Orange Meltdown, Con't

So the answer to "Will anyone at the Justice Department prosecute Donald Trump for keeping thousands of documents, many classified material, at Mar-a-Lago in direct violation of the Presidential Records Act?" is "Actually yes, we have a federal grand jury looking into possible charges now."

Federal prosecutors have begun a grand jury investigation into whether classified White House documents that ended up at former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida home were mishandled, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The intensifying inquiry suggests that the Justice Department is examining the role of Mr. Trump and other officials in his White House in their handling of sensitive materials during the final stages of his administration.

In recent days, the Justice Department has taken a series of steps showing that its investigation has progressed beyond the preliminary stages. Prosecutors issued a subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration to obtain the boxes of classified documents, according to the two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The authorities have also made interview requests to people who worked in the White House in the final days of Mr. Trump’s presidency, according to one of the people.

The investigation is focused on the discovery by the National Archives in January that at the end of Mr. Trump’s term he had taken to his home at the Mar-a-Lago resort 15 boxes from the White House that contained government documents, mementos, gifts and letters.

After the boxes were returned to the National Archives, its archivists found documents containing “items marked as classified national security information,” the agency told Congress in February. In April, it was reported that federal authorities were in the preliminary stages of investigating the handling of the classified documents.

The subpoena that was sent to the National Archives in recent days for the classified documents is one of a series of requests that the Justice Department has made to the agency for records from the Trump administration in recent months, according to the two people.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The public affairs office at the National Archives did not return an email message seeking comment. A spokesman for Mr. Trump, Taylor Budowich, said: “President Trump consistently handled all documents in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Belated attempts to second-guess that clear fact are politically motivated and misguided.”

 

It's funny that Trump's people are immediately calling this a "politically motivated witch hunt" except the with in this case was sitting in Trump's basement unsecured where several people had access to classified material that Trump kept after he left office. 

This is pretty much an open and shut case. The Presidential Records Act clearly says Trump can't remove presidential records and take them home with him, even if he declassifies it. He certainly can't keep them in his place of residence after he left office. 

If this is how Trump gets prosecuted, great, but once again there's no jurors that won't be hunted, doxxed, and attacked as MAGA public enemy #1 in order to force a mistrial, and even if you believe the feds can keep a trial jury safe without multiple people in the process being Trump voters who will gladly intimidate jurors, there's no way no jury that won't include at least one Trump voter who will make sure he's never convicted.

Bringing charges against Trump will absolutely generate deadly mob violence, and I don't believe our federal trial system and federal law enforcement agencies are ready to deal with that. It failed miserably at January 6th and people died as a result.

Imagine violent January 6th protests all across the country.

That's the starting point.