It Just Keeps Getting Worse

Could the news about Trump, keeping classified information in desk drawers and boxes at Mar-a-Lago get any worse? Of course it can, and I suspect it will continue to do so.

Today’s revelation is the news that some of the documents contained information about a foreign country’s nuclear capabilities: “Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special-access programs, according to people familiar with the search, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive details of an ongoing investigation.”

The designation of material as top secret isn’t some random thing. Top secret means unauthorized release could do grave damage to the national security. Whether these documents involve friend or foe, it’s not difficult to see the layers of damage that Trump could have done here if these documents fell into the wrong hands. It’s not just the release of injurious information, it’s also the damage done to relationships with key international partners. And perhaps worst of all here, is not knowing what Trump did or permitted, intentionally, knowingly, recklessly and or negligently to be done with these documents.

Imagine if Barack Obama had done this. The Republicans would be screaming from the rafters and they’d be joined by Democrats too, and rightly so. In fact, we know this is true, based on the Republicans attacks on Hillary Clinton, who did nothing criminal. Clinton took to Twitter today, in her inimitable manner, to make sure this was understood.

So where are we on the criminal investigation? It is, of course, as you likely are aware, a hash after Judge Aileen Cannon entered an order that ignores the facts and gets much of the law wrong so she can create a special rule for Trump. Judge Cannon’s rule entitles Trump to suspend further investigation involving the fruits of the search at Mar-a-Lago until a special master second guesses everything DOJ’s filter team has done in its review of the seized items.

There are so many things wrong with Judge Cannon’s ruling that it’s hard to know where to begin. Suffice it to say, anyone under investigation with sufficient resources to hire a good lawyer would LOVE to have the benefit of the Trump rule. Who wouldn’t want to delay investigation and throw up roadblocks to prevent law enforcement from completing an investigation? It’s meshugas and Twitter bloomed with examples of just how ludicrous the ruling was.

In The Week Ahead on August 29, I pointed out that every federal judge is appointed by a president who belongs to one party or the other, and I was not ready to pass judgment on Judge Cannon just because she’s a Trump appointee. I still stick to the view that there are many fine judges out there, appointed by Trump. My objection to Judge Cannon is that her order in this case is nonsense. She did her undergraduate degree at Duke, went to the University of Michigan, a top 14 law school, worked in an excellent firm and spent six or seven years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, where she did both trial and appellate work. It defies logic, then, to think she lacked the intelligence to grasp the issues in this case.

One of the next steps we’ll see will be a decision by DOJ on whether to try to convince the Judge to reconsider her order (among other things, she hamstrings the ability of top DOJ officials to be part of the intelligence community risk assessment, which she could address by amending her order) or take an appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Whichever option DOJ pursues, Judge Cannon’s order will delay investigation in a way that is unwarranted. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a judge get so much wrong in one order and the damage to public confidence in the courts comes at a time when it is already fragile, mostly due to the Supreme Court.

DOJ has a lot of cards left to play. While Judge Cannon’s order impacts its ability to proceed with leads from the search, there are earlier matters, including the certification by Trump lawyer Christina Bobb that all classified materials had been returned, that are fair game. And today’s news about the serious nature of some of the items Trump pilfered when he left the White House should give DOJ every incentive to move forward as expeditiously as possible.

In other legal news, there is reporting tonight that Steve Bannon will be indicted on Thursday by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg (who notoriously seemed to abandon a case against Trump regarding his business practices earlier this year). Bannon will reportedly be indicted on charges in connection with his “We Build the Wall” fundraising effort, where he duped thousands of donors who believed the money they sent in would be used to build Trump’s southern border wall. Trump pardoned Bannon on his way out of the White House.

Bannon had been charged with (allegedly) diverting over a million dollars from the would-be-wall-funders donations and paying salary to a campaign official, as well as personal expenses for himself. Tonight, Bannon was quick to go on the offensive with outrageous complaints about law enforcement—entirely predictable for him.

We’ll take a look at the charges, if they do come, later this week. I’ve always wondered how duped Trump supporters felt about their leader pardoning the man who stole money from them. Maybe we’ll get a chance to find out.

Decidedly cooler weather in ‘Bama these past few days (if you ignore midday when we’re still in the 80’s and focus on the evening and early morning hours when we creep back down into the high 70’s) and that means it’s knitting weather for me. Not that I ever stop because it’s hot, but I haven’t been particularly productive this summer. I’m looking forward to making up for it this fall. I’ve got my loyal cat Dingus’ support. Apparently he likes cashmere, too.

Are you a knitter? I’d love to see what you’ve got on your needles. Not a knitter? You can always learn.

We’re in this together,

Joyce