Mod: The specter of Trumpbeing indicted soon for espionage has made even his most ardent stooges dummy up a little bit. Republicans, once outraged by the Mar-a-Lago search, become quieter as details emerge (DNYUZlink): In the minutes and hours after the F.B.I.’s search of former President Donald J. Trump’s residence in Florida this month, his supporters did not hesitate to denounce what they saw as a blatant abuse of power and outrageous politicization of the Justice Department.
But with the release of a redacted affidavit detailing the justification for the search, the former president’s allies were largely silent, a potentially telling reaction with ramifications for his political future.
“I would just caution folks not to draw too many conclusions,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, a Republican, said on Fox News. It was a starkly different admonition from his earlier condemnations of what he said were “politically motivated actions.”
Some Republicans will no doubt rally around Mr. Trump and his claim that he is once again being targeted by a rogue F.B.I. that is still out to get him. His former acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, said on Twitter that “this raid was, in fact, just about documents,” which he called “simply outrageous.”
Representative Andy Biggs,
Republican of
Arizona and an ardent
Trump ally, was on the right-wing broadcaster
Newsmax denouncing the
F.B.I. as politically biased, though he notably did not defend the former president’s possession of highly classified documents.
But generally, even the most bombastic Republicans— Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Jim Jordan of Ohio— were at least initially focused elsewhere. Ms. Greene was posting on Friday about border “invasions.”
Ms. Boebert noted on
Twitter the anniversary of the suicide bombing of
U.S. service members at the airport in
Kabul,
Afghanistan.
Mr. Jordan was focused on an interview with
Mark Zuckerberg, the
Facebook founder. None tweeted about the affidavit as the accusations against
Mr. Trump have become increasingly serious.
Classified documents dealing with matters such as
Mr. Trump’s correspondences with the
North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un were stored in unsecured rooms at
Mar-a-Lago,
The New York Times reported this month. The untempered attacks on the
F.B.I. after the initial search led to threats against federal law enforcement, opening up
Republicans— long the self-proclaimed party of law and order — to charges from
Democrats that they were trying to “defund” the agency.
Republicans on Sunday shows reveal how scared they are about Trump's document scandal (
Raw Storylink): ... the scandal has grown into such a substantial issue that
Republican officials note it has become difficult for the
2022 campaign. In a Sunday evening rant on his social media site,
Trump alleged that the whole issue was an attempt by
Democrats to win the election. The problem with his argument, however, is that the effort by the
National Archives began in
May 2021. For seven months, he refused to turn over documents.
By the time he did, it was discovered he had stolen classified information that he wouldn't release back to the government. The
Justice Department filed a subpoena, but
Trump refused. Finally, 14 months after the initial contact, the
DOJ filed a search warrant and took the documents back.
If Trump had simply complied with a subpoena, the case likely wouldn't have seen the light of day. Only after Trump refused to turn over the stolen information did the FBI show up. Even then, they didn't wear jackets with FBI across the back. It wasn't even revealed that they were there until Trump revealed it himself.
Mod: More rewarding information can be found at both links.
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com
