"Trump was very secretive about the packing of boxes that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago..."

[kentuck]

This article is from the WashPost of February 10th, 2022, after the first 15 boxes of documents were removed from Mar-a-Lago.
========================================

(snip)
It is not precisely clear who packed up the classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, or how they got there in the first place. Trump was very secretive about the packing of boxes that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago last month, and did not let other aides — including some of his most senior advisers — look at them, according to people close to him.

During his time in the White House, Trump often took official documents with him to his residence to review, accruing piles of records over time, according to people familiar with Trump’s record-keeping practices.

Although that is not in itself necessarily unusual, the documents would pile up. One White House staffer said it became a problem that eventually led records staff to search for materials in classified burn bags, which are used to dispose of documents.

“For all the things written about him that he didn’t read, he often would take things with him to the residence or bring things down with him,” said a second Trump White House official. “But I don’t know that that is out of the ordinary.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/10/trump-records-classified/

[FalloutShelter]

1. Uh -huh

[Hekate]

2. That bastard knew what he was doing all along

[Irish_Dem]

9. Yep. Becoming quite apparent.

[PatSeg]

17. Reminds me of that old Johnny Cash song

"One Piece at a Time", taking one auto part out each day in his lunch box.

Even though he clearly isn't very smart, he has the mind of a thief, always looking for the angle. Meanwhile, perhaps he had instructions (Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc.) about what documents to look out for. We know he didn't understand most of them and wasn't even interested. It is highly unlikely he took them to the residence to READ. Yeah, everything he did was part of the con.

[kentuck]

19. Good analogy!

I remember that song.

[PatSeg]

32. Me too

A silly, but really fun song. It used to play on the radio all the time.

[Codifer]

25. Was that...

... the '49. '50, '51 Cadillac?

It has been a few years (decades) since I heard this.

[PatSeg]

33. Definitely a classic

"So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around
But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds

I got it one piece at a time and it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style, I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around

Uh yow, Red Ryder, this is the cotton mouth
In the Psycho-Billy Cadillac come on, huh, this is the cotton mouth
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there Red Ryder
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Uh, what model is it?

Well, it's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56
'57, '58' 59' automobile
It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 automobile"

[Joinfortmill]

29. Cunning.

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Is there a fax machine in the residence?

You don't have to read a document to fax it. Just sayin'.

[Scrivener7]

4. Hell, does he have a cell phone?

[Buns_of_Fire]

5. Easier still. We know that he knows how to use one of those!

IIRC, he's also been the only president to have locks on the doors leading into the residence. Donnie needs his privacy.

[Irish_Dem]

8. People from the Saudi, Chinese, Russian embassies would be happy to swing by and pick up papers.

[erronis]

34. No need. They're transmitted as scanned documents - outside of normal channels, of course.

[Irish_Dem]

36. Or Trump's people hand delivered it. For an extra fee of course.

[erronis]

38. When you can fit thousands/millions of pages of scanned docs on a micro-SD, why carry paper?

I used to carry several inches of computer "dumps" - 8x14 computer printouts out of the pentagon for analysis. The guards had no idea what they were looking at.

Nowadays a chip about 0.5" square can hold far more and would be undetectable by even body scanners.

Physical security is a thing of the past.

[crickets]

44. Ouch. nt

[Irish_Dem]

45. Yes I know, and agree.

But that said, why did Trump insist on keep only originals?
He could have put everything on a thumb drive.

I am guessing originals may fetch a higher price?

Keep in mind he was not just selling secrets. Someone like Trump would use original docs for leverage, blackmail, revenge. For that kind of thing you need originals.

People are not going to pay top dollar in a blackmail scam for only a copy.

[ancianita]

48. What?

I know you're not implying that tfg could do what you did, right? He didn't, couldn't use email, but somehow knew how to scan or save text or data to a thumb drive? Or an SD chip? whatever. Somebody did that stuff for him. At least if they found storage other than paper. The FBI is supposed to be looking for the "who" first and the "how" second, or reverse engineer transmission tools to whoever in the WH would have helped him, right?

I'm sure we're speculating, but until the FBI finds out more, I guess I don't get the issue.

[erronis]

50. The tool had his tools that could do it easily. The reason for holding on to the paper originals

might be to be able to "give them up" when absolutely required and say "See, I complied."

That doesn't mean that copies of those originals haven't wafted their way through the 'nets to many ports unknown.

Yes - lots of speculation. But that's also what threat analysts do - hypothesize on hundreds/thousands of scenarios.

[ancianita]

52. I see.

Okay on the reasoning. Point well taken on the copies, which I'd bet can be traced. But do you really think tfg came up with this by himself? I can only think he was getting "guidance" from his foreign pal and FSB associates. And where was Cipollone during all this?!

I'm fine with speculation. I just hope we don't get riled up (even though this is a BFD) that we don't focus on November campaigning, donations and turnout.

I prefer that we sit back and watch trumpculters (at least in Congress) sweat this, even get scared straight over tfg, when the DOJ shocks everyone with the details of how this all worked, when the time comes. And It's not as if we haven't seen Garland show the importance of well timed action.

Trumpcult media already have their claims blown up in real time, daily. The downside of that is, that's how they get a 'trump defense' together. From US. We out-think them, and in so doing, help them see what arguments won't work, so they get closer to seeing what might give 'reasonable doubt.'

GOP leaders -- the talkers, at least -- are giving him a public trial defense in advance, so that the real trial will be framed as political chicanery.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Evidence of guilt for sure.

[Irish_Dem]

7. So he was stealing documents all along.

[kentuck]

10. That does appear to be the case...

Last edited Sat Aug 13, 2022, 04:09 PM - Edit history (1)

It reminds one of the Tim Robbins movie where he would dig out a bit of the wall each night, hidden behind a poster, and carry it out in his pockets and stealthily drop it out of his pockets when he was in the prison yard...

[Irish_Dem]

11. Yep, every night Trump would take a few secret documents to his private residence for "review."

(We know how much he likes to burn the midnight oil pouring over complicated material for the good of the country. No sacrifice is too much.)

It all added up to the greatest WH heist in history.
And there was nothing anyone could do while it was happening.

I am assuming that right after Putin installed Trump into the WH, Putin produced a wish list of documents. And Trump of course complied. Trump then says, hey, I can make some big money selling these to other leaders.

[kentuck]

12. Wow!

The sub-plot is almost too heavy to contemplate.

[DemocraticPatriot]

13. That was 'The Shawshank Redemption'.

but Tom Hanks was not in that one... Starred Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

[kentuck]

16. Right!

That was the movie and the correct actors. A great movie, by the way.

[lunatica]

18. One of the all time best movies!

[ARPad95]

41. Probably thinking of Tom Hanks in the Green Mile.

How does Paul Edgecomb spell relief? P-A-I-N-F-R-E-E P-E-E-I-N-G & S-E-X

[Joinfortmill]

31. The Shawshank Redemption. Great flick.

[Baltimike]

56. That's Tim Robbins, not Tom Hanks in The Shawshenk Redemption. nt

[Ocelot II]

14. He wasn't reading them to learn about national defense or other important issues;

he was collecting them with an eye to monetizing them later or using them for leverage.

[shanti]

23. Bingo

Everything is about the monetizing aspect with him, everything. He's a cornered rat now.

[erronis]

35. More likely scanning them during "Executive Time" and transmitting daily or weekly.

Who knows the recipient. I'm hoping our IC does.

[MontanaMama]

43. He may have monetized some of them already.

Our IC will be working overtime figuring it out. I wonder if the reason the warrant was issued when it was could be because a deal was about to go down.

[Ocelot II]

46. Are any of his cronies still working at the NSA or elsewhere in the IC

who could still be either giving him information or throwing sand in the gears of the investigation? Not that I’m paranoid or anything.

[MontanaMama]

47. The mind reels.

I worry that he has already sold some of the classified intel…and we won’t know to whom right away and those bad actors sit on the info until they deem the time is right to harm Americans. If there are remaining MAGAts in those security agencies, it could well gum up the works. This is B A D.

[Ocelot II]

49. We may be beyond mere speculation and suspicion that TFG was a Russian asset

or agent from the very beginning, to the point where it can be proved. God knows how much damage he’s done.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

15. He saw it all as just another monetizing opportunity.

[lunatica]

20. Exactly!

Probably had ambitions to sell it all to the highest bidders.

[kentuck]

21. When you think about it, that may have been why he was such close friends with Kim Jong Un?

He wanted to see what he would bid for it?

[lunatica]

22. That's my thinking too.

Or, in his twisted mind, maybe he thought he could sell it back to the US government, or blackmail the government.

[FakeNoose]

27. Also, think about all those trips Jared made to the Middle East

Nobody thought to check his suitcases for top secret documents, did they?

Hmmm....

[kentuck]

54. And why he fought John Kelly so hard to get a Top Secret security clearance...

So he could have access to all the documents that he and Trump needed to take to Mar-a-lago for whatever their reasons?

[The Unmitigated Gall]

24. Just imagine walking into the Oval Office...

The very seat of modern history…
And your thought is “Hey, I’ll bet I can make a shit-ton of money off of this!”

A walking, talking black hole.

[paleotn]

40. One of the few reasons that make sense.

[Rebl2]

26. I saw a gal

that worked in the trump administration (don’t think she worked all four years) on MSNBC yesterday saying one time she went into a women’s restroom and found a top secret file laying on a sink. She was absolutely shocked and immediately took it to a supervisor I think. I wish I could remember exactly who she took it to. I think she said she was questioned.

[Joinfortmill]

28. It's all going to come out now. He took stuff he could make $$ from. $$ is his God.

[liberalla]

42. I hope it all comes out... I want to know everything. I worry we'll not be given the full truth

because it'd be too damaging for other aspects of our government (or for other countries to know about.)

[bucolic_frolic]

30. As they taught us in Accounting 101

There are the numbers in the ledger, and then there is the reality outside the numbers. On the books your warehouse can be full, even though the warehouse is empty because the employees are stealing you blind. Crazy Eddie was such a case.

[dalton99a]

37. Kick

[paleotn]

39. Treason is best kept tightly compartmentalized.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

51. get all these mofo's on record

TFG last and we will see who is the liar !

[Bristlecone]

53. He didn't take and read these materials for anything other than to size them up for value

His “pursuit of knowledge” is such a bullshit narrative.

[Boomerproud]

55. 100% correct.

Poor thing was pouring over thousands of documents to SAVE AMERICA! Worked into the wee hours he did (calling Russia at noon their time).