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'I'd be advising my client to tell their family I'm looking at jail time': Mueller prosecutor on the FBI's Trump raid
August 08, 2022
Former Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who worked on special counsel Robert Mueller's team, explained on MSNBC that if he was advising a client facing what former President Donald Trump is, there would be a strong warning.
"If I were Donald Trump's lawyer right now, thank God I'm not, I would be advising my client to be telling [their] family, 'I am looking at jail time, and we should make plans accordingly.'"
After House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) threatened Attorney General Merrick Garland, Weissmann said that he should just keep his head down and keep doing his job.
"That is such a palpably false statement, the comment from Mr. McCarthy that he is seen enough," said Weissmann. "One of the things that none of us has seen is the warrant, an application to the court. It's very important to remember this was not a break-in, this was not a raid, this was not the attorney general of the United States deciding willy-nilly on his own that he was going to do the search. A court had to approve the search here based on, as you point out Lawrence, evidence. The evidence had to show that there was probable cause of a crime. That is the way our judicial system works, and that is what happened here."
While McCarthy may want to hold a public hearing of Garland and demand documents, what the Republicans might ultimately end up doing is drawing additional attention to what Trump stole or attempted to destroy.
"I think the thing that I found the most remarkable and I think it's really worth people really taking a step back, is this does mean the attorney general of the United States did not trust the former president to simply produce the documents voluntarily pursuant to a subpoena," said Weissmann. "And it was necessary to go via search warrant. Normally, you think that if you order a subpoena to any reputable person they will produce documents. When you issue and obtain a search warrant, it is because you do not trust that the person will actually produce the documents. That means if they had to have evidence of that that led Merrick Garland to take this step. It was bold but certainly approved by the courts."
He went on to joke that the irony is that, all of the sudden, Kevin McCarthy cares about document preservation.
"The Trump administration pioneered all these different ways of doing it from flushing it down the toilet, to burning it in the White House fireplace," recalled Weissmann. "Points for creativity, but, all in all, I don't think I expect a statement from the Justice Department about [McCarthy's threats]."
See the comments below:
Weissmann www.youtube.com
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Nicolle Wallace comes off of vacation break to explain how Republicans will respond to Trump raid
August 08, 2022
After Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow called in Nicolle Wallace, who previously worked in George W. Bush's White House. The former Republican was asked how the GOP will likely respond to the news that Trump removed 15 boxes of documents from the White House that were supposed to be sent to the National Archives.
She cited Steven Ayers, a former supporter of President Donald Trump who appeared before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. After following Trump, Ayers was charged with crimes and made it clear that he felt manipulated.
"He's an insurrectionist turned January 6 select committee public witness who I think was an important window into how brazenly Trump and his media allies, people like Tucker Carlson, feed lies to the base," said Wallace. "But I would hope some of the people who may be on the fence in that endeavor would look like at Bill Barr, you know, defying and laughing and making a mockery out of Trump's lies and nonsense, calling them BS, over and over again."
Wallace went on to explain that while there might be a number of things that are political that Trump could be attacked over, the destruction of documents or stealing of classified information is something that is the least of them.
"Everyone close to Trump knows he's a liar," she explained. "They're acutely aware of his penchant for mishandling classified information. Trump has been mishandling classified information and you covered it at the time since [Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov wormed his way back into the Oval Office in 2017. I believe the National Security Advisor was either witness to it or tried to stop it or stem it. But if that is the crime for which there was probable cause to seek a search warrant, then we have our first window into how potential crimes by the ex-president are viewed by this Justice Department."
She went on to say that there is a "tsunami of questions" that "far outweigh the revelations on a night like tonight."
RELATED: Enraged Trump supporters gather into convoy outside Mar-a-Lago after FBI search
"We may just be learning the very first things we will know from now forward. As your first words tonight made clear, we've never done this before, but we may be learning the very first things there to know about how Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco view potential crimes committed by an ex-American president," said Wallace.
See the conversation below or at this link.
Nicolle comes out of vacation break to explain how Republicans will respond to Trump raid www.youtube.com
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Kevin McCarthy puts Merrick Garland on notice after FBI raid: 'Preserve your documents and clear your calendar'
August 08, 2022
After seeing that the FBI issued a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Attorney General Merrick Garland to preserve his documents and clear his schedule.
The comment puts Garland on notice that McCarthy and the Republican officials are coming for him if they regain power in Congress in November.
In a statement posted to Twitter Monday evening, McCarthy attacked the Justice Department saying that they reached "an intolerable state of weaponized politicization."
Republicans are measuring the drapes in the Capitol more than three months prior to the election, assuming that they'll take over. They have threatened to then usher in two years of hearings and subpoenas to attack President Joe Biden and his administration.
RELATED: Enraged Trump supporters gather into convoy outside Mar-a-Lago after FBI search
"When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned," McCarthy said in a statement.
See the statement below:
\u201cAttorney General Garland: preserve your documents and clear your calendar.\u201d— Kevin McCarthy (@Kevin McCarthy) 1660006875
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