MAGA's "Gotcha" in Classified Docs case is a Phantasm
DOJ documents unredacted by Judge Cannon do not reveal the "smoking gun" that MAGA think it does
This week MAGA Media outlets have breathlessly declared that they’ve found “smoking gun” evidence that proves that the Biden Administration was in communication with the National Archives and therefore pressed their thumb on the scale in the Trump classified documents case.
It’s diabolical y’all, diabolical.
From Gateway Pundit
Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday ordered key evidence in Jack Smith’s classified documents case to be unredacted.
The newly unredacted documents revealed Biden’s White House had direct ties to the Mar-a-Lago raid. The Biden Regime was also directly tied to Jack Smith’s investigation despite claims to the contrary from US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
[…]
Unredacted: On May 5, 2021, less than 5 months after the end of President Trump’s term, NARA General Counsel Gary Stern sent an internal email attaching a draft letter to President Trump’s PRA representatives. Stern noted that he “had several conversations” with WH…”
NEW: Thanks to order by Judge Cannon, key evidence related to classified docs case is now unredacted. On the left: What DOJ/Jack Smith wanted to conceal. On the right: Now we know why. More proof of collaboration btw Biden White House and NARA to concoct a case.
But have they found what they think they’ve found?
If you look at the unredacted text in details you don’t find what they claim.
“Stern noted that he “had several conversations” with WH-ORM’s (Redacted)”
Shockingly, they cut the sentence off in the middle. In fact, they cut it off in the middle of the WH-ORM acronym and shorted it to just “WH-” — which would be the White House.
However, WH-ORM is the “White House Office of Records Management.” So Stern — the General Counsel for the National Archives — was really talking to the White House Office of Records Management about the missing documents. He wasn’t just talking to the White House.
And that is strange how?
ORM is responsible for handling classified documents in the White House. NARA is responsible for handling classified documents after the current President has left the White House. “Several conversations” between these two organizations only makes sense when trying to determine where the documents have gone.
They continue.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland’s claims about “independence” from investigations into Trump are LIES.
The Biden White House and DOJ were involved in developing a criminal case against Trump for ‘mishandling of classified documents.’
[…]
NARA General Counsel Stern was put in touch with high ranking DOJ official who then gave him instructions on how to cover his tracks.
This states that…
Su — on behalf of the Biden Administration — referred NARA to DOJ on January 21, 2022.
This is their “smoking gun” that the referral came from the Biden Administration, which is to say by this point they had confirmed that the documents were no longer in the White House, and that NARA did not have them therefore they were illegally missing because Donald Trump — at this point in time — did not have a Security Clearance. President Biden had canceled his clearance because he had revealed classified information to Russian officials.
WASHINGTON — President Biden said on Friday that he would bar his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, from receiving intelligence briefings traditionally given to former presidents, saying that Mr. Trump could not be trusted because of his “erratic behavior” even before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The move was the first time that a former president had been cut out of the briefings, which are provided partly as a courtesy and partly for the moments when a sitting president reaches out for advice. Currently, the briefings are offered on a regular basis to Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Mr. Biden, speaking to Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, said Mr. Trump’s behavior worried him “unrelated to the insurrection” that gave rise to the second impeachment of Mr. Trump.
“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Mr. Biden said.
“What value is giving him an intelligence briefing?” Mr. Biden added. “What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
He’s not cleared. If he has classified documents - it’s a crime. [Note: There was apparently a lag in terminating Trump’s Q Clearance - which relates to Nuclear Materials - this oversight was corrected after the indictment was filed]
Who handles crimes? The DOJ.
In the further section of that page - which Gateway Pundit claims “high ranking DOJ official who then gave him instructions on how to cover his tracks” the document actually says they instructed Stern to get in contact with the NARA Inspector General and the DNI Inspector General.
During the consult, Su referred Stern and (redacted) to Department of Justice Associate Deputy Attorney General LOEB and Associate Deputy Attorney General Anthony NEWMAN. Id. On January 24, 2022 Loeb and Newman instructed (Redacted) and Stern “to refer the matter to their Office of the Inspector General” (“NARA-OIG”) and the “Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) IG.”
The Inspector Genera;’s Offices handle investigations of NARA and ODNI themselves. These are their own internal police - who would double-check that everything they’re doing was appropriate and legal. NARA’s IG would ensure that they were performing best practices within the National Archives and the ODNI IG would do the same for National Intelligence issues.
Again, how exactly is this “suspect?” What “tracks” are being covered?
It continues.
NEWMAN also provided DOJ contacts Jay BRATT, Chief of the National Security Division and Corey AMUNDSON Chief of the Public Integrity Section.
The Chief of National Security for the DOJ is the person who would best decide whether to investigate the missing documents as a National Security threat and a crime. The Chief of Public Integrity would be the top person to determine if those within the administration —- or formerly within the administration — have or have not violated the law.
Everything about this is perfectly normal in the course of getting the proper people involved in order to have them determine if a crime had taken place.
The Office of Records Management would have the list of classified documents which had been given to Donald Trump but had not yet been returned. NARA being in contact with them is not odd. It’s not strange. Consulting with White House Counsel on what the laws were is not strange. It’s not abnormal. The job of the White House Counsel is to provide legal advice. Talking to White House counsel is not the same as talking to President Joe Biden.
The White House Counsel does not do politics. They don’t give political advice, they give legal advice.
The fact that their legal advice to NARA was to take up the issue with DOJ doesn’t mean that they’ve instructed DOJ on what to do about that issue. DOJ has to make their own decisions. And DOJ’s advice was to run the issue by the Inspector General to make sure what they were doing was legal.
This isn’t a “Gotcha” - that Joe Biden sicced that FBI on Trump.
Joe had nothing to do with it. And the FBI didn’t want to do the search warrant.
Months of disputes between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents over how best to try to recover classified documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and residence led to a tense showdown near the end of July last year, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
Prosecutors argued that new evidence suggested Trump was knowingly concealing secret documents at his Palm Beach, Fla., home and urged the FBI to conduct a surprise raid at the property. But two senior FBI officials who would be in charge of leading the search resisted the plan as too combative and proposed instead to seek Trump’s permission to search his property, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive investigation.
Prosecutors ultimately prevailed in that dispute, one of several previously unreported clashes in a tense tug of war between two arms of the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue a criminal investigation of a former president. The FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on Aug. 8, recovering more than 100 classified items, among them a document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities.
This was after Trump had already defied a subpoena and lied on a sworn affidavit that “all the documents had been returned.”
But they hadn’t been returned. They found 100 classified documents in his broom closet and IN HIS DESK.
He broke the law. He’s a criminal. If he had returned the document when NARA had asked more than a year previously - they would have let the fact that he still had them slide.
They let it slide for Mike Pence. They let it slide for Joe Biden. They would have let it slide for Donald Trump - but he had to push it.
And he got exactly what he was asking for - he got indicted. And now he’s being prosecuted.
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