Donald Trump May possibly Quickly Be Racking Up Indictments Like Nobody’s Company: Report

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that “close associates” of Donald Trump count on the Justice Department’s Jack Smith–led investigation into his handling of classified documents to outcome in an indictment—which, for these of you maintaining up at dwelling, would make him the 1st president in US history to be indicted twice. (To be clear, he’s also the 1st president in US history to be indicted as soon as.) And according to a new report, Trump’s personal legal group is generating just the very same prediction.

According to Rolling Stone, quite a few attorneys representing Trump—as nicely as political advisers—have “bluntly informed him that they count on the Justice Division to charge him in the criminal investigation into his hoarding of very classified documents following the finish of his presidency,” according to two individuals familiar with the matter. Whilst reportedly insisting to the former guy that they think the probe is “bullshit,” these individuals have nonetheless apparently told him that “they would be shocked at this point if he wasn’t charged—particularly for alleged obstruction of justice—and have urged Trump to prepare for yet another historic fight.” As one particular of the sources place it to the outlet: “Looks like they’re going for it. Folks close to the [former] president have discussed with him what we believe is going to come about quickly, and how he and every person else requires to be prepared for it…it would be crazy not to.”

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Not surprisingly, Trump, in at least one particular of theses chats, has reacted “angrily,” asking, “What about Joe Biden?” (Classified documents had been identified at quite a few places made use of by Biden, and shortly thereafter, Lawyer Common Merrick Garland appointed yet another unique counsel to investigate the matter. Documents had been also identified at former vice president Mike Pence’s dwelling. An critical point that seems to elude the ex-president: Neither the president nor Pence refused to comply with a government request to retrieve the documents.) In April, Trump’s former lawyer common Bill Barr stated in an interview that the classified-documents probe was the one particular Trump should really be “most concerned about.” In yet another interview earlier this month, he told CBS News: “He wouldn’t get in difficulty, in all probability, just for taking them…. The challenge is what did he do just after the government asked for them back and subpoenaed them. And if there’s any games becoming played there, he’s going to be quite exposed.” 

Speaking of what Trump did just after the government asked for him to return the documents—which they started requesting in May possibly 2021—here’s a new and intriguing report from The Washington Post:

Two of Donald Trump’s personnel moved boxes of papers the day just before FBI agents and a prosecutor visited the former president’s Florida dwelling to retrieve classified documents in response to a subpoena—timing that investigators have come to view as suspicious and an indication of feasible obstruction, according to individuals familiar with the matter…. On the evening of June two, the very same day the two personnel moved the boxes, a lawyer for Trump contacted the Justice Division and stated officials there had been welcome to take a look at Mar-a-Lago and choose up classified documents associated to the subpoena. [Senior Justice Department lawyer Jay] Bratt and the FBI agents arrived the following day.

As portion of that take a look at, Bratt and the agents had been invited to take a look at the storage space exactly where Trump aides stated boxes of documents from his time as president had been kept. Court papers filed by the Justice Division say the guests had been told by Trump’s lawyers that they could not open any of the boxes in the storage space or appear at their contents. When FBI agents secured a court order to search Mar-a-Lago two months later, they identified much more than one hundred further classified documents, some in Trump’s workplace and some in the storage location.

According to the Post, Jack Smith’s group has also identified proof that just before Trump was subpoenaed—but nicely just after the government had began asking for the documents to be returned—he performed a “dress rehearsal” for moving documents he didn’t want to give back. And, that he “at occasions kept classified documents in his workplace in a location exactly where they had been visible and occasionally showed them to other individuals,” according to individuals familiar with the matter. Prosecutors also reportedly stated in an August filing they had proof that “obstructive conduct” took location in response to the May possibly 2022 subpoena.

As has been the case with all of the different investigations into his conduct, Trump has denied all wrongdoing. In a statement, a spokesman told the Post: “This is absolutely nothing much more than a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump that is concocted to meddle in an election and stop the American individuals from returning him to the White Property.”

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The Supreme Court decides to make it a lot easier to pollute wetlands

Which is quite significantly in character for the Court’s conservative majority. Per The New York Occasions:

The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to police millions of acres of wetlands, delivering yet another setback to the agency’s capacity to combat pollution. Writing for 5 justices, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. stated that the Clean Water Act does not permit the agency to regulate discharges into wetlands close to bodies of water unless they have “a continuous surface connection” to these waters.

The selection was a second significant blow to the EPA’s authority and to the energy of administrative agencies typically. Final year, the court limited the EPA’s energy to address climate change under the Clean Air Act. Authorities in environmental law stated the selection would leave several wetlands topic to pollution without having penalty, sharply undercutting the EPA’s authority to shield them beneath the Clean Water Act.

Patrick Parenteau, a professor at Vermont Law College, told the Occasions that the selection is “a truly disastrous outcome for wetlands, which have develop into certainly important for biodiversity preservation and flood handle.” In a surprise twist, Brett Kavanaugh sided with the Court’s liberal justices, writing in a concurring opinion that the selection will have “significant repercussions for water good quality and flood handle all through the United States.” In a separate concurring opinion, Elena Kagan noted that the Court restricted the EPA’s capacity to regulate energy plant emissions final year beneath the very same apparent belief that it knows much more about the atmosphere than environmental authorities, writing: “There, the majority’s non-textualism barred the EPA from addressing climate modify by curbing energy plant emissions in the most powerful way. Right here, that approach prevents the EPA from maintaining our country’s waters clean by regulating adjacent wetlands. The vice in each situations is the very same: the Court’s appointment of itself as the national selection-maker on environmental policy.”

Ron DeSantis apparently pondering about taking a web page from Trump’s playbook on January six

https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1661771915348914190

GOP lawmaker stands up for the underrepresented small guys

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1661805398452568074

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