Why Trump is seeking to exclude the Special Master (potential) engagement with NARA.
Occasionally I can pin point an exact reason. Not an opinion. Actual docs. The REAL reason Trump doesn’t want the Special Master to engage the NARA. Whispers you already know WHY see 8/23/22 article 🤓
Beginning from August 8th to present (sort of in reverse chronological order) and yes I’m mindful that as of late my articles are “extra” and often have updates included, which some readers might be unaware of the various updates.
SpyDipshit007 & Briebart confirmed espionage (side note I absolutely think there are in fact other search warrants in play, albeit not directly related to Trump’s Mar-A-Largo but it does makes sense that there are likely several progeny investigations under way)
Does the DOJ know for sure they clawed back ALL the classified documents? That’s a serious question and I think it’s reasonable to assume that the Government didn’t find all the classes documents. That in of itself raises the specter that additional search warrants might (operative word) be sought to search Trump’s other properties, especially BedMinster and Trump Tower
Ironically if you had read through the various articles where I focused generally on NARA —then you’d already have a clear sense of what I’m about to highlight. And how in October 2021 my prediction that in February 2022 SCOTUS would hard pass on Trump’s executive privilege nonsense. Setting aside the fact that in Trump’s proposed order he wants the Court to allow the Special Master to adjudicate “executive privilege” —frustratingly because I’ve repeated this ad nauseam and I liken it to bashing my head into a concrete wall.
So for those in the Blue QANON & QANON peanut gallery, Trump does not have the woobie blanket of “executive privilege” for one undisputed fact: Trump is no longer the executive and any such claims of executive privilege, that privilege is retained by the “current executive” —incidentally SCOTUS has long held that in very and I mean the very narrowest of cases, a former executive “may” (note that’s a passive statement conversely “shall” is a definitive statement) usurp the executive privilege from the incumbent executive, again “in extremely limited circumstances”. So Trump demanding the Special Master be vested with this authority —honestly it’s an egregious argument and there’s minimal case law to support Trump’s “ask”— important to please pay attention — if anyone can provide me with any case law that unambiguously states that classified (the whole gauntlet of classifications) are protect by executive privilege and/or attorney client privilege. Then point to the case. I’ve run a dozen and half of WestLaw and LexisNexis searches and I can’t come up with a single case that even remotely affirms Trump’s privilege argument(s) —
Trump’s push for the Special Master to NOT engage with the NARA and/or archivist.
In the current political climate and very deepening divisive rhetoric one of the very first casualties of an information war, is always the facts and the truth (a while ago I published a pretty lengthy article on the first casualty of war/information war, you can read more here) but I genuinely have held, facts have always mattered. And more importantly facts should always supersede an opinion (including my own opinions) because facts can and should stand on their own.
As previous explained if you had been paying attention to Trump and the NARA, (of which I know my readers have) then last night it would have occurred to you that I had previously provided you with the cadre of documents focused on Trump v NARA and why last night Trump filed his proposed order that would instruct the Special Master to not engage with NARA. And for the umpteenth time; you really should bookmark and/or set up an alert so you know when new documents are revealed and/or communications between NARA, Congress, President Biden and president (nope I’m never using the capital P when it comes to Trump, my meta is petty AF) Trump.
Bookmark this NARA webpage or ELSE…
Imma gonna reach through the internet and slap the stupid out of some deserving individuals. I’m kidding, violence is not the answer but damn there are some individuals who would benefit from a throat punch or slap. I digress.
Records Released In Response to Presidential Records Act (PRA) questions under the Trump Administration👇🏻
Generally speaking the NARA and more precisely the National Archivist have a lot of communications with the outgoing “executive” —to be clear that’s absolutely normal and standard process of the “peaceful transfer of power” -however you should have understood the totality of this October 2021 article when President Biden formally waived Executive Privilege —keep in mind the context of that waiver appeared to be restricted to the ongoing deadly domestic terror attack of Jan6th 6, 2021.
That action not only enraged Trump and a subset of his ardent supporters. Notwithstanding this also represented a foreshadowing of Trump taking on the Executive Branch. With respect to SCOTUS’ Feb 2022 ruling, yes at the time it was a disagreement with two branches of our Government. Whereas the classified document-gate is in fact the old executive fighting with the incumbent executive. Predictably where Trump believes he’s entitled to the benefits of Executive Privilege. One could construe that is Trump infringing upon the current incumbent’s executive privilege. That matters a lot and should be in the back of your mind as additional “News” breaks concerning Trump. And the hundreds of classified documents he stole from the Government. That said, Trump being Trump, not only did he steal these documents, but the DOJ “has developed evidence that he continuously obstructed this particular investigation…” and that’s an indisputable fact in the public record.
‘Pursuant to the PRA the National Archives are the official custodian of previous administrations records’
The aforesaid sentence isn’t up for debate, irrespective of how many times Trump’s petulant “those are MINE” narrative he screams. He does not nor has he ever “owned” presidential records. You can read more here but more specifically here ←which was published in February 2022 on the day (or shortly thereafter) NARA sent a criminal referral to the DOJ.
The fact is less than a month later the DOJ empaneled a Grand Jury specifically concerning the classified documents. With that said on August 24, 2022 the Acting Archivist stated the following statement to NARA staff. Her comments read in part:
…addressed issues raised by Mr. Corcoran in his role as a Presidential Records Act (PRA) representative of President Trump. At issue was the request of the White House, on behalf of the Department of Justice (DOJ), that NARA provide the FBI with access to the 15 boxes, so that the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community could examine them. When NARA receives such requests, we follow the formal process established by the PRA, our regulations at 36 C.F.R. Part 1270, and Executive Order 13489, to provide the former President an opportunity to review the responsive records for constitutionally based privileges.
…NARA had identified more than 700 pages of records marked as classified national security information..
Literally on August 23, 2022 I walked you through the entirety of the newly released NARA letter. You can read more here
But the next paragraph is, in my view the real reason Donald Trump does not want the special master to engage with the NARA and/or the Archivist. Because that’s when President Biden opted to waive executive privilege. No matter how hard or reasonable Trump’s arguments might be, concerning executive privilege, nothing and I mean absolutely nothing can ameliorate the infirmaries contained in Trump’s arguments.
Simply put, Trump is no longer the Executive (although I do think he’s deluded enough to think he still is) Clearly. SCOTUS has long held that executive privilege rests with the incumbent executive. Although in very and I mean very narrow circumstances the former executive might (operative word) have a colorable argument for executive privilege. Again I want you to read the last paragraph, the text highlighted and redline very carefully because the reason is contained herein:
“…no precedent for an assertion of executive privilege by a former President against an incumbent President…”
…I informed Mr. Corcoran that the time period for review had expired and that “an assertion of executive privilege against the incumbent President under these circumstances would not be viable,” because “there is no precedent for an assertion of executive privilege by a former President against an incumbent President to prevent the latter from obtaining from NARA Presidential records belonging to the Federal Government.” (Emphasis added)
…My letter also indicated that NARA had identified more than 700 pages of records marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials—information that we had not previously publicly disclosed.
But the disgusting reality is Trump’s megaphone and propensity to not only condone but to calls encouraging violence from the very same domestic terrorist that he (and Fox News, NewsMax and OANN etc) have radicalized. What that also means, various career public servants and more broadly the Institution of National Archives have received credible threats of violence, vulgar messages and just pure unbridled hate.
This is the same hate that Trump has fomented (for years) with minimal to zero pushback from Republican leaders. Their silence is both defining and telling. They know how dangerous Trump is. They know first hand how Trump’s violent rhetoric transcribes as “a call to actions” among the MAGA-Republicans… Yet these very same Republicans leaders remain silent or defend the indefensible. None of which is patriotic or honoring their respective oath of office. The last few paragraphs of the “acting” archivist to NARA staff rings absolutely true…and it truly made my blood boil. Again Trump know exactly what he is doing and he doesn’t give a shit if federal law enforcement and/or public servants are killed or gravely injured. In my view I am convinced, now more than ever that Trump truly wants bloodshed. Trump holds little to zero remorse for radicalizing thousands of domestic terrorist aka MAGA-Republicans.
When I say Trump is a narcissist sociopath, we all saw what happened on Jan6th. We all asked “where the hell is Trump, why is he not calling off his supporters” —in short Trump has repeatedly admitted he “loves chaos” —my assumption is his affinity for chaos and violence is largely a psychological disfunction of who Trump thinks he is. In my view Trump is the poorest of poor losers. He was absolutely gleeful that his domestic terrorist took up arms against our Government. That in of itself is a hard disqualification for him to ever hold public office. Largely because of the freckles Senate Republicans opted to acquit Trump (for a second impeachment)
…having been in DC for over three decades, what the “acting” Archivist wrote is absolutely true. There’s never been a question of the politicization of the NARA, until Trump. Largely because Trump has expertly weaponized disinformation and misinformation. Like any competent cult leader, Trump has not only brain washed the MAGA-Republicans but the Republican leaders have stood there silently after Trump continues to assault our most venerable government institutions. I mean for an grotesquely obese man who’s obsessed with the “public” image of strength and virtuality, Trump sure sounds like a whiney little bitch. He plays the perennial victim card, all the time. When the fact is Trump isn’t the victim, he’s the goddamn perpetrator. Period. Full Stop.
…for multiple decades the NARA was one of the few non-partisan Federal Agencies. These dedicated (and largely) career public servants are beholden to the proper retention, storage and dissemination go former presidential administrations. In a preliminary analysis going as far back as President Hoover, Donald Trump is the only former president who had an last minute change to custodian —you can read more here. Again I could be wrong as to the real reason Trump doesn’t want the Special Master to have any engagement with the NARA and/or Archivist. But then again I don’t think I’m wrong. I suppose only time will tell. And yes every once in a while I can connect dots that others can’t see any connective tissue…
Lastly here’s your daily saltwater therapy —those who know me in real life know that Better Than Ezra (BTE) is one of my all time favorite band. And I tend to like covers so imagine my joy finding out that Instagram had a cover by BTE of Peter Gabriel’s “In your Eyes” ←I’m a godmother to one child that was v conceived to that song (snort)
At any rate I’m not writing tomorrow and there’s a slight chance I won’t write until Wednesday of next week. I’m literally in the homestretch of September hell month and then for the month of October you can find me at our beach house. Also last nights sunset -I think “I got THE shot” —you know the one I’ve spent the better part of 20+ hours patiently chasing. That video will be your evening stress relief because unbeknownst to me I ended up filing Venus too
Thank you, File-y! donnie doll hands is so exhausting to this world! I just want to see him finished! We truly appreciate you pulling this all together. I need to read it again and review some of your previous articles. No one can connect the dots like you. You are truly a gem!
When discussing #TraitorTrump, the word "unprecedented comes up a lot & not in a good way. Your piece has sparked off a related line of thought in my head Filey. I'd be interested to know what the official procedures are when a POTUS leaves office. Who is in charge of packing up the West Wing offices & the Oval? Who is responsible for packing up the residence & the POTUS's office in the residence? Who is responsible for making sure that all presidential & staff papers are collected & cataloged for NARA? Because I'm thinking those procedures need to change drastically now that we've had an "unprecedented" criminal traitor defile the office of POTUS. That fucker never should have been ALLOWED to take so much as a paper clip out of the White House when he left. And don't even piss me off with that "I need it for my presidential library" crap, Donnie! Everything should go to NARA for review first. Do we need some sort of legislation that requires an office in the West Wing for a NARA employee to oversee the presidential records & ensure their safety? I don't know what the answer is here. This stuff is way above my paygrade. I just know that this can NEVER be allowed to happen again!
Thank you, File-y! donnie doll hands is so exhausting to this world! I just want to see him finished! We truly appreciate you pulling this all together. I need to read it again and review some of your previous articles. No one can connect the dots like you. You are truly a gem!
When discussing #TraitorTrump, the word "unprecedented comes up a lot & not in a good way. Your piece has sparked off a related line of thought in my head Filey. I'd be interested to know what the official procedures are when a POTUS leaves office. Who is in charge of packing up the West Wing offices & the Oval? Who is responsible for packing up the residence & the POTUS's office in the residence? Who is responsible for making sure that all presidential & staff papers are collected & cataloged for NARA? Because I'm thinking those procedures need to change drastically now that we've had an "unprecedented" criminal traitor defile the office of POTUS. That fucker never should have been ALLOWED to take so much as a paper clip out of the White House when he left. And don't even piss me off with that "I need it for my presidential library" crap, Donnie! Everything should go to NARA for review first. Do we need some sort of legislation that requires an office in the West Wing for a NARA employee to oversee the presidential records & ensure their safety? I don't know what the answer is here. This stuff is way above my paygrade. I just know that this can NEVER be allowed to happen again!