quote:Investigators now suspect, based on witness statements, security camera footage, and other documentary evidence, that boxes including classified material were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area after the subpoena was served, and that Trump personally examined at least some of those boxes, these people said. While Trump’s team returned some documents with classified markings in response to the subpoena, a later FBI search found more than 100 additional classified items that had not been turned over.
quote:The Washington Post reported in October that Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, had told investigators that he moved boxes at Mar-a-Lago at the former president’s instruction after the subpoena was issued. Smith’s team has video surveillance footage corroborating that account, The Post reported, and considers the evidence significant.
quote:Investigators also have evidence that Trump sought advice from other lawyers and advisers on how he could keep documents after being told by some on his team that he could not, people familiar with the investigation said. They have collected evidence that multiple advisers warned Trump that trying to keep the documents could be legally perilous.
As investigators piece together what happened in May and June of last year, they have been asking witnesses if Trump showed classified documents, including maps, to political donors, people familiar with those conversations said.
Such alleged conduct could demonstrate Trump’s habits when it came to classified documents, and what may have motivated him to want to keep the papers. The Post has previously reported that Trump told aides he did not want to return documents and other items from his presidency — which by law are supposed to remain in government custody — because he believed they belonged to him.
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
quote:Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
WaPo is reporting that the DoJ has evidence that Trump discussed withholding documents subject to the subpoena because they were "his".
If he did that, he's so screwed.
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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
quote:Prosecutors allege Trump "employed a 'catch and kill' scheme to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects," and "went to great lengths to hide this conduct, causing dozens of false entries in business records to conceal criminal activity, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws."
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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"A mob is a place where people go to get away from their conscience" Atticus Finch
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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
quote:Originally posted by jon-nyc:
Oh, and I’ve read there is precedent to interpret the SOL tolling as any days you’re out of state.
quote:The first issue that Bragg has is time. Trump committed the underlying campaign finance offense in 2016, and the statute of limitations on bookkeeping fraud and campaign finance violations is five years. That brings you to 2021. The statute of limitations for tax evasion is three years. Even if you don’t start the clock on that until the story breaks in the news in 2018, that brings you, once again, to 2021. To get to 2023, Bragg appears to be arguing that the statute of limitations paused while Trump was president and living out of state. That’s… a theory, but not necessarily a good one, and certainly not one that has been tested enough to know how it’s going to hold up in the courts. Remember, the alleged immunity Trump had from prosecutions applied only at the federal level. Local prosecutors, like Bragg’s predecessor Cyrus Vance, who was the Manhattan DA during Trump’s presidency, could have charged him with this crime at any time.
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If you think looting is bad wait until I tell you about civil forfeiture.
quote:Originally posted by jon-nyc:
It occurred to me that if in, say, 2010, someone would have said “in 2023 Donald Trump is going to be indicted for falsifying business records”, literally zero Americans would have been surprised.
But if you had added “and by then he’ll be a former President”, that’s when the disbelief would have kicked in.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.