Then, in federal court yesterday – in a classic smoke-and-fog, spin-the-narrative maneuver – he sued the government for searching his house – submitting a “legal” brief that appears to have been crayoned by trolls from Trump University Law School.
A few fun samples: “To date, the government has failed to legitimize its historic decision to raid the home of a president who had been fully cooperative” (the search warrant application went through normal channels, and Trump has not been cooperative); the FBI and Justice Department have “long treated Donald J. Trump unfairly” (the judge who authorized the search reiterated yesterday that he believed, based on the FBI’s application, that “probable cause…of multiple federal crimes would be found” at Mar-a-Lago, including obstruction of an investigation); and the “aggressive” FBI acted “with no understanding of the distress that it would cause most Americans” (I’d love to see the polls on that one).
I could waste my time, and yours, fact-checking his deranged polemic. Instead, let’s excerpt this succinct analysis posted yesterday by Bradley P. Moss, a seasoned Washington attorney who specializes in national security issues:
“What happened on Aug. 8, 2022 was not tyranny. It was not political persecution. It was not a minor dust up over bureaucratic processes blown out of proportion. It was the criminal justice system operating just like it does with any other private citizen on any other given day ending in a ‘y.’
“…What also is true is that Trump had particular legal obligation as the former president to properly turn over presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration. That is mandated by the Presidential Records Act because those records are the property of the United States. They are not Trump’s personal property.
“…That is not an abuse of law enforcement processes. That is how the law works. You cannot remove properly marked classified documents and place them in a location not authorized for retention of classified documents. You cannot obstruct a federal investigation seeking to lawfully recover those documents. You cannot present false statements to federal investigators.
“Our jails are filled with people who have gone to jail for less. Search warrants are executed on properties and residences every day by local, state and federal law enforcement authorities in a manner no different than what happened at Mar-a-Lago. Those individuals’ lawyers also are not permitted to impede or micromanage the execution of the warrant, just as Trump’s lawyers were not permitted to do so.
“…The individuals subject to the search warrant also are not permitted access to the underlying probable cause affidavit unless and until there is an actual criminal indictment. Trump is not special in that regard…If Trump is indicted, he will have access to the full criminal justice process and can make every defense he wishes at that time in pre-trial motions. Until that time, let the justice system run its course.”
Care to guess which website posted Moss’ analysis?
Fox News.
That’s how screwed Trump is – assuming, if we may, that the wheels of justice are grinding with all deliberate speed. In the plaintive words of constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe, “The vast number of tentacles this corrupt democracy-destroying octopus is turning out to have mustn’t be allowed to slow the painstaking process of indicting the head of the beast before it swallows our republic whole, chews it up, and spits it out.”