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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBFD: Nauta had images of classified docs on phone, shared with others
I know Stormys testimony has grabbed Center stage in the current news cycle, but IMO, this information is the biggest bombshell since the indictments themselves.
Prosecutors will call a phone expert to show that valet Walt Nauta allegedly shared one of the images in a text message. If true, this could help convince a future jury that Trump did not secure classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and that staff had access to them.
https://www.newsweek.com/photo-evidence-trump-classified-documents-case-walt-nauta-phone-1897561
Nauta is screwed- Smith could get a superseding indictment for disseminating classified information. If he doesnt flip, hes going to prison for a long, long time.
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FalloutShelter
(12,048 posts)To create plausible deniability for Trump to transfer the file?
Is it TREASON yet?
Lonestarblue
(10,545 posts)I still believe that the payment by MBS to Kushner was for US top-secret intelligence shared with him.
FalloutShelter
(12,048 posts)Follow the money.
mitch96
(14,040 posts)InstantGratification
(196 posts)They are protected differently from classified. The Atomic Energy Act spells out different procedures from normal classified material. For example, the president can't order nuclear secrets be shared on merely his say so. DoD controls the military secrets and DoE controls the civilian. If the president proposes sharing, BOTH agencies have to agree to it. If they both say no, the presidents wishes are over ridden.
Why is this important? The Saudis were trying to get nuclear tech to counter Iran's nuclear program. Trump couldn't legally share the info if DoD/DoE disapproved the deal. (which they certainly would have) If Kushner was able to deliver on that via a back channel deal, 2 billion would be a bargain for the Saudis.
Traurigkeit
(973 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(15,896 posts)Enemy is legally defined as a nation Congress has declared war on.
Wednesdays
(17,802 posts)They went to the chair even though we were not at war with the Soviet Union.
Fiendish Thingy
(15,896 posts)They were convicted of espionage, not treason, because the definition of treason is quite narrow and specific.
HandmaidsTaleUntold
(335 posts)Espionage.
flying_wahini
(6,884 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(15,896 posts)Not laughing at the crimes of the Rosenbergs
machoneman
(4,051 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(15,896 posts)But I wasnt questioning whether they were dead, only the assertion that they were charged with treason.
Hekate
(91,744 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(15,896 posts)I guess I shouldnt be shocked to find that, even decades later, people still think they were executed for treason rather than espionage.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,071 posts)But it has been a long time since I read about their case.
Thanks for not only setting the record straight but defining treason correctly in this case.
So if they are going to get Trump for the insurrection, I take it the charge would be sedition since he incited it?
LudwigPastorius
(9,513 posts)1) Conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.
2) Conspiracy to corrupt and impede the January 6th congressional proceeding in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k).
3) Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct January 6th congressional proceeding in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c) (2),2.
4) Conspiracy to obstruct the right to vote and have ones vote counted in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241.
reACTIONary
(5,824 posts).... unless you mean WWII, when we were at war along side the soviet union.
Hermit-The-Prog
(34,237 posts)erronis
(15,842 posts)The US (and other countries) will cause someone who isn't toeing the line according to the current set of rules (and the current administration and particular agency) to be put to death without even a court hearing.
Another wonderful term is "enemy combatant".
Hermit-The-Prog
(34,237 posts)Yet, every time it's mentioned on here, someone claims it means those with whom Congress has declared war.
JT45242
(2,416 posts)Hope he is looking forward to a long, long time in a super max.
Don't believe he is that tough.
Big gamble that TFG can win and will pardon him.
spanone
(136,267 posts)![](/emoticons/grr.gif)
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RockRaven
(15,321 posts)of convictions or consequences remain out the window.
forgotmylogin
(7,569 posts)More like "holy crap, look what my boss is having me do" to a personal friend. It's still illegal dissemination but Nauta already shouldn't have had access to take pictures of the documents in any case.
ShazzieB
(17,022 posts)The prosecutors want to use the photos and text message as proof that the documents were unsecured at Mar-a-Lago.
Nauta doesn't strike me as being the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I could definitely see him sending an image to a friend just for fun and bragging rights about his "cool" job.
I don't think he's a criminal at heart; he's just too loyal to TSF for his own good. He really needs to get a different lawyer. He'd be better off with a public defender than a shyster provided by Trump.
LiberalFighter
(52,175 posts)NoMoreRepugs
(9,675 posts)republianmushroom
(14,743 posts)"Nauta testified to a grand jury two months before the August 2022 search about boxes he took from Mar-a-Lagos storage room in January 2022." Two months.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143236793
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/07/politics/mar-a-lago-trump-nauta-classified-documents/index.html
LymphocyteLover
(5,767 posts)Goddamn, Judge Cannon slow-walking this huge case
erronis
(15,842 posts)LymphocyteLover
(5,767 posts)JoseBalow
(3,150 posts)I'd like to see more context of that text exchange.
LymphocyteLover
(5,767 posts)H2O Man
(74,026 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,960 posts)Thanks for the thread Fiendish Thingy
patphil
(6,376 posts)There goes the "I just moved boxes for my boss" defense. Now we're talking serious jail time for him, and a stronger case against Trump for mishandling classified materials.
That's a whole new level of leverage for the Special Prosecutor.
We need to get Judge Cannon off this case so it can proceed.
Silent Type
(3,601 posts)that might be wrong to possess, but really don't matter in the scheme of things.
Then, there are documents that should be sufficient to put trump, Nauta, etc., before a firing-squad.
kwijybo
(249 posts)The pictures taken during the raid, with empty cover sheets, were all they really could show. Besides proving that any documents now in the hands of other countries were real and what their classification was, some of that stuff was so classified that the cover sheet alone was TS.
There was a reason for the empty cover sheets in the photos they released.
Owens
(230 posts)The question is why hasn't he already??
FakeNoose
(33,540 posts)Chump is going down. Nauta will probably flip now, unless he gets bad advice from his lawyer.
orleans
(34,214 posts)Bev54
(10,193 posts)all over the floor with classified markings shown on some of the files and he sent a copy of the box to another staff? I am not getting all the excitement over this now.
Fiendish Thingy
(15,896 posts)Not just the spilled boxes.
ShazzieB
(17,022 posts)From the op (bolding added):
These are clearly not the photos of boxes that we have seen.
Nauta obviously used his phone to snap images of two of the documents, one of which he shared in a text message.
eppur_se_muova
(36,395 posts)republianmushroom
(14,743 posts)And another bombshell, "Nauta testified to a grand jury two months before the August 2022 search about boxes he took from Mar-a-Lagos storage room in January 2022." Two (2) months of hand wringing and delays
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143236793
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/07/politics/mar-a-lago-trump-nauta-classified-documents/index.html
39 months and counting (includes foot dragging, hand wringing and delays)
eppur_se_muova
(36,395 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,071 posts)Nicely done!
Freethinker65
(10,195 posts)Doubt Trump returned all of the copies. Honestly I am surprised he hadn't sold them as NFTs. I also still think Trump still has some unreturned classified documents, perhaps so important that they can be used as a get out of jail free card and/or escape to country of top bidder.
ecstatic
(32,933 posts)republianmushroom
(14,743 posts)BREAKING: Judge CANNON has indefinitely postponed Donald Trump's trial date in Florida.
It may be months before we know the new schedule.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.530.0.pdf