I don't know about you but I'm rather worn out by what seem to be monthly occurrences of living in "unprecedented times."
This certainly fits the bill though.
Former President Trump on Monday said that his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida was "under siege" by a "large group" of FBI agents conducting a search warrant.
"Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate," Trump said. "It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections."
"Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before," Trump said, alleging that the FBI agents broke into his safe.
One of the first reactions I saw on Twitter came from David Axelrod, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama.
One thing is very clear.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 8, 2022
Garland would not have authorized this raid, and no federal judge would have signed off on it, if there weren't significant evidence to warrant it.
Sorry David, but that's not going to blunt any cynicism. Heck, we need to look no further than how the flimsy Steele Dossier was used to trigger an expansive investigation over whether or not Trump was a Russian asset. And how about when former Trump associate Carter Page was spied on, only to later learn two of the FISA warrants were invalid? So while no one (even a U.S. President) is above the law, I think we all need to reserve judgement until we know more.
All that being said, we as Americans need to demand transparency on this saga, and a sufficient explanation needs to happen posthaste. Even leftist former Gov. Andrew Cuomo understands this.
DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations.
— Andrew Cuomo (@andrewcuomo) August 9, 2022
I don't think anyone summed up my feeling about this better than Andrew Yang, who was one of many Dem presidential candidates in 2020.
I’m no Trump fan. I want him as far away from the White House as possible. But a fundamental part of his appeal has been that it’s him against a corrupt government establishment. This raid strengthens that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution.
— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) August 9, 2022
Along those lines, Trump released what appeared to be a quasi campaign ad in the aftermath of his home being searched.
Trump posted this on Truth Social an hour ago. 👀 pic.twitter.com/n6tlfOmwG0
— Daniel Bostic (@debostic) August 9, 2022
One final thought that could quell a lot of the "hot takes:" I would assume that Trump himself received a copy of the search warrant. Why doesn't he take the initiative and release the contents of said warrant? If this search was as egregious as Trump suggested, why wouldn't he take the steps to fortify his case?
Buckle up.
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Apparently neither Trump himself OR his lawyers, including those at the scene, were given the warrant! Not to mention the raiders completely overreached the necessarily narrow limits of such a warrant, searching Melania's wardrobe???
ReplyDeleteI doubt that's true that no one on Trump's legal team received a copy of the warrant.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, AG Garland requested Thursday that the DOJ unseal the warrant, so it'll be pretty telling if Team Trump strenuously objects to such action.
As of today, Trump has strongly endorsed unsealing the warrant AND the inventory of items taken. Wonder if it will include any of Melania's wardrobe?
ReplyDeleteAnd you have to wonder what was taken that wasn't there before the raid? A number of pundits have posited that unless there is something "terrible" found that justified this search that it is going to look like a crass political stunt.
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