Tag Archives: Donald Trump

legal news

Judge to unseal part of affidavit?

Call me surprised that the magistrate judge who issued the search warrant to allow FBI agents to look for evidence in Donald Trump’s home has indicated he will unseal part of the affidavit the feds produced to persuade him to act.

I thought he should keep the affidavit secret, that it would jeopardize the investigation into whether Trump broke any laws when he squirreled classified documents away from the White House.

Right wingers, along with Trump, argued that the judge, Bruce Reinhart, unseal all of it in the name of total transparency.

He appears to be splitting the difference.

Trump’s legal woes enter yet another protracted phase – POLITICO

My hope going forward is that the Justice Department will be able to continue in its pursuit of the truth behind the 1/ 6 insurrection; so will the House select committee examining that assault on our democracy … at Trump’s behest.

This is a hyper-sensitive case that needs, in my view, hyper-sensitive eyes and ears that protect the evidence against those who could use it against the government’s pursuit of the truth.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Cheney: losing candidate actually ‘wins’

You know, it’s not every day that a candidate for Congress from the least-populated state in America becomes an instant potential frontrunning candidate for the presidency of the United States.

I believe that is what is happening with Liz Cheney, the lame-duck Wyoming Republican congresswoman who on Tuesday got buried under a relative landslide.

Cheney lost the GOP primary to Harriet Hageman, whom Donald Trump had endorsed. Trump has a serious hate on for Cheney because Cheney had the temerity to cast a pro-impeachment vote against Trump after he incited the 1/6 insurrectionist mob on the Capitol Building.

Cheney now has become Public Enemy No. 1 in the world of Trump.

Now, what about Cheney?

She lost her bid for a fourth term in the U.S. House. She is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. She is as conservative as they come, yet she now is considered a Republican In Name Only because of her outrage at Trump’s incitement of the treasonous mob on 1/6.

Cheney did not congratulate Hageman while delivering her concession speech Tuesday evening. Instead, she said the “real work” is just beginning. Media observers picked up on what they believe is a thinly veiled declaration that she might run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 … particularly if Trump decides to jump back into electoral politics.

In a normal political environment, Liz Cheney’s loss in a Wyoming Republican primary would disappear from the news cycle before dawn of the next day. This isn’t a normal environment, though.

Liz Cheney now becomes a potential national player. She vows to devote the rest of her time in Congress seeking to keep Trump from re-entering the Oval Office. I wish her well in that effort.

The political landscape has become so topsy-turvy simply because Liz Cheney lost a Republican Party primary in a state that formerly mattered to few Americans.

It damn sure matters now!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national news

FBI is now the enemy?

Never did I imagine — not one time in all my years on this good Earth — that we would see the Federal Bureau of Investigation become the target of hate among Americans.

What’s more, the FBI has become the target of a political demographic with a long and eloquent history supporting the agency’s effort to fight organized and other sorts of crime.

We now hear — and this is weird beyond belief — that we need to “de-fund the FBI.” Who’s making that absurd demand? Right-wingers who were so quick to chastise lefties for calling for de-funding the police in the wake of a string of police-involved shootings of Black men and women.

What in the world is happening to us?

The FBI now is a right-wing target because agents obtained a search warrant that enabled them to search the home of a former president of the United States because they had “probable cause” to believe the ex-POTUS had taken highly sensitive material with him from the White House to his home in South Florida.

Earth to right-wingers: That is against the law!

Don’t right wingers believe in the rule of law? That no one is above the law? Didn’t the attorney general, Merrick Garland, pledge to pursue anyone who has broken the law “without fear or favor”?

I must re-state what is obvious to me.

AG Garland followed the letter of the law in seeking a warrant from a federal judicial magistrate.  Federal law does not set a terribly high bar; it asks only that prosecutors can prove “probable cause” that a crime has been committed. The feds made the case to the judge, who then issued the warrant.

Moreover, Donald Trump’s legal team met the agents as they commenced their search. There was no “surprise,” no “siege” at Mar-a-Lago. It was done by the book.

For that the right-wingers want to “de-fund the FBI”?

I have said before that politics at times gets turned upside down and, for good measure, inside out. This is one of those times.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

There’s no talking to them

I am going to wave a white flag of surrender. I give up. I no longer can — nor will I — seek to persuade the Donald Trump cabal of cultists that they are wrong in clinging to their man’s world view … whatever the hell it is!

Truth be told, I made that decision some time ago. I don’t think I have declared my intention publicly, out loud, for all the world to hear.

I have a few critics of this blog who weigh in when I have something critical to say about their hero. As a general rule, I don’t engage them in debate.

Which brings me to my point: which is that there is no point in arguing with someone whose mind is made up, who does not listen or comprehend what I know to be the truth about their guy.

He is, as Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah — a fellow Republican — said in 2016 a “phony” and a “fraud.” He cannot tell the truth. However, the sad reality is that truth-telling doesn’t matter to the cult cabal. They buy into his lies, they repeat them and then dare the rest of us to challenge them. I can challenge the lies, but I cannot challenge the purveyors of the falsehoods.

You’ve heard the saying — or something like it — that warns against trying to talk sense into someone who is blind to any possibility that their guy suffers a fatal flaw. That, in my view, sums up the Trump cabal.

I know what you might be thinking: If I am going to accuse the Trumpkins of being blind to the truth, am I as equally blind to the views expressed on the other side of the great divide?

Not a chance. They are wrong.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Trump’s post-presidency as weird as presidency itself

There can be no denying what it so blatantly obvious, which is that Donald J. Trump’s post-presidency is as weird and chaotic as the presidency itself.

So much of it is because of Trump himself.

Roll it all up into a single stream of thought and you get the picture.

The man never conceded an election he lost; he didn’t attend the inaugural of the man who defeated him; he left the White House the morning of Joe Biden’s inaugural and took classified documents with him to Florida; a congressional committee is examining his role in planning and executing the 1/6 insurrection; he could be charged with felony crimes; he is teasing his cult followers into thinking he might run for the office a third time in 2024; he continues to bash Republicans and Democrats, sowing seeds of distrust and outright hatred among many politicians.

How does this guy ever make it right? He cannot. He refuses to do so.

Will there be a White House ceremony in his future? Hah! He cannot possibly be invited by President Biden to attend, say, an event commemorating the accomplishments of any great American. Trump never says the right thing.

Donald John Trump is an outcast. You know what? I have reason to believe he likes it that way!

Wow!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news, national security

It wasn’t a ‘raid’

One man’s “raid” is another man’s “search,” which of course depends on which side of the great divide you stand.

As I listen to the commentary after the FBI search of Donald Trump’s South Florida digs earlier this week, I am left to presume that the right-wing media have bought wholly and fully into The Donald’s description of the event as a “raid.”

It was nothing of the sort.

The Justice Department sought a search warrant from a federal judge. DOJ officials cited “probable cause” to believe a crime might have been committed. The judge agreed. The FBI entered the glitzy palace … in the presence of one of Trump’s legal advisers.

They left Mar-a-Lago with about a dozen boxes of documents.

It wasn’t a “raid.” Trump’s home was not “under siege,” as the former POTUS said initially. It was all done legally in accordance with federal law and, oh yeah, the U.S. Constitution.

Therefore, I will not refer to the event as a “raid.”

I now will wait — along with the rest of the nation — to learn what the FBI found. That ol’ trick knee of mine tells me they recovered even more evidence that is going to put Donald John Trump into more trouble.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Trump had nuclear secrets? Wow!

Am I hearing this correctly, that some of the documents seized by the FBI in its search of Donald Trump’s Florida digs contained nuclear secrets?

Did the ex-president take this information out of the White House and store them in boxes in the basement of his estate? Were they U.S. nuclear secrets or information about other nuclear powers? Or both?

What in the name of national security would a former president do with this information?

I cannot even begin to wrap my noodle around this bit of news reported today by the Washington Post.

Attorney General Merrick Garland today acknowledged that he gave permission for the FBI to enter Trump’s home. He has also acknowledged that he intends to release the details of the search warrant by the end of the week.

Oh, brother. We all had better hold on with both hands while this matter plays out. This is going to get real ugly.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Oh, the irony of it all

The irony in the partisan reaction to the FBI decision to search Donald Trump’s luxurious pad for documents he wasn’t supposed to take from the White House is just too rich to ignore.

There once was a time when Republicans were seen as belonging to the party of law and order. Yep, the GOP once cheered the cops’ efforts to root out crime. The party once took no prisoners. It said “hang ’em high.”

So, what’s happened in the day or two since the FBI search? Republicans are now accusing the feds of planting evidence. They accuse the FBI and the Justice Department of conspiring to make up a pretext to send the former president to jail in leg irons.

What the hell … ?

The FBI obtained a search warrant using legal means. It persuaded a federal judicial magistrate that it had “probable cause” to believe a crime had been committed. The judge issued the warrant. The G-men and women went to Trump’s glitzy joint and left with about a dozen boxes of documents.

Republicans formerly cheered the feds when they performed these duties. Now they have rallied behind a cult figure and are leveling preposterous allegations against the FBI.

Astonishing, man!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

legal news

Trump takes Fifth

So, what do we have here? A former president who used to vilify others for taking the Fifth because they are “guilty” of something now has — get ready for it — done that very thing.

Donald John Trump was summoned to speak to the New York attorney general’s office. He didn’t answer any questions. Instead, he fell back on his constitutional protection against self-incrimination.

Hey, it’s legal. He can do that. He broke no law.

New York AG Tish James is conducting an investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices. The ex-POTUS has called her probe a witch hunt; he has accused her of being racist.

Trump also has denied doing anything illegal. He has said so repeatedly. Which begs the question:

If the former president is clean, why must he hide behind the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

What-about-ism on full display

1 Comment

The noted right-wing blowhard Glenn Beck has been quoted suggesting that if the FBI felt compelled to search Donald Trump’s home for evidence relating to alleged criminal activity, then it should have done the same thing to Bill Clinton during an impeachment inquiry of the 42nd president.

Sheesh! Well, as usual, the Beckster has gone far afield in trying to attach moral equivalence to what Clinton supposedly did and what might await The Donald.

President Clinton got caught messing around with a young woman who was working in the White House as a temporary employee during a government shutdown. A special prosecutor got wind of it and then summoned Clinton to testify before a federal grand jury. The panel asked Clinton about the affair. He lied about it.

Thus, he broke the law by committing perjury. Therein rested the Republican Party’s pretext to impeach the president. He went to trial. The Senate acquitted Clinton.

What’s happening now is, shall we say, far more egregious.

Donald Trump is under investigation for a series of allegations: seditious conspiracy, violating the Presidential Records Act, dereliction of duty, a violation of his oath of office.

I might throw in treason, but that’s a bit of a stretch. So, I won’t go there.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is conducting a serious probe into whether Trump broke the law. The FBI obtained a warrant to conduct a search of the ex-POTUS’s home. Trump said it is unprecedented. He is right. Then again, so are the crimes for which Trump might be indicted. Right there is all the moral equivalence anyone should need to justify why the FBI did what it did.

As for any notion that another former president’s home should have been searched for evidence … well, there was nothing to seek. It was on the record with his grand jury testimony. Yeah, it was a phony and lame excuse to impeach a president, given what we’ve witnessed so many years later through the conduct of POTUS 45.

As for Glenn Beck’s assertion, I’ll just take it for what it’s worth, which is not a damn thing.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com