Thu Sep 1, 2022, 06:05 AM

A Justice Department Show of Force in the Mar-a-Lago Case

Donald Trump
A Justice Department Show of Force in the Mar-a-Lago Case
By Scott R. Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, Benjamin Wittes
Wednesday, August 31, 2022, 6:46 PM

The Justice Department’s filing Tuesday evening in former President Trump’s federal court effort to slow the Mar-a-Lago investigation presents a remarkable show of strength and confidence in the ongoing probe.

The document’s legal arguments are not particularly engaging, as they respond to uninteresting, meritless legal challenges from the former president. Its factual summary, by contrast, is a rip-roaringly great read, one in which the department tells the story of its investigation in some detail. Some of this story it has told before, but some it has not. There are a lot of new details in here, and nearly all of them are bad for the former president.

Some of these flesh out the volume and nature of the classified material Trump hoarded at Mar-a-Lago. But other details, more importantly in our view, flesh out questions of intent and mens rea that are key to all of the statutes at issue in the warrant. While the document goes out of its way not to discuss Trump’s personal behavior, it also includes material specifically suggestive of the degree to which the department has collected material incriminating Trump personally.

All of which suggests some preliminary answers to key questions: How big a problem is the Mar-a-Lago investigation for Trump? How long is this going to take? Specifically, as we shall explain, it suggests that the investigation is a very big problem for Trump, one in which he appears to have a great deal of exposure. But it also suggests that the investigation is going to take a while—a point on which a careful reading of the filing leaves little doubt.

more...

https://www.lawfareblog.com/justice-department-show-force-mar-lago-case

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9 replies	Author	Time	Post
A Justice Department Show of Force in the Mar-a-Lago Case (Original post)	babylonsister	Sep 2022	OP
KnR ... no comment yet, thx for the link	MiHale	Sep 2022	#1
The evidence is damning and Trump WILL go down, there's no doubt	Mr. Ected	Sep 2022	#2
What is HSC-PSITX	dclarston13	Sep 2022	#3
I believe ...	getagrip_already	Sep 2022	#4
This...	babylonsister	Sep 2022	#9
I am hoping, and in fact believing the FBI is investigating the sale of those documents	Escurumbele	Sep 2022	#5
+1. Mar-A-Lago wasn't the only hiding place for his stash of stolen secrets	dalton99a	Sep 2022	#7
This has to be true	dclarston13	Sep 2022	#8
They didn't need to give his passport back.	plimsoll	Sep 2022	#6

Response to babylonsister (Original post)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 07:20 AM

MiHale (7,889 posts)

1. KnR ... no comment yet, thx for the link

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Response to babylonsister (Original post)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 08:03 AM

Mr. Ected (9,339 posts)

2. The evidence is damning and Trump WILL go down, there's no doubt

But our desires and cries for immediate justice - JUST ARREST HIM NOW, DAMMIT - are still a bit premature. The DOJ is well on its way to connecting all the dots, namely, drawing a nexus between the evidence found and the possessor of said evidence, but we're not quite there. So....

...enter Round II of the J6 Committee hearings. Let's get back to revealing all the reasons Trump was a traitor to the country. Let the court of public opinion continue to ruminate on his evil ways. Let the numbers continue to grow in support of indicting him for this, for that, for anything and everything he did in office that was illegal, unethical, immoral and dangerous to our country. Let September be the month of revelation.

Then let's vote like we'll never be able to vote again....because it's not just hyperbole.

And then after the mid-terms, let the hammer drop with dispatch on one Donald J. Trump and his hapless gang of miscreant traitors. Don't let them portray this as politically motivated. Let him hang himself with the evidence trail he's so foolishly left behind.

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Response to babylonsister (Original post)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 08:39 AM

dclarston13 (344 posts)

3. What is HSC-PSITX

The document in the foreground is Secret//SCI which is uncommon. Then the label goes to state "Contains sensitive compartmented information up to HSC-PSITX". Or at least I think it says that. Secret//SCI is odd in itself, HSC probably refers to some type of Human intel but PSITX I got nothing.

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Response to dclarston13 (Reply #3)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 09:04 AM

getagrip_already (10,640 posts)

4. I believe ...

The "P" is a highly sensitive indicator, SI is signals intelligence, and TX is a kind of satellite imagery.

But I'm not 100% sure.

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Response to dclarston13 (Reply #3)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 10:19 AM

babylonsister (170,306 posts)

9. This...

All of the secret/top secret coversheets in the FBI photo have the same classification heading:

"HCS-P/SI/TK"

HCS-P = Intelligence product derived from sensitive human sources.

SI = Special Intelligence aka Signals Intelligence (sensitive communications)

TK = Talent Keyhole.

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) August 31, 2022

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Response to babylonsister (Original post)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 09:05 AM

Escurumbele (2,918 posts)

5. I am hoping, and in fact believing the FBI is investigating the sale of those documents

My theory is that the reason trump wants the documents back is not so much because he is an idiot who doesn't understand the hole he is in, but because he had sold them, and the transaction was interrupted by the search, without the documents he gets no pay.

They should search his other golf courses, mostly the one where the LIV tournament was held in New Jersey, I bet he has documents, or copies there. His New York apartment should also be searched, and everywhere where he has stayed more than 1/2 a day.

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Response to Escurumbele (Reply #5)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 09:10 AM

dalton99a (75,505 posts)

7. +1. Mar-A-Lago wasn't the only hiding place for his stash of stolen secrets

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Response to dalton99a (Reply #7)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 09:27 AM

dclarston13 (344 posts)

8. This has to be true

The guy acts like a druggy, and druggies stash stuff all over the place.

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Response to babylonsister (Original post)

Thu Sep 1, 2022, 09:09 AM

plimsoll (1,565 posts)

6. They didn't need to give his passport back.

I wonder if it was a hint. Sure he can still do damage from abroad, but there won't be the ongoing theatrics in the courtroom and his followers won't be out trying to start their little civil war.

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