Reading Under the Redacted Lines

By Ken Zino

The 38-page redacted document* released last Friday to comply with a Southern District Court of Florida judge’s order to unseal the affidavit giving probable cause that crimes were committed at ex-President Trump’s Mar-a-Largo home seems complex. But the steps leading up to this legal search are simple to comprehend. It was prompted by 184 returned documents that Trump took from the White House including 25 marked “Top Secret” and 92 marked “Secret” that deal with, well, spying.

This is really a simple matter in my view, requiring only the simplest explanation of what is going on.

First, remember that Trump, aka FPOTUS [Former President Of The United States in the filing] publicly demanded that the affidavit justifying the search be released but then took no legal actions whatsoever to compel the court to do so. The crux of the matter is on page 31 subhead 78, “Subject Offenses” and 31 subhead 79 that probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items in violation of USC [United States Code]… will be found at the premises.” Premises, in this case, means multiple, unsecured places at the complex – all of them unsecured with relatively easy access to whomever was poking about.

Remember that classified documents were found previously, which goes back to when Trump left the White House and then later when the National Archives got some documents that should never have left the White House. The first contact with Trump on this matter was May 6, 2021. Government officials were trying to get the documents returned. So the search was hardly a surprise, let alone a misuse of power. Rather it was an attempt to recover loose documents containing state secrets.

As this unfolds Trump and others potentially face a trial in a U.S. Court of law, not Trump’s bully insurrectionist court of fraudulent opinion. There are some serious charges here ranging from the mishandling of classified documents, and/or possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice statutes. [from heading 14 in the release “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act” (FISA) is a dissemination control designed to protect intelligence derived from the collection of information authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or “FISC.”

Simply put: FPOTUS maliciously kept national security records that he was required to turn over to the National Archives. There is a DOJ ongoing investigation and a grand jury looking into violations of a series of grave National Security matters that are discussed under the redactions.

In time, I think some of these serious legal matters will become better known -- likely in only the vaguest of outlines given how sensitive and life-threatening they are to our National Interests and the people who look at for them -- in subsequent legal proceedings.

*Case 9:22-mj-08332-BER Document 102-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/26/20

From the first page:

“1. The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records. The investigation began as a result of a referral the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sent to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on February 9, 2022, hereinafter, “NARA Referral.” The NARA Referral stated that on January 18, 2022, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA), NARA received from the office of former President DONALD J. TRUMP, hereinafter “FPOTUS,” via representatives, fifteen (15) boxes of records, hereinafter, the “FIFTEEN BOXES.” The FIFTEEN BOXES, which had been transported from the FPOTUS property at 1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480, hereinafter, the “PREMISES,” a residence and club known as “Mar-a-Lago,” further described in Attachment A, were reported by NARA to contain, among other things, highly classified documents intermingled with other records.

2. After an initial review of the NARA Referral, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a criminal investigation to, among other things, determine how the documents with classification markings and records were removed from the White House (or any other authorized location(s) for the storage of classified materials) and came to be stored at the PREMISES; determine whether the storage location(s) at the PREMISES were authorized locations for the storage of classified information; determine whether any additional classified documents or records may have been stored in an unauthorized location at the PREMISES or another unknown location, and whether they remain at any such location; and identify any person(s) who may have removed or retained classified information without authorization and/or in an unauthorized space.

3. The FBI’s investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the FIFTEEN BOXES and were stored at the PREMISES in an unauthorized location.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago…

(WED 8/31/22)

Looks like obstruction of justice … The Justice Department pushed back on federal district judge for the Southern District of Florida Aileen M. Cannon’s “preliminary intent” to grant Trump attorneys a “special master” to overlook the case of the FBI’s August 8 search of government documents kept at Mar-a-Lago, NPR reports. “The Case of FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago” is not a Nancy Drew title: DOJ released photos of the classified documents, many labeled moved to a floor at ex-President Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate and club, next to boxes of old, framed magazine covers of The Donald. FBI agents had to be granted special security clearance August 8 to inspect some of the documents.

The DOJ says the classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from locked Mar-a-Lago storage, to avoid discovery in the FBI search. As pundits have speculated in recent days, the Justice Department’s criminal investigation centers on obstruction of justice.

•••

Gorbachev is dead … Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader who oversaw the dismantling of the Soviet Union and helped end the Cold War, died in Moscow Tuesday after a “long and grave illness,” according to The New York Times. He was 91.

Gorbachev, who became president of the Soviet Union in 1985, helped bring the Cold War to a peaceful end, freed satellite countries in Eastern Europe and reunited Germany, but his reforms of Russia have since been reversed by its current president, Vladimir Putin.

“I think he’s one of the most consequential leaders of the 20^th Century,” Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration, told NPR’s Morning Edition.

--Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile...Mar-a-Lagogate (TUE 8/30/22)

Mastered documents … No need for a special master to review documents confiscated from Mar-a-Lago in the FBI’s August 8 search of ex-President Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida home. The Justice Department has told U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon that a “filter team” already has weeded out material that should not be reviewed by the criminal investigation, The Washington Post reports. Pundits and analysts have been wondering why Donald J. Trump’s attorneys have waited this long to request the special master. Judge Cannon, a Trump appointment, said last Saturday it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint a special master, but now we will not need to wait for her decision.

•••

Secret Service assistant director retires … U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director Tony Ornato, a key figure in the House Select Committee hearings on the January 6 Capitol attack, has announced his retirement after 25 years of service, Just Security reports. In a key hearing this summer, Cassidy Hutchinson, aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told the panel that Ornato described then-President Trump as lashing out “in anger” when Secret Service agents refused to drive him to the Capitol on January 6.

--Todd Lassa

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Will Mar-a-Lagogate Finish Trump? (MON 8/29/22)

Donald J. Trump is embroiled in one more scandal that may stretch beyond the limits of his political career.

Again.

This time, however, there is concern over what sort of harm the ex-president’s hubris in running off to Mar-a-Lago with what he has insisted are his White House documents may have imposed on our national security. As originally reported by Politico National Intelligence Director Avril D. Haines has written to the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees that her office will lead an investigation to assess the “potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure” of the 184 government documents that Trump hauled off to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House. This will be an assessment of what intelligence sources and systems may have been identified within those boxes of papers kept at the ex-president’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate.

Of three criminal laws listed as the basis for the search warrant on Mar-a-Lago served August 8, much of the attention has been on the Espionage Act and the FBI’s recovery of 25 top secret, 92 secret and 67 confidential documents. But according to The New York Times Sunday “the crime of obstruction is as, or even more, serious a threat to Mr. Trump or his close associates,” and cites Section 1519 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In other words, Trump may be held responsible for keeping the documents from being returned to the National Archives for more than a year after he left the White House. Violating Section 1519 carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, “which is twice as long as the penalty under the Espionage Act,” the Times says.

Florida judge: Meanwhile, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida said Saturday it is her “preliminary intent” to appoint a “special master” to conduct a review of the 184 documents the FBI seized three weeks ago, the NYT says. According to NPR, a special master is usually an attorney or former judge acting as an independent arbiter in the case – typically requested an appointed at the time the warrant is served.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Beware 1/6 Redux, Graham Warns

How is GOP leadership reacting to the latest Trump scandal that would immediately end any other politician’s career, at the least? Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News’ Sunday Night in America there will be “riots in the streets” if Trump is indicted for storing the documents at his Florida estate and private club. Just a bit more subtle than Steve Bannon’s January 5, 2021 tweet; “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow!”

Graham is arguably the most “mainstream traditional” of Trump’s acolytes. A grand jury subpoena of Graham in the Fulton County, Georgia investigation of Trump’s alleged interference in the state’s Electoral College count after the November 2020 presidential election is on temporary hold to determine whether the senator “is entitled to a partial quashal or modification of the subpoena to appear before the special purpose grand jury,” according to Vanity Fair.

Meanwhile: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which officially keeps all presidential records and papers has joined the FBI and Department of Homeland Security in facing “a spike in threats and vitriol in the weeks since the FBI search” of Mar-a-Lago, August 8.

What do you think?: Is there any excuse for Sen. Graham’s warning of another MAGA uprising? Will Donald J. Trump survive yet another legal scandal? Should the Justice Department filed charges against the former president?

Hit the Comments box in this column or the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news and identify yourself as “leaning right” or “leaning left” in the subject line.

--TL

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Canada Shows How Public-Private Partnerships Work

By Ken Zino

Canada, with its abundant material resources and its advanced automotive industry with extensive production and qualified workforces, is ideally positioned to thrive in the inevitable electric vehicle industrial revolution. The entire EV universe can only grow as the devastating effects of climate change from fossil-fuel use intensifies. Canada’s federal government not only recognizes this, but is actively pursuing an industrial policy that is beneficial for its constituents as well as for the environment.

Free market ideologues, many of them backed by fossil-fuel-providers, disdain such progressive thinking. They are in my direct experience positively scornful of a federally directed industrial policy such as the one established in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act*. Not a single Republican ideologue -- idiotologue? -- voted for it. This, arguably, is the United States’ first significant climate law since congressional hearings were first conducted on the environment 40 years ago. Such anti-government ideology reminds me of my experience over the years with Republican-led governments, which are demonstrably harmful in innumerable ways to all but the ultra-rich.

More importantly, in my view, the Inflation Reduction Act also represents significant change in political philosophy toward rational thinking over ideology and sundry idiots. As I understand it, this policy change soundly reasons that the U.S. shouldn’t let the misleadingly labeled free market move, say, all semiconductor production offshore to areas that are hostile to U.S. interests, or let it mock and abandon trade agreements or vital international alliances.

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed expanding Canada’s and Germany’s deep and long-standing partnership in areas of common interest, including trade and investment, clean energy and clean technology, and global climate leadership. The leaders and ministers expressed their resolve to address the impacts of climate change, including the importance of expanding the international coverage of carbon pricing in the lead-up to COP27, according to an official government readout of the meeting.

To read Zino’s entire commentary, click on The Gray Area.

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184 Sensitive Documents at Mar-a-Lago

(MON 8/29/22)

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board somewhat famously flipped on its support of ex-President Donald J. Trump in July over his complicity in the January 6 Capitol insurrection < https://thehustings.news/reactions-to-the-1-6-hearings-season-finale/?fbclid=IwAR1jufdXpDcuU4mtlT7FLd-Jc7oGSXD7eGtuyceoQ2CumdJ4Ma2K7_X3LDc&loggedout=true>. But after the Department of Justice released 38 heavily redacted pages of affidavit in support of the FBI’s August 8 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and private golf club, the WSJ’s opinion pages led off with, “Is that all there is?”

About half the 38 pages were redacted, with some pages completely blacked out in what the Justice Department said is an ongoing criminal investigation. The document includes “sensitive details about human intelligence sources or how spy agencies intercept the electronic communications of foreign targets,” according to The Washington Post. The Justice Department “is suspicious of obstruction by Trump or his allies,” WaPo says, and “(i)t’s possible Trump allies were talking to the FBI about all this.”

The affidavit counts 25 top secret documents, 92 secret documents and 67 confidential documents among the 184 documents the Justice Department says Trump kept, unsecured, at Mar-a-Lago.

--Todd Lassa

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Judge Orders Release of Redacted Affidavit (FRI, 8/26/22)

Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhardt has ordered the U.S. Justice Department to unseal its redacted affidavit that lays out the evidence used for the FBI’s August 8 search of Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for sensitive government documents the ex-president allegedly mishandled after he left the White House, according to Politico. Reinhardt has accepted the DOJ redactions that were due at noon Eastern time Thursday, while the Justice Department warns that the heavy redactions would render the documents incomprehensible.

It is unclear whether the Justice Department will appeal, Politico reports.

In his ruling, Reinhardt emphasized the Justice Department’s “good cause” in redacting elements that would have revealed “identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents and uncharged parties,” as well as “strategy, direction, scope, sources and methods,” and information about the grand jury.

Meanwhile: Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon has given Trump’s attorneys until Friday to better explain why the former president wants a “special master” to review the Justice Department’s evidence in the case, CNN reports.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

EV Incentives and Requirements

Pundit-on-the-left Ken Zino makes his case in the column on the other side (full commentary in The Gray Area) for Canada’s effective public-private partnership intending to foster a quick move from gas- and diesel-powered vehicles to electric cars and trucks. Zino compares Canada’s initiative with the Inflation Reduction Act recently signed by President Biden, and argues that congressional Republicans will oppose it at any cost.

This comes as the California Air Resources Board releases the state's plan to ban sales of gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks by 2035. Sixteen other states, mostly on the East and West Coasts, are expected to comply with the latest incarnation of the California Waiver to EPA rules, which would result in electric vehicle market share of roughly 40% in 13 years.

Agree or disagree. Right or left. Here’s your chance to voice your opinion. Hit the Comment box in this column below or email us at editors@thehustings.news.

We are also following the Justice Department’s affidavit for the FBI’s search of former President Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8 (48^th anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation). A federal magistrate has ordered the Justice Department to release its heavily redacted affidavit on Friday, same day another judge has ordered Trump’s attorneys to explain his request for a “special master” to oversee the official explanation of the search.

--TL

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On the Left

Donald J. Trump’s “offer” to the Justice Department to “do whatever I can to help the country” in lowering tensions among his MAGA supporters over the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home for sensitive government documents is being seen as a “threat” by some directed to Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland. (Some conservative media outlets still call the FBI search a “raid.”) Trump made the offer in an "exclusive" interview with Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has announced he will retire in December.

Opine on these or any other recent issues covered here in the Comment box below, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Florida, New York, Oklahoma Primaries

(WED 8/24/22)

Florida: And so, a former Republican governor challenges incumbent Republican governor and presumed 2024 challenger to Donald J. Trump for the GOP presidential nomination Ron DeSantis. Rep. Charlie Crist (pictured), now a Democrat from Florida’s 13^thDistrict, won his party’s gubernatorial primary Tuesday, 59.8% to agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried’s 35.3% (per Ballotpedia). Fried is the only Democrat holding a statewide office in Florida, which now counts more registered Republican voters.

Rep. Val Demings easily won the Democratic Party’s primary, with 84% of the vote, to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for his seat in the November 8 midterms.

New York: Rep. Jerrold Nadler easily beat Rep. Carolyn Maloney, 56.3% to 24.2%, for the state’s redrawn U.S. House 12^thDistrict, which pitted two 30-year incumbents for the seat covering the East Side of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Challenger Suraj Patel took 18.3% of the Democratic primary vote.

A special election to replace former Democratic Rep. Antonio Delgado for his 19^th District congressional district seat is seen as a bellwether for the midterms in general. If so, count it as good news for Democrats, with Pat Ryan taking 51.1% to Republican Marc Molinaro’s 48.8% -- decisive, though hardly commanding in a district that encompasses the mid-Hudson Valley and New York Catskills region, which NBC News' Steve Kornacki describes as a "classic swing district." Ryan will serve the remainder of Delgado’s term, to January 3. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul selected Delgado as her lieutenant governor after replacing former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In the Democratic race for the House 10^th District seat, 17^th District incumbent Mondaire Jones came in third with 18.2%. Daniel Goldman, with 25.7%, edged out Yuh-Line Niou at 23.7% for the win.

Oklahoma: U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, who represents the 2^nd congressional district, won the Republican Party’s runoff for a special election in November to replace Republican Sen. James Inhoffe, who is retiring with four years left in his term. Mullin will face the winner of the Democratic runoff, cybersecurity professional Madison Horn.

•••

On the 31st Anniversary of Ukraine's independence ... The White House has announced a new $2.98-billion "security package" for Ukraine in its fight for sovereignty against Russia's invasion. The package is for weapons and assistance as provided by the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative, Politico reports.

--TL

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Primaries Tuesday (TUE 8/23/22)

Florida: In the Democratic gubernatorial primary to challenge 2024 GOP presidential candidate and incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis, progressive candidate Nikki Fried, commissioner of agricultural and consumer services, has been gaining in the polls against moderate Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist. Fried since 2019 has been the state’s commissioner of agriculture and consumer services. Crist was Florida’s Republican governor from 2007 to 2011, and since 2017 has served as the state’s Democratic representative for the 13^th District. Crist has been considered the stronger candidate to take on populist cultural warrior DeSantis, though Fried has been hammering Crist on his prior history regarding abortion rights when he was a Republican, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

In the race for U.S. Senate, Rep. Val Demings (10^th District) is very likely to beat three other Democrats to take on incumbent Republican Marco Rubio November 8. Like Crist, Demmings, a former police officer, is currently serving her second term in the House of Representatives.

New York: Redistricting has forced Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of the 10^th District to compete with Rep. Carolyn Maloney for Maloney’s 12^th District seat. Both are powerful representatives, with Maloney chairing the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Nadler chairing its Judiciary Committee.

Oklahoma: Both major parties have runoffs Tuesday for the November midterm to replace Republican Sen. James Inhoffe, 87, who is retiring next January with four years left on his current term. In the Republican runoff, it’s Markwayne Mullin v. T.W. Shannon while on the Democratic side it’s Jason Bollinger v. Madison Horn to replace the conservative five-term senator (per Ballotpedia).

•••

Up for discussion … Donald J. Trump is suing the U.S. Justice Department over its FBI search of Mar-a-Lago for White House documents. The former president’s attorneys argue the government provided no reason for its search of Trump’s Florida residence and that the search raised questions about Fourth Amendment rights, Newsweek explains. ... Meanwhile ... The New York Times reports that Trump had taken more than 300 classified documents with him to Mar-a-Lago. Federal officials “became alarmed” after the National Archives found more than 150 sensitive papers among the first batch received from the former president in January. … A federal judge has given Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) attorneys to Wednesday to provide a list of questions they think a grand jury can and cannot ask a sitting senator, Yahoo! News reports. Graham’s testimony before the Fulton County, Georgia grand jury investigating Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results was temporarily halted by the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has to next Monday to respond to Graham’s list of questions. … Dr. Anthony Fauci has announced his retirement in December, after 38 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He also serves as chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation and as chief medical advisor to President Biden.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

On the Right

Should Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) be compelled to testify before Fulton County, Georgia’s special grand jury investigating the 2020 presidential election? What are your thoughts on pro-MAGA treatment of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is retiring as the nation’s lead infectious disease expert?

Also, national security attorney Bradley P. Moss called the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago “justified,” in an op-ed for Fox News Digital [https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-mar-a-lago-search-justified].

Opine on these or any other recent issues covered here in the Comment box below, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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From Left

On Fox and Friends, co-host Steve Doocy recently warned against threats of violence on the FBI for serving a warrant to search for government documents at Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. They were just doing their job, he noted, a point-of-view later echoed by former Vice President Mike Pence. Neither Doocy nor Pence defended Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland, who ordered the FBI search.

We want to learn your thoughts on this and other recent political news. Please enter your opinions in the Comment box in this column, or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

Scroll the trackbar on the far-right to read, in this column, contributing pundit Jim McCraw’s comments on the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago; “The Documents Were There. Really. The FBI Took Them Back.”

Click on The Gray Area to read contributing pundit Ken Zino’s commentary, “The Forgotten Obvious” on Kansas voters’ rejection of an amendment on the ballot that would have opened the state to strict abortion laws.

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…meanwhile…

(THU 8/18/22)

Judge may allow release of affidavit… U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Thursday gave U.S. Justice Department prosecutors one week to submit the affidavit, with proposed redactions, used to issue an FBI warrant to search Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, the AP reports. The order indicated the judge is amenable to making at least part of the affidavit supporting the search warrant public.

The former president’s attorneys requested the affidavit’s release, but the Justice Department argues its release could hamper its ongoing investigation, which it says is “in its early stages.”

•••

Weisselberg’s plea deal… Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 felonies in a Manhattan court Thursday in exchange for a reduced sentence for conspiring with his employer of nearly 50 years, the Trump Organization, to carry out a long-running tax avoidance scheme, The New York Times reports. Under the plea agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Weisselberg, 75, is required to testify at the Trump Organization’s criminal trial scheduled for this October if prosecutors call him to the stand to admit his role to carry out the tax avoidance scheme.

If Weisselberg testifies truthfully in the trial, he will receive a five-month sentence and serve as few as 100 days with time credited for good behavior, according to the NYT. Though the criminal case involves the real estate development company run by Donald J. Trump and his family, the plea deal does not require Weisselberg to cooperate with the Manhattan D.A. on its broader criminal investigation and his admissions will not implicate the ex-president. But Weisselberg will be required to pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest for receiving tax-free perqs, including leased Mercedes-Benzes, an apartment on New York’s Upper West Side and private school tuition for his grandchildren.

Upshot: Weisselberg’s plea deal is something of a consolation to Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, whose criminal investigation appeared to be falling apart early in the year. Two lead prosecutors abruptly quit the case in February because Bragg had told them he had “doubts about moving forward with a case against Mr. Trump.” The investigation was initiated by Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., who chose not to run for re-election last year.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

To Right

Pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay writes about the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search in two commentaries in this column; “Of Scanners, Stars and Boxes,” and in “Donald Trump and the Art of the Flush.”

We want to learn your thoughts on this and other recent political news. Please enter your opinions in the Comment box in this column, or the right column, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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About the Timing

As the FBI receives heightened threats from the radical right over its search of Mar-a-Lago last week, liberal and never-Trump conservative pundits warn the serving of the warrant will inspire a heavy pro-MAGA vote in the midterms, and possibly boost Donald J. Trump’s own chances for the 2024 presidential election. But Democrat strategists also are hopeful that Trump will announce for ’24 this fall and re-invigorate the party’s own chances in the midterms.

Voice your opinions on which party gains most from the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, whether you are left or right, in the Comment box in the left or right columns, or email editors@thehustings.news. Be sure to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s take on the ex-prez’s use of his Florida estate as a repository for classified White House papers in the right column.

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Liz Cheney and The Great Task

(WED 8/17/22)

Expected defeat…Trump-endorsed House candidate Harriet Hageman beat incumbent Liz Cheney, 65.8% to 29.5% in Tuesday’s Wyoming GOP primary election. That’s 106,322 votes for Hageman to Cheney’s 47,615 in a state with about 580,000 residents.

Cheney will continue to fight to keep former President Donald J. Trump from retaking the White House by running for the 2024 nomination for president, Politico, which reported those numbers above, speculates Wednesday. The three-term congresswoman, who now leaves the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection by January whether Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) becomes speaker and gets a chance to dismantle and investigate it or not, has launched The Great Task, a political action committee devoted to keeping Trump out of office, NPR reports.

“Two years ago, I won this primary with 75% of the vote,” Cheney said in her concession speech Tuesday night (per The Guardian video). “I could easily have done the same again. The path was clear. But it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election. …

“It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundation of our republic. That is a path I could not and would not take.

“No House seat, no office in this land is more important than the principles we were all sworn to protect and I well understood the political consequences of abiding by my duty. The primary election is over. But now the real work begins.”

Irony alert: Hageman, for her part, also nationalized the Wyoming primary for the House seat (as recorded by NBC News).

“Wyoming has spoken on behalf of everyone across this great country who believes in the American Dream … who believes in liberty and recognizes that our natural rights; Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal protection and due process come from God.”

They do not come from politicians, she said, “and the government cannot take them away."

“Wyoming has spoken on behalf of everyone who is concerned that the game is becoming more and more rigged against them," she continued. "And what Wyoming has shown today is that while it cannot be easy, we can dislodge entrenched politicians who believe they have risen above the people they are supposed to represent.”

Meanwhile, in Georgia: Former Trump attorney and America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to testify Wednesday before a Fulton County grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results there. Giuliani is a target of the investigation.

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire: Attending a “Politics and Eggs” breakfast in the state holding the first presidential primary again in 2024, ex-Vice President Mike Pence said he would testify before the House Select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, MSNBC’s Morning Joe reports Wednesday. His statement came in the form of an answer to a question posed at the event.

The count, so far: Of 10 House Republicans who voted for then-President Trump’s second impeachment after the January 6 Capitol attacks, four have lost their primaries this season to pro-Trump candidates and two have won, according to the Associated Press. Three, including Cheney’s only fellow Republican on the House Select Committee, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, chose not to run for re-election. One primary race is still to be determined; Rep. John Katko’s New York seat.

•••

Alaska’s non-partisan ranked-preference primary … Preternatural MAGA politician and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s shot at the state’s single, at-large House seat remains alive. Palin came in second with 32.2%, to Democrat Mary Peltola’s 34.5% and ahead of Republican Nicholas Begich’s 27.1%. A third Republican, Tara Sweeney, also advances to the general election, with her 3.2% of the vote.

Because of the ranked-preference vote, a candidate who gets more second-place votes could beat the first-place candidate.

Alaska will determine the winner among these three for the special election to serve out the remainder of Republican Don Young’s seat, by the end of August, NPR says. (Young died in office earlier this year). Peltola, Palin, Begich and Sweeney face off in the ranked-preference general election November 8.

For U.S. Senate: Moderate Republican incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski edged Trump-endorsed Republican Kelly Tshibaka, 42.% to 41.8%, and Democrat Patricia Chesbro at 6.2%, and Republican Buzz Kelley at 2.3% to advance to the general election. The four beat 15 other candidates for the chance to compete in another ranked-preference race for the Senate seat November 8.

--Todd Lassa

...meanwhile... (TUE 8/16/22)

Tuesday’s primaries… Wyoming’s and Alaska’s primaries are quite probably Donald J. Trump’s most important so far and coincide with a resurgence of support for the former president coming a week after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Politico calls the Wyoming primary “Liz Cheney’s day of reckoning” as she faces Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman for the state’s at-large House seat. Cheney is about 30 points behind in the polls thanks to her voting for ex-President Trump’s second impeachment and sitting as vice chairwoman of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, though there has been some hope that she would make up that deficit with sympathetic Democratic and independent voters in the open primary. There will not be enough.

In Alaska, preternatural Trumpian Republican Sarah Palin faces Democrat Mary Petola and Republican scion of prominent state Democratic family Nicholas Begich in a special election to replace Don Young, who died in office earlier this year. Alaska has a new ranked-preference system, which means that if no candidate gets at least 50% of the vote for the at-large House seat, the second and third rounds are counted. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski also faces Democratic and Republican challengers in the non-partisan primary for her seat (per Ballotpedia).

Upshot: Cheney could flip Tuesday’s likely loss into a serious challenge to Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

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Biden to sign Inflation Reduction Act… President Biden is scheduled to sign the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the sweeping climate change, health care and tax bill at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday. While the Congressional Budget Office estimates no effect on inflation – why should it? – for 2022 and ’23, its scoring says the reconciliation bill will reduce the federal deficit by $300 billion, NPR reports.

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Giuliani a ‘target’ in Georgia probe… Prosecutors in Georgia have informed former America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani he is a ‘target’ in its “wide-ranging” criminal investigation into election interference involving his former client as attorney, ex-President Trump, in the 2020 presidential election, The New York Times reports. A federal judge in Atlanta also has rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) efforts to avoid testifying in the investigation being led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis. Graham’s attorneys say the senator has been informed he is a witness, not a target.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Of Scanners, Stars and Boxes

By Stephen Macaulay

For about $100 you can buy a computer scanner.

In a matter of moments even documents that are labeled “top secret/sensitive compartmented information” could be deposited on a hard drive for quick email distribution or stuck on a thumb drive.

Donald Trump, not a man known for his dynamic reading capability (or even for, well, reading), took 26 boxes of documents to Mar-a-Lago, which is described on its website as “the only private club world-wide to attain the prestigious 6-Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.”

The what?

Well, according to a May 2016 AP story, “when it comes to Trump, the academy isn't an independent observer.

“The organization is run by Joseph Cinque, a longtime Trump acquaintance who goes by the nickname "Joey No Socks" and has a felony conviction for possessing stolen property.”

And it goes on to report:

“As recently as last May, Trump himself was listed on the group's website as its "ambassador extraordinaire," and he appeared in a 2009 tribute video to Cinque in which he said: "There's nobody like him. He's a special guy."

“But Trump told The Associated Press on Friday that he doesn't know Cinque well and was unaware of Cinque's criminal conviction.”

All of this sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Now anyone who has moved house, even if it isn’t from one of the most legendary houses in the world to a prestigious 6-Star Diamond manse, knows that when you pack boxes often things go awry. Somehow no matter how carefully you mark things, there is a nearly metaphysical impossibility that all of the forks disappear. And sometimes upon unpacking there is the discovery of something that was long thought to be lost.

So let’s give Trump a benefit of a doubt. Certainly something in that move—a move that he still argues shouldn’t have occurred because the election was stolen, rigged or otherwise stacked against him (and let’s not forget, he, too, is a special guy)—probably got misplaced. After all, he had to be in a bit of a rush.

Maybe it just so happened that some documents that are top, top secret just happened to get snagged on a paper clip on the stack of love letters (his adjective) to Kim Jong-un and was shipped to his swank (six diamonds!) digs purely by accident.

But then there is that little matter of him taking things he had no legal right to. Boxes and boxes.

On Meet the Press August 14, Andrea Mitchell put it to presidential historian Michael Beschloss that Trump tweeted, “President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots.”

Beschloss responded, surprisingly, “Well, President Trump is absolutely right. Barack Obama has tens of millions of documents. . .” YIKES! but the shoe drops. . .”and they are in a National Archives installation, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, under armed guard with heavy surveillance, using the procedures that are supposed to be used for a former president. We have never in history seen a former president take ultra-classified documents, stick them in his basement, loosely watched by government standards, and with the shadow of we still don't know what his motive was.”

Well, it is the basement of that venue that won that coveted award.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump Tower got one of those plaques, too.

But I wonder about that scanner.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news