m not going to make like a troll and pretend it’s an established fact (like they did during the Russian Collusion hoax). “The truth will out.”
In the meantime, there’s plenty of reason to think Garland will 86 the MAL case. I don’t need leaks to tell me that. Maybe the WaPo is just preparing its hothead subscribers for the worst.
Diogenes,
I had a similar reaction, re: WaPo published this?
If accurate, I would like to see it lead to agent D’Antuono testifying before Congress.
Same goes for Bratt.
Again, if accurate, lets us know it is just a few bad apples at the top that are spoiling the barrel.
Yep. Bratt, the deep-state rat. I’d fire him tomorrow if I could. He’s a known quantity.
Diogenes – I would like to think Garland would 86 the MAL case, but I don’t think he is the one making the decision. That decision will be made by the same people who control Biden and those in the FBI who pushed the raid.
Garland is nothing more than the titular Attorney General. He has no power and he makes no decisions. Watching him testify before the Senate only reinforced that.
Maj229, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you were right. All these guys act like titular heads whenever they need to pass the buck. We saw it in Afghanistan. Maybe they really are just figureheads of a deep-state shogunate.
Garland is welcome to prove us wrong.
“We can only hope.”
Sorry to rain on your parade, but:
That leaked report is WaPo shilling for the Left, yet again. They’re corrupt “journalists,” but they’re not stupid. They can see the revelations coming from the House investigations. So their strategy, long-employed by the corrupt is: Throw a few sacrificial lambs to the Right and the public. That way they can claim, dishonestly: Okay, there were a few bad actors. And *that* way, they satisfy their ultimate desire: To leave in place the culture of a politicized FBI and DOJ.
I’d love to be wrong. But a propagandized media does not change its stripes overnight.
“The fact is that highly classified documents were found at Mar-a-Lago and past representations made by counsel were later challenged by the FBI as false. The Justice Department told the court that it believes that there was an effort to obstruct their investigation.”
No, this is not a fact.
Trump, like any president, had the absolute legal authority to declassify any and every government document/s he wanted. And here’s the real kicker: Since there appears to be absolutely no official protocol for doing so, and since the president is the boss of the entire federal government and doesn’t answer to his or hers underlings (i.e. doesn’t need their permission or need “prove” it to them), I can’t possibly see how he is guilty of any criminal statute. On the other hand, vice presidents like Biden and Pence do NOT have the legal authority to declassify documents. If the documents were classifieds, as Trump insists, then he was not in possession classified documents.
Anonymous,
“The fact is that highly classified documents were found at Mar-a-Lago and past representations made by counsel were later challenged by the FBI as false. The Justice Department told the court that it believes that there was an effort to obstruct their investigation.”
No, this is not a fact.”
It’s a fact. Trump had multiple opportunities to prove he declassified documents. He has never proved or offered records showing what he declassified.
His lawyers signed a statement saying they diligently searched for any and all records requested by the subpoena. Turns out it was not true.
Trump spent nearly two years obfuscating and delaying any attempts by the archives to get documents that did not belong Trump. The FBI gave Trump plenty of leeway to voluntarily comply. He had nearly two years.
When it was discovered he still had more classified documents after finally turning over 15 boxes. Trump and his lawyers could no longer be trusted.
The search proved Trump was lying and he was deliberately hiding documents that were not his.
Trump had multiple opportunities to prove he declassified documents.
Another lie. The Government has never asked about whether the documents are declassified. But even the govt was astute enough to seed a warrant for “marked classified” documents
Dumb. This and his successive posts are riddled with intellectual dishonesty. Svelaz doesn’t understand the meaning of of honesty or morality.
Allan / S. Meyer’s daily insults, example #1015.
Anonymous the Stupid, you left out #1014. Are you also unable to count?
You corrected the mislabelling of #1014, don’t you remember?
There was no #1014 except where you erred.
Hmm. So long as we are looking at facts: Svelez never presents any. Sorry, dude, we live in the real world, and laws actually apply, they do not apply how you personally interpret them. You are a pox on this forum, and a waste of time for even this much effort. By all means, continue the blah, blah blah. No one with two brain cells to rub together, and that is *most* of us on this particular site, cares. You and Gigi should probably get married.
Anonymous says,
“Trump, like any president, had the absolute legal authority to declassify any and every government document/s he wanted. And here’s the real kicker: Since there appears to be absolutely no official protocol for doing so, and since the president is the boss of the entire federal government and doesn’t answer to his or hers underlings (i.e. doesn’t need their permission or need “prove” it to them), I can’t possibly see how he is guilty of any criminal statute.”
Nope.
There ARE official protocols. There is a process for declassification of documents. The president is not the boss of the entire federal government. There’s also congress and the judiciary. Saying the ENTIRE federal government is saying the entire federal government. The president is the boss of the entire EXECUTIVE BRANCH of the federal government.
The president is bound to obey the law. He does need to prove he declassified documents. They literally have to be marked “declassified” in order to be deemed declassified documents.
He’s guilty of theft. Deliberately keeping government documents that are not his is considered theft. Theft is a crime.
Name one former President who did not keep some government documents when he left office.
no, making stuff up is not proof of protocol existence. it may work to convince progressive clowns, they are not deep thinkers, but for intelligent people you need an actual protocol to reference.
There ARE official protocols.
We all here, get tired of you lying repeatedly. YOU have been asked repeatedly and NEVER have you shown the protocols (your word, not mine) control the President of the United States when it comes to declassifying documents.
The ‘Protocols’ you speak of are instituted by Executive Order. The most current, meaning controlling, Executive order, specifically exempts The President of the United States.
All of this has been covered at least a dozen times by numerous commenters in response to your past lies. Yet you keep repeating the same lie.
” There is a process for declassification of documents. The president is not the boss of the entire federal government.”
The President is boss over Presidential records.
“They literally have to be marked “declassified” in order to be deemed declassified documents.”
You overstep the lines between truth and fiction. You don’t know the difference. Substantial time has passed and you still haven’t learned anything. You are hopeless.
Documents are NOT classified. Classification applies to INFORMATION contained in documents. Duh.
None of the alleged crimes depend on the documents still being classified.
I’m on topic with the Professors post
The report will only deepen the unease over how the Justice Department will handle the classified document controversy. Since the raid, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Michael Pence were both found to have classified material in their private homes. In the case of Biden, some of these documents go back over a decade to his time as a senator and were found in multiple locations from a university center office to his personal library to his garage.
None of the alleged crimes…
The alleged crimes are exactly like the allegations surrounding Crossfire Hurricane. ie, fabricated by the FBI/DoJ in order to pursue a political persecution.
That why a raid instead of seeking a court ruling to compel. We all know Garland has been diligent to avoid giving Trump an opportunity to defend his possession of his papers.
That’s why Garland cannot issue an indictment. Garland cannot defend his action in court. Kind of mirrors Mueller, indicting all those evil Russians. We all knew it was meaningless. Indictments that never get challenged in court are nothing more than a press release. BUT Mueller got caught with his pants down, when one of those indicted did show up to respond to the indictment. Mueller was forced to drop all charges. His “evidence” was non-existant.
Time will tell whether your conjectures are true or instead false.
That is of comfort to those of beliefs opposite to yours. With time, you were found wrong on almost every significant event while they were right.
None of Trump’s alleged crimes depend on the documents still being classified because Trump didn’t commit crimes. Biden did.
Just imagine….what if the FBI Washington Field Office Boss and the FBI Director both stood on principle and resigned over the DOJ decision…..how would that have played in the Media?
In my time as a Special Agent with the government our standard procedure if we thought the suspect would refuse a Consensual Search then we would obtain a Search Warrant.
We ALWAYS asked for the Consensual Search without mentioning the Search Warrant we had in hand…..until we confirmed the Consensual Search was not going to be granted….then we used the Search Warrant.
I never had a problem with refusing to do some thing illegal or improper…..and in very few occasions did a Superior demand I do anything remotely questionable.
We had well established policies and procedures that were quite conservative in our way of investigating matters….which slowed or delayed our investigations but it kept us on the straight and narrow.
The few occasions I saw a problem occur it was due to in-house politics where judgement was clouded by individual failures to stand up to political pressure from the “customer” we provided our services and reports of investigation.
One thing was clear in the way things went….the higher in rank the suspect….the less risk they ran of being punished…..which is quite similar to how the DOJ and FBI operate.
Even the Professor sees that as evidenced by his many comments in his blog entries.
Why should the American People not be able to discern how biased the American Judicial system has become.
Even with the very best Lawyers representing you….the DOJ and FBI as well as other government Criminal Justice systems will go after people purely for political reasons and the organizations like the ACLU have become willing partners.
Yes…..Government….well bad Government….politicized Criminal Justice systems of Government are a very real and very serious threat to the Country and its way of life and future.
If Trump is prosecuted then so should everyone one of the others that have been found to be in possession of Classified Materials in violation of the Law.
The mere possession of that material without the proper Security Clearance, in a. manner that violates the law, and “without having the need to know”, and that Classified material was not properly obtained or retained is a criminal violation.
The Law does not require “intent” as the former FBI Director so eloquently declared when he without having the authority….declined the prosecution of Hillary Clinton.
Look at the tangled web we see being put on display.
Obama used Hillary’s illegal server as proven by the emails that exchanged between him and Hillary when she was SecState.
Clinton had that server and Classified Documents.
Trump had Classified Documents but may. have de-classified them and was in the process of returning them.
Biden had Classified Documents in multiple locations some dating back to when he was a Senator.
Pence had Classified Documents.
How many other senior elected officials ARE HOLDING Classified Documents yet today?
Where do we stop searching for those documents?
Are ALL of those folks facing criminal prosecution….of course not…..not so long as Merrick Garland is the Attorney General and Joe Biden is President…..but as long as Donal Trump is a political force to be reckoned with….he shall be a target of the current DOJ owned and operated by the Democrat Party.
Does that sound like a “just and fair” criminal justice system?
Does the “What does it matter” somewhat paraphrase the Hilary Clinton response to the botched Benghazi incident “What difference at this point does it make”. Seems an unpleasant echo down through history. As I say, Go ahead and indict Trump. I am sure that this will not escape the American Public that all 3 of these processes are ongoing in Democratic strongholds of New York, D.C., and Fulton County, Ga (basically 90+% democratic). Go ahead and light the fire and see what burns. We know already that justice does not really prevail in those areas. Thats why people have fled them and continue to leave, even democrats. See what happens when you indict a presidential candidate that is already polling higher than Biden. If I was on the other side I believe I would pause and think about whether I want to set fires in 3 areas of the country and then think I can control them. Do you really want to call out the army and the national guard to conduct elections. A prudent person would step back and say “maybe not”. If you leave Trump alone he may flame out on his own accord. If you continue to follow the present slash and burn policy, you will make him a martyr and even if he falls, there are others eager to pick up the torch, only they may bring torches and lot more with them. Righteous anger and vengeance. Very hard to contain something like that when it’s out of the box. I would not want to see that.
So the FBI was “only following orders”?
Where have we heard that before?
The dead cannot speak, so it is up to the living to be their voice.
The dead cannot speak but somehow dead Democrats can still vote. The Lord moves in mysterious ways… the Devil is less subtle.
Continue to speak for those who cannot, Alan. You do a great job.
The Washington Post piece and Turley’s (above) presents an interesting and dichotomous view of Garland’s Justice Department. The testimony that those named in this controversy might render, assuming the reports are true, would surely establish an arbitrary and capricious baseline for the decision to raid MAL. Yes, as Garland said yesterday, there often are disputes between FBI agents and prosecutors but they are resolved. What he failed to say is that they are resolved in the prosecutor’s favor because only a prosecutor, not an FBI agent or official (including the former director James Comey) has the legal authority to prosecute or decline to prosecute. Here, the decision was made by a prosecutor. The question then becomes, did the same prosecutor make the same judgement regarding Biden and Pence when their lawyers advised the Department that both had classified documents in their possession that they should not have had? Whether it was the same prosecutor is secondary to the fact that Garland claims he made the decision on MAL. The attorney general is called a “general” rather than a secretary for a reason. This is not a case and if it were, it would go nowhere because politics has contaminated whatever legal status the case may have had before politics entered the picture to drive the arbitrary and capricious conduct of the principal actors. It is refreshing to know, however, that there still are some honest FBI agents untainted by political hatred and willing to stand up for what’s right. Some of them are obviously telling this story, a story that I’m sure will grow as the days and weeks roll by.
” Yes, as Garland said yesterday, there often are disputes between FBI agents and prosecutors but they are resolved. What he failed to say is that they are resolved in the prosecutor’s favor because only a prosecutor, not an FBI agent or official (including the former director James Comey) has the legal authority to prosecute or decline to prosecute”
Err. who is being prosecuted?
“But it matters a lot if Garland is concerned about the public accepting that justice rather than politics is being done.”
That ship sailed a long time ago. We’re looking at more than a decade of huge numbers of Americans not trusting the FBI and DOJ simply because of the partisan actions against Trump dating back to before the 2016 election — made much worse by the established FACT that they kept up the seditious attacks all through Trump’s first term, culminating in a HIGHLY questionable 2020 Fake Election and installation of an international gangster suffering from terminal foot-in-mouth disease.
At present, there’s no reason to expect either the FBI or DOJ to return to the rule of law. Rather, the odds and indications are that they will only drift farther into lawlessness as the 2024 election approaches, using the War in Ukraine and growing potential for WWIII as a smoke screen behind which to operate lawlessly within the US.
“What is truly shocking is that 53% in one poll agreed with the statement that the FBI acts like “Biden’s Gestapo.””
++++++
Tuesday marked the 90th anniversary of the Emergency Powers that Hinderburg signed in response to the Reichstag fire the previous day. That laid the groundwork for the Enabling Act that followed on March 23rd, the day after the opening of Dachau concentration camp (originally a place for political prisoners). These two sets of laws that suspended constitutional rights (ostensibly for the protection of the state from enemies within) laid the foundation for the development of the Gestapo–State Secret Police–into the loathsome, terrifying organization associated with the National Socialists’ regime. With the freedom of speech being curtailed in America and the use of the government’s resources to target political opponents, it’s no wonder there are comparisons being made, although most Americans are clueless about the infamous organization’s history. In any case, it’s telling to look at the mission of the Gestapo as stated in the US Holocaust Museum’s Holocaust Encyclopedia.
“What was the Gestapo’s Mission?
The Gestapo’s mission was to “investigate and combat all attempts to threaten the state.” In the Nazi view, threats to the state encompassed a wide variety of behaviors. These behaviors included everything from organized political opposition to individual critical remarks about the Nazis. The government even defined belonging to certain categories or groups of people as threatening. To combat this wide array of potential threats, the Nazi dictatorship gave the Gestapo enormous power.”
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/gestapo
Professor, I don’t think I have ever told you to edit your content. But, the term is “marked classified” As the President has plenary power to declassify. That would apply to Biden…..except for the classified documents retained since his time a Senator.
Iowan stones and glass houses. Biden broke the law when he was a Senator and as Vice-president. Neither position gave Biden the authority to be in possession of (potato tomato) documents marked classified. Under controlled conditions he may have read and return. Also the Vice President has no authority to declassify
Thanks m4seroski, I was baiting the trolls a little bit. But they didn’t bite. You are of course correct.
There is a small bit of minutia that the VP can declassify things the VP or those under his power had originally classified.
Garland has created a stupendous cluster truck. He has to be the most clueless DC swamp rat alive. To think his actions would not spill over onto others, and to not realize the precedent he has established is a sign of an educated idiot.
I keep reminding myself that the FBI Swat Style Mar-A-Lago raid was over an ongoing six-month dispute over records retained pursuant to the Presidential Records Act. Records folks, just records. Honestly after watching Merrick Garland answer questions yesterday, I believe that he has already made his mind up on the Trump and Biden classified document investigations. And obedient little Chris Wray will dutifully follow suit blissfully ignoring whatever Republican subpoenas come his way. It’s a winning formula for the Biden Administration as they continue their push to get a state attorney general or district attorney to charge President Trump with anything (felonious mopery might work ?). Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
Garland is the most political AG in history and that includes Eric Holder, the president’s “wingman”, and RFK, the president’s own brother. This man is a disaster.
The only time that Garland isn’t the worst cabinet member is when something is happening in another realm of government, as when Buttigieg is doing his transportation thing or Mayorkas is doing his border thing. Garland and Mayorkas should be impeached for their actions and inactions, Pete should just ne laughed off the stage.
A lot of second-hand and “reportly” conversations tainting your storyline.
Says the liberal….